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The e-mail read,

*Hi all,
Come and have a Glögg andPepparkaka.
See you in the kitchen!
//Christina*

The moment I read that, got curious to know, what on the surface of earth is called Glögg* and *Pepparkaka*.Like anyone sitting in front of a computer, opened the wikipedia.org and searched for them. Now I got fair idea that, Glögg is wine ‘like’ and Pepparkaka is biscuit ‘like’.

I saw people passing by my desk, heading to the kitchen, with their coffee mugs in their hands and I followed them. The arrangement looked like this: an Electric griddle with a saucepot on it contained the Glögg, and 3 bowls containing raisins, almonds and pepparkaka(Ginger Biscuits), all aesthetically arranged on a table.

I stood well behind in the line for my turn to fill the mug, so that I can watch colleagues who helped themselves to glögg, to understand the glöggetiquette. While standing in the line, a colleague explained that glögg is red wine with cinnamons, cardamoms, cloves, etc and served during the winter around Christmas. Well, almost all the ingredients go in to an Indian Curry too!! I filled my mug, dropped a couple of almonds and raisins in the mug and picked apepparkaka.

We stood in small circles, having a chat, while I took a couple of sips from the mug. It tasted good and a bit warm, with a strong aroma. The taste suggested that the drink should be had out of a goblet not a coffee mug. The immediately effect was, I started feeling tipsy and funny from within. The drink hits you hard. May be because its warm and alcohol vapors mix in the blood stream and reaches the gray cells quickly. I picked up an empty bottle to check the alcohol content; it read 15%v/v. A colleague joked, the temperature is just enough to evaporate the alcohol, but not enough that all of them are wasted in the air. There were couple of guys like me, who are first timers to glögg and we had some funny talks about their experiences. By now my first drink is over, and I took the courage to refill my mug and got back to my desk.

For a moment I forgot my password to unlock my computer, and I
realized glögg is not for the ‘Light Weights’!!!! Beware, you ‘Light Weights’ out there, before getting adventurous with glögg.

PS: Oops!! I forgot aboutPepparkaka, its type of ginger flavored, thin biscuits.

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