10 ways to beat the freeze

2009-06-11 09:34

When I was travelling in South America, one of our stops was a visit to the Pastoruri glacier outside the town of Huaraz. A short hike from the parking area to the edge of the glacier should have taken about ten minutes, but took closer to an hour because of the altitude, icy winds and snow.

After spending a while on the ice, we made our way back down the path, frozen to the core like only South Africans abroad can be. Back at the parking lot, an Indian woman was selling boiled corn. These cobs had large, white, chewy kernels, and were fairly tasteless - but in that freezing cold, I felt that nothing so delicious had ever passed my lips.

Very few people find winter to be their favourite time of year. The cold makes us miserable and reclusive. But sometimes, by embracing the rotten weather, it's possible to find the joy of contrast that I found in my corn cob in Peru.

Try a new restaurant
The good restaurants aren't often fully booked in winter, especially on a week night. Make a list of one or two new places that you've been meaning to try, and then make a point of getting to them. Lots of restaurants also have hearty winter specials and reward you for your attendance by keeping you warm and cozy.

Earn a hot bath
Hot baths are one of winter's great pleasures. Earn yours by going for a long walk when the weather is at its worst. The walk is refreshing, and the bath will be the best reward you’ve ever had for a bit of exercise.

Warm your fingers, do a good deed
Of course, good intentions aside, there are going to be cold nights where all you do is watch DVDs. You can add to this experience by knitting squares for winter blankets which you can donate to projects that distribute blankets to the poor. The activity will keep your fingers warm, the intention will warm your heart.

Expand your mind
Take advantage of the time spent at home to learn something. There's loads of stuff you can do on the Internet to expand your mind, like doing a touch typing course, or learning the basics of another language. Imagine emerging from hibernation fully conversant in French verb conjugations.

Wear your woollies
South Africans wear summer clothes in winter, with layers. But every year we manage to convince ourselves that the marvellous coat on sale at the shops will be useful, next winter, on the coldest days of the year. Track down those winter woollies that hardly ever get worn, assemble a dashing outfit and go out for coffee in your winter best.

Make a stew
There is nothing that warms a person up more than a good stew. Beg your mom for an old family recipe, or try a new one from a food magazine, and work on perfecting your slow cooking technique. Try vegetable, beef, chicken or even fish for variety. 

Make gluhwein
Hot, spiced wine is the drink of the winter gods. Buy the ingredients to take the edge off the cold with its glowing warmth and boozy kick. Use ¾ of a cup of water, ¾ of a cup of sugar, two cinnamon sticks, 10 to 20 cloves, the juice and the rinds of one orange and one lemon boiled for half an hour and then simmered with a bottle of red wine. Delicioush!

Make the best hot chocolate ever
If you're going to curl up with a good book and a hot chocolate, you might as well make sure that you have the best hot chocolate ever made. Forget the store-bought powdered variety. Making good hot chocolate is really simple. Pour boiling milk over chunks of good quality dark chocolate. Add sugar for an extra kick, top with whipped cream and serve. You'll never look back.

Make a baby
Since you're being so productive and enjoying everything that winter has to offer, you might as well resort to the oldest trick in the book for beating the weather blues - whether a baby is the end result or not!

Plan your next summer holiday
All of these efforts aside, sometimes the only thing that makes the cold bearable is focussing on the light at the end of the tunnel - Summer will return. Rather than going to the same old seaside town or resort in the warmer months, use your winter days to plan the summer holiday of a lifetime, in a new and interesting destination.

- Georgina Guedes is a freelance journalist. She's not crazy about winter, but she does love that hot chocolate.

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