We went up to the Dicken's Fair at the Cow Palace this weekend.

It started out with some antics of people walking up and down the line. Everything was very themed. Many people came in garb of the time and there were plenty of actors all about, most from Dickens' books, so the atmosphere was quite absorbing. Of course, there were people on cell phones all about, so it wasn't totally complete. ;)

It was much bigger than I thought, even after the opening ceremony. It went on for hall after hall with tons of shops, stages, and scenes going on. We had some hot buttered rum and pear mead. Both were actually quite good.

I wasn't quite sure what hot buttered rum consisted of, so the following are a couple of recipes from aroudn the web.

From about.com:

1 Lemon Twist, 1 Stick of Cinnamon, 1 Clove, Boiling Cider, 2 oz. Rum and a Pat of Butter

In a mug or pewter tankard, add spices and rum. Fill with Cider & float Butter in top.

From here:

Ingredients

1 cup Sugar
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Butter
2 cups Vanilla Ice Cream
Rum
Water
Nutmeg

Method

1. Combine sugar, brown sugar and butter in a 2-quart saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until butter is melted (6-8 min).

2. Combine cooked mixture with ice-cream in a large mixing bowl, and beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often until smooth (1-2 min). Store refrigerated up to 2 weeks or frozen up to one month.

3. For each serving, fill one-quarter of a mug with mixture, add one ounce rum and three-quarters of a cup of boiling water. Sprinkle with nutmeg.

Indeed, there are many other different recipes. But, there is definitely plenty of butter in it. ;)

Posted by Shane on December 13, 2004 8:17 AM | Permalink