another primative digital sketch using
Art Rage and my finger on my laptop's touchpad
silver droplets cling to the window screen
and shine even as the sky grows darker still.
Yes! it's raining
and raining and raining again.
Just in time
to revive the garden into
in its late summer early fall stretch.
Isn't it odd
how balmy and downright hot
50 degrees feels in a freaky winter warm spell
and how cold it feels in August?
Made this girl's mind turn to hot chocolate.
My family always thought i was weird
perhaps dropped on the door step by trolls or something
because as a kid i did not like hot cocoa.
i have always loved chocolate
but not hot cocoa.
It wasn't until i was grown up and introduced to
the European alternative of a hot cup of chocolate
made with hot water rather than hot milk that i
made the realization that it was the milk part that
i didn't like.
an English friend introduced me to this
fantastic stuff: Charbonnel et Walker drinking chocolate
i followed the instructions on the tin and
stirred the slivers of shaved chocolate
not cocoa
into the boiling water then added a dollop or two of
milk to cool it off:
Heaven
pure, sweet heaven in a china breakfast cup.
last time i was in England i bought 2 tins
now that they are long gone i've experimented
unsuccessfully
shaving premium dark chocolate bars into a mug
but it just isn't the same.
there's something about the way
those UK chocolatiers with the Parisian/Belgian connection
shave it into those tiny slivers
that is very different than grating...
anyway
Google still can't find me a U.S. source
(with the current exchange rate they want $55 for one tin from the UK)
last year
i plunked down some significant coin on that fancy stuff
MarieBelle famous Aztec Hot Chocolate that
Oprah touted.
i was hugely miffed when i looked at the
suspicous looking lumps inside the tin
made a cup then
tasted the disappointing liquid
and then read the teeny tiny print on the label (they don't tell you this
on their web site where they go on and on about the
fancy "Aztecian" chocolate they supposedly use):
it had a huge dose of
powdered milk and cornstarch in it!!
:^(
and
i could make it into a pudding if i wished....??...
pull-eeeezzzz
decide what your'e going to sell:
drinking chocolate or pudding mix!
(i adore chocolate pudding, by the way...but not
made with powdered milk)
i finally decided to work out how to
make a satisfying cup here
until i can get back to England again
to take care of that craving that hits
like it did the other chilly night.
several scraped knuckles later
with still unsatisfactory results
(i do not own a food processor
dinosaur that i am)
i've taken to using a plain, premium dark cocoa
like Scharfenberger or even the best Ghirardelli when Scharf is not available
in boiling water
with a dollop or two of milk (or cream when i'm feeling decadent)
and a heapingi swirl of demara sugar.
it's a fine, almost-as-good second.
and i love drinking it out of my little bluebird mugs
with their nifty little lids
because i like sipping it
covering it to keep it hot
and sipping a bit more.
silly me
i can gobble chocolate candy right up
but i can make this little cup of chocolate
last nearly half and hour
even longer when i'm at the computer.
