Hot Chocolate Café! Come on in....

[3113]

It's time for some hot chocolate. Don't you agree? So I'm opening up the Hot Chocolate Café.

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/images/wc_mexcocoa.jpg​

Come on in. Sit down, join us. Tell us what the weather's like in your part of the world. Tell us how the holidays are going. Have some holiday cookies...

http://www.mozzicatobakery.com/pix/g_cookies.jpg​

And tell us what kind of Hot Chocolate you're having. Dark chocolate or white? With spices? Maybe some exotic flavors like orange or lavender? Spirits? Coffee? Whipped cream or marshmallows?

There's nothing like a cup of hot chocolate and good conversation on a long winter's night.

 

[SeaCat]

Well It looks like I may be among the first to respond.

Some may find mine a bit strange but I enjoy it on a cold evening.

Heat a small sauce pan filled with cream to just below boiling. Now slowly add unsweetened Chocolate until it is a rich dark brown. Remove from heat and pour into your favorite mug.

Cat

 

[slyc_willie]

You make things too complicated, Cat.

Hershey's mix and some hot milk. Good enough for me.

Even better with a little Bailey's . . . .

 

[starrkers]

Does Mocha coffee count?
It's a bit hot for hot chocolate today. I'm more inclined to go for the iced version

 

[tickledkitty]

I'd like tea, please, with honey and lemon, if you have it.

 

[jomar]

Hershey's, Swiss Miss, cocoa - it's all good. But it's a bit warm here now so I'll take a cookie and and leave the hot chocolate for the folks with cold fingers. For now.

Oh, and I have to do a lot of shopping this weekend.

 

[only_more_so]

I don't actually do hot chocolate, or hot any beverage really. But this being the holiday season, I'll have a cup of eggnog. Actually, at Thanksgiving my Dad had a bottle of Evan Williams Eggnog. I was a bit skeptical, but at 30 proof (basically 1/3 bourbon) it'll make for a merry Christmas.

So far, my holiday seasons been a little bleak. Mostly I'm just tired and overworked right now. Also, I feel like I'll never finish getting unpacked and settled in.

 

[TE999]

Since the temp was around 88F here in the land of swaying palms--I'll have a sweetened iced tea please.

And a few of those cookies.

 

[glynndah]

http://img17.glitterfy.com/346/glitterfy214152674D31.gif

 

[MagicaPractica]

Sounds like a good idea since we're expecting a lot of snow here tomorrow but I just can't do hot chocolate when I have a head cold. I'll go for the Bigelow Sweet Dreams tea. I'll have to save the Mexican spice hot chocolate packet for when I'm feeling better.

 

[slyc_willie]

http://img17.glitterfy.com/346/glitterfy214152674D31.gif

Well said.

 

[Guest]

I love a good cup of cocoa on a cold wintry day....

I miss that sometimes just sitting there doing nothing but staring and enjoying the flakes as they fall....

I have seen more then my share of snow this year already, I am ready for spring

 

[CrimsonMaiden]

I'd like to have some right now. I'm freezing!

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

"Come on in. Sit down, join us. Tell us what the weather's like in your part of the world."

Well, the weather outside is frightful, but in here it's quite delightful.


Actually, I was cold earlier today too and I got out my sleeping bag and snuggled into it on the couch. Warm and toasty now!

I should get some zero-cal hot choco. The stuff is good, but my girlish figure would take a beating if I started doing the hard stuff very much.

Nice place here, 3.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

It's bloody cold and probably going to bloody snow tomorrow. I need more than hot chocy. I'll have mine with Tullimore Dew - and foreget the chocky.

 

[slyc_willie]

Sounds like a good idea since we're expecting a lot of snow here tomorrow but I just can't do hot chocolate when I have a head cold. I'll go for the Bigelow Sweet Dreams tea. I'll have to save the Mexican spice hot chocolate packet for when I'm feeling better.

How about gingerbread?

