What exactly is eggnog?!

So I'm sitting here drinking my tea with the fire that I built roaring (ok well maybe purring contentedly) in the background, along with the Chieftains Bells of Dublin cd, and I just found peanutbutter in my hair (I've been baking, I made those peanutbutter cookies with the hershies kisses, along with others). When I bake I always seem to make the most monstrous mess, no matter how hard I try to contain it! But don't worry, I cleaned the kitchen, and I found peanutbutter everywhere, I guess I went a little crazy with the electric mixer! Everyone has already left the house for the holidays and its just me, as I have to work the rest of the week. Now that I am officially done with school for the semester (thank goodness!) I'm doing things I didn't really have time for during the semester, like bake cookies, and read for fun! It's really very exciting! Now to the point of this post. What in the name of dairy products is eggnog? This was a burning question I had, as we always drink eggnog during the holidays, I had some earlier this evening in fact! But I couldn't help wondering what it was, and who on earth named it?! So I looked it up (gotta love wikipedia!) and discovered it is milk/cream, sugar, beaten egg (go figure!) cinnamon, nutmeg and it is an excellent source of magnesium, so if you happen to have a magnesium deficiency, just drink eggnog! It is believed to have originated in East Anglia England (hence the relation to my blog, maybe I'll go there so I can say I've seen the location of the origination of eggnog) Some food experts say that the nog portion of the name comes from the middle english word noggin which was a wooden mug used to serve alcohol. Another theory is that it used to be called egg and grog, eventually being shortened to egg'n'grog from whence it was just a hop, skip and jump away from becoming eggnog, the beverage we so frequently enjoy today! I can't believe I just wrote all of that. Just incase you were wondering about eggnog...! Just a month left until I depart for jolly old England! Should I yet again mention how excited I am?! Just in case anyone was in any kind of doubt :)! This may be the randomest blog post ever, but I hope you enjoyed it (that is if anyone reads this!) Merry Christmas, and think of me if you drink eggnog this holiday season, and how thanks to me you can now strike up a fascinating discussion of the origins of eggnog at the next holiday party you attend!


Becca