The best kind of booze is educational booze.

You may recall my mentioning a presentation on Spanish history in my last post. It was the topic I'd chosen (though not formally) for my oral presentation for Spanish class, mostly because I have an odd fasciantion with the dangerously inbred Habsburg monarchy. It was so frustrating that every time I tried to work on it, I'd find myself giving up and browsing food blogs instead. That's when it hit me: why the heck would I present a frivolous, tabloid-worthy history lesson when the obvious answer was looking me in the face?

I had a lot of trouble deciding which foods from Spanish-speaking countries I'd choose to make. If it was a main course, it had to be vegetarian. It had to be authentic; I refuse to serve my classmates chips and salsa from a bag and a jar. It had to be easy to make and easy to transport.

It didn't take long for the sweets to grab my attention. I debated cupcakes for a bit, but scrapped it due to authenticity reasons. Wanting something more authentic and still sweet meant flan, which I had none of the ingredients or equipment for (I was unable to splurge on the supplies due to my upcoming trip to the US of A - more on that later). Then, a few days ago, one of my friends said, "Why go to the trouble of making all that food when you could just make sangria?". I agreed, got permission from my prof to use real wine, and got to work.

I'd decided from near the get-go to make sangria and some food. While returning home on the bus one night, a classmate from spanish plonked down next to me. He was drunk and heading home from the bar (but it's okay; it was Robbie Burns Day). When I told him of my plan to make sangria with non-alcoholic wine, he insisted that I spike it with real wine. I opted in the end to use all real wine.

So what if my class is at 11:30 in the morning? That's close enough to noon to count, I think.

I'm anxious as all heck for the presentation tomorrow, of course, because for some reason speaking formally in front of people makes me dead nervous. However, rest assured that I won't be chugging any of this until AFTER I've presented. Cheers!

Una receta tradicional por la sangría

1 y ½ litros de vino tinto
1 apuro de canela
1 taza de jugo de naranja
¼ taza de jugo de cal
½ taza de jugo de limón
¼ taza de azúcar
frutas cortados (naranjas, limónes, cales, y melocotónes son las frutas mas comúnes)

Vierto todos los ingredients líquidos juntos en una jarra. Mezcle revolviendo hasta el azúcar es derretido. Agregue todos las frutas. Refrigere por la noche y sirve con hielo manana.

PS: Translating this in Babelfish is hilarious!