One of my friends proposed, with the inexplicable joy of a child seeing Winter Wonderland for the first time, that we should all get together and have mulled wine. Since nights are freezing and averaging at about 5°C, it sounded like a good idea until she quickly confessed a tragedy of two years past.
The first time she made mulled wine, it turned to "toxic sludge". She said it stank so bad she had to air her kitchen out for three days. I asked her honestly what went wrong. She shrugged. Given her lack of basic troubleshooting skills, we do not let her make the mulled wine.
My other friend then volunteered. The rest of us were thoroughly concerned. She's known for cooking with with the art of "agak-agak." This is Malay for "estimate", "close enough", "just eyeball it LMAO." Because mulled wine uses a variety of warm spices that can be overly strong, and the art of "agak-agak" means you don't bother with the original recipe and just find random substitutes in the kitchen, we're terrified she'll end up wasting two bottles of Chianti.
"I mean, I'll just make do with whatever's in my pantry--I can just put in whatever spices I have--"
We do not let her make the mulled wine.
...I feel like the only responsible adult in the room. This is because I am. I volunteer to host and make the mulled wine.
On that day, my "agak-agak" friend dropped by early to decorate up my flat; she had bought flowers, knowing that I had already sold off more than 60% of my belongings for a future move. To be honest, the entire flat looks terribly empty and it's absolutely not fit for hosting. I felt bad having friends over. 
So, she went and did this!
"Why does it feel like a funeral?" she asked. I laughed and went back to peeling lemon and orange skins for the mulled wine syrup. When my next friend arrived, she said, "I feel like someone's starting a cult in this living room."
While I cooked and someone went to pick up pizza, the girls got to work on the wine bottles. This took ten minutes and the combined brainpower of five girls because they're all fucking shoju and cocktail drinkers. I don't think they've ever had to fight a cork in their entire lives.
Anyway, once the bottles were thoroughly liberated of their contents, we actually got mulled wine. ✌️
Altogether, pretty good night! Though given that I haven't drank alcohol in ages, I didn't realize just how bad my tolerance had gotten. At some point, I just crashed on the couch and put my head on my friend's shoulder for the rest of the night.
My next day hangover lasted until late afternoon. 😖