In festive spirits

My, how time flies! It seems like it was only yesterday when we were telling you to whip out your LBDs, stripy shirts and jean, and now you have to up the ante and turn out show-stopping statement outfits night after night, in order to keep up with the festive season party regime! Do not expect anyone to feel sorry for you when you wake up the morning (afternoon) after, and lament the fact that you have another party to attend.

And, as we are sure you all have numerous dinner and house parties, club night outs, and a few more formal nights to attend over the festive season, we have decided in the spirit of all things festive to help you along the tricky path that is wining and dining. Mainly the wining – being a Christmas baby (you may all wish me a happy birthday) means that I get particularly excited at this time of year, which is surprising given four years in retail constituting a fierce attempt to dampen my spirits (in a non-alcohol-related way), but I am proud to admit that it has not succeeded, apart from the twitch I get once I hear the few first notes of “All I want for Christmas” (in particular, the Mariah Carey version).
So, in order to ensure that everyone else enjoys the vacation as much as I plan to (21 on the 21st), I have spent many an hour preparing cocktail recipes (and even one or two food recipes) and trying to create a party “pick’n’mix” that will get you as hyper as the candy variety did when you were younger.

There will also be recipes for different drinks appearing on the Trinity News blog until the end of Michaelmas term, so why not give the blog a quick once-over before you host your Christmas house party or to help you to impress your family over the Christmas vacation?

Now, I know Christmas drinks brings to mind champagne, cava, prosecco, or any spumante wines, but there are a good few other traditional option, including the ever faithful mulled wine, or cider, and eggnog. These traditional festive drinks always go down a treat, but there will be a few other festive options available to our student body on the blog: the Rudolph cocktail, the very-easy-to-make Bellini, a Christmas champagne cocktail, and cranberry punch. But before I dazzle you with my sophisticated recipes, it is high time I mention a few quick pre-party wine and bubbly purchases that will go down a treat no matter the event, and cater to the student purse strings.

Here are some suggestions of the light red variety: the Chivite Gran Feudo Navarra Crianza 2002, is a light and subtle Spanish red wine that goes down a treat with lamb, and at €9.99 there is no need to break open your piggy bank.
This wine is widely available, from Dunnes Stores to Carvill’s on Camden Street. Mission Saint Vincent Bordeaux 2001 is a snip at €7.99, and is available from Molloy’s Liquor Stores, and would be a handy little number for parties as it is quite nice on its own.