Mulling Things

Acocrding to the Dong-A, "Lowering of School Entry Age to 5 Mulled".

(Man, using the word, or even thinking the word, 'mull' a few times really destroys it's meaning.  Mull.  Mulled.  Mull. Mulled.  I don't even know if I'm pronouncing it right anymore.)

Anyway, back to the article

The government seeks to lower the age of school entry by a year to encourage people to have more children.

Also under consideration are incentives to households having three or more children, such as giving the third child and beyond extra credit for college entrance and employment and financial support for high school and college.

Encouraging to parents,maybe.  Even more hellish for Korean kids, definitely.
In the future, I promise a serious post about Korea's falling birthrate and methods I think would solve the problem.

For now, while the government is mulling children, I plan to mull wine.

When I was a wee lad, I read the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and other fantasy fare of greater or lesser substance.  One thing that stood out was the healing and restorative power of wine and brandy.  Wine was nearly magically in it's own right.

The truth; that while good,it was nothing special, hurt.

I am hoping that mulled wine will be a wonderful evening treat after a cold day outside, warming my insides and my spirits.  I am hoping that one more dream won't be crushed.

Anyway, here is a recipe:

My favorite spices are cinnamon (6 sticks), cloves (12 whole), nutmeg (1/4 tsp), ginger (1/8 tsp), and allspice (1/8 tsp).
Combine the spices and citrus in a dry red wine, such as Burgundy. Add 1/4 cup sugar. Heat this through for at least 15 minutes, but don't boil. A clean, large coffee pot is a great method for heating the wine.
Use an inexpensive wine for this recipe. Don't get something that tastes absolutely horrible, but this is the time to look at the bottom wine shelf at the grocery store.

And here is the wine (from Gangwondo, no less):

Diony Castle Wine of Hoengseong, Gangwon Province announced on Thursday that its 2007 Domaine Han 23B received 80 points in the famous critic's 100-point rating system.