Fire it up!

Another cold day, and the temperatures are a good reason to think up other ways of keeping warm.

Around this time of the year, there is a great tradition in Tuebingen, an very old picturesque town in southern Germany..On the "Haagtorplatz", outdoors, the movie "Die Feuerzangenbowle" is shown at night, when it is freezing cold, sometimes snowing. People gather, wrapped up in woolen scarves to protect themselves from the icy wind, and watch this great movie, and drink the "Feuerzangenbowle", prepared on the spot, for a huge crowd - here's how that looks & sounds:


Feuer (fire) zangen (tongs) bowle (punch) - hear how it's pronounced - is Gluehwein (mulled wine), with a sugar cone placed over it, the sugar cone being soaked in rum, and then lit. The sugar burns, more rum is poured over it, while it burns, it all drips into the mulled wine. When the sugar has all disappeared in the wine, it is ready to drink - warm and highly alcoholic, and really really tasty..

Watch this video to see how it is done - you might want to do that at a good distance from your smoke-detectors...