Top 5 perfect sitting-by-the-fire drinks

December 1, 8:46 AMBaltimore Food ExaminerKit Pollard

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Red mug photo by waffler. 

Unfortunately, I spent the better part of this past weekend sick, with a stuffy nose and a sore throat. I've been a big baby about it, too, but the one bright spot occurred yesterday, when the miserable rain echoed how I was feeling and Cooper built the first fire we've had in our fireplace for a couple of years. 

Sitting in front of a roaring fire with a mug of anything, really, is such a surefire way to get rid of a cold (or at least to scare it off for an hour). I've never been much of a skier, but I have spent a lot of time thinking about what I'd drink while I apres-ed. Here are the top 5 things I'd like to find in my mug:

1. Amazing hot chocolate. If you don't have the energy to make it from scratch (or if you don't have access to a French or Swiss chef), try Ghiradelli's Double Chocolate hot cocoa mix. You can buy it at Giant and it's easy to make...plus, it's amazingly rich and delicious.
2. Hot, spicy cider with a little bit of spiced rum. Alicia makes this every Halloween, and there's nothing that feels more like "fall" to me.
3. Tea. Any kind of tea makes me happy, really, but I especially like the Tazo green tea with spearmint and lemongrass. It's flavor is really light and delicate and it's a perfect match for cookies or cake. I love tea and cake.
4. Hot buttered rum. I've only had this once, actually, and it wasn't in front of a fire - it was at a Hampden-Sydney football game in the last 90s. My brother's college roommate's mom had a thermos full of hot buttered rum she passed around to everyone at the tailgate. There's just something so awesomely old-fashioned about the drink - I love that. Plus, the way I remember it, it really did taste like Lifesavers.
5. Spicy, peppery red wine. OK, maybe I'd rather have that in a wine glass, as opposed to a mug, and maybe wine's not the greatest thing to soothe a sore throat (though I've certainly been looking into it's medicinal qualities this weekend...with little success), but does anything scream "hunker down, it's cold outside" more than a big glass of red?

So there it is. If you happen to find me in front of a fire, now you know what I'll be drinking.