 

[3113]

The Hot Chocolate Café certainly does serve other beverages of anyone's choice. Tea and coffee, hot and cold, apple cider, eggnog--all with or without spirits coming right up. And help yourself to the cookies

I, myself, will have a dark-chocolate drink spiced with cinnamon. Maybe dress it up with a home-made marshmallow or two, and a graham cracker on the side for a "s'more" feel.

 

[Vermilion]

Bitch. Now I want to hit my secret stash of Cadbury's hot chocolate and lebkuchen.

And I am saving those!

I think I'll have a macaroon instead, I made them yesterday - anyone want? <offers> or I have homemade mince pies, fudge or Brandy Truffles...

I actually have a little tea shop nearby that almost deserves to be a "Tea Shoppe" it's so cutesy and great. Paned windows that steam up, mis-matching tables and chairs, swing music, shelves full of china and curiosities and the best hot chocolate in the world. I have to ration my visits, but I feel one coming on.

Anybody wanna come with? It's bright and sunny today, with a seriously cold tang to the air and frost overlaying everything. Perfect for a countryside stomp and a big mug of hot choc.

x
V

 

[Chantilyvamp]

I'll have an eggnog please, haven't had any in years. As for the weather, wind is coming in from the eastern sea front and could get quite icey by noon. The clouds are gathering for the storm and I'm thinking of going out

 

[keeblercrumb]

This will come as a shock, but being in the middle of Russia.... it is hmmmmmm
Fucking Cold and a cup of hot chocolate.. would be super!

For me, the very best in the world may be found in Rome... as I discovered one very cold and wet New Years eve two years ago.... So thick the spoon almost stands up... Kinda like Hot Chocolate pudding.... In Rome it is milk chocolate... In Naples it is dark chocolate..

In Russia... it is called vodka. But that will warm your tummy too.

-KC

 

[neonlyte]

Hmm... your chocolate looks better than the stuff we're serving (see 'where are all the good people thread). I'll pop by you place later

 

[3113]

Hot Chocolate Café is open 24/7, though a visit to Vermilion's Tea Shoppe sounds sooo tempting

We're a bit cozier here at the HCC. Couches and plush armchairs. If you have to venture out into the cold today, stop on by and warm up:

http://www.wilderoastcafe.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/metrocafe.jpg

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

In honor of the thread starter rose:), I post this brilliant essay she quickly tossed off a year ago, which explains part of the reason we come to places like HC Cafe's this time of year:

3113 answered "what is the Christmas spirit" as follows:

The Christmas Spirit is a need to fight back. The days are very short, the nights long. Christmas comes out of a European tradition, which means the world is frozen and barren. It looks dead. (I rather suspect we wouldn't have Christmas at this time of year if we'd come out of an Australian tradition.)

Anyway, at this point the world is bleak. It's going on three months since our harvest festival, and the food that's been sustaining us is repetitive and bland-- people are stuck inside and getting cabin fever, they're arguing, they're afraid, they're depressed. And, like Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol, there's a very scary chance that they might not make it. Until we got better with the medicines, the winter was the most likely time that people would get sick and die. Food might run out, we might starve.

We need something to look forward to, to live for and get excited about. Because if we don't, all we have to look forward to is three more months of all this, including the fear, depression, etc.

So, what is the Christmas Spirit? The Christmas Spirit says, "Fie on all that! I'm fighting back! Look! Fire to get through the longest night! HAH! Look, a goose and dried fruit and spices to actually enjoy! HAH! Look, I've found evergreens, color! HAH! Look, music, dancing, games! HAH!" And gift giving. Family members make secret presents for each other ... everyone waits for that day when they'll get and give those secret presents. What excitment in all this dreariness. What an event! And you get something new! If you were stuck for weeks on end in a little house with your family, and you very rarely got something new and special, this would be a most marvelous treat.

In the end, the Christmas Spirit is about lifting everyone's spirit. About, well, having a party and celebrating that you're alive at a time when the rest of the world is dead. It's infusing flavor into a world of bland food, color into a world of white and brown and gray, fun into a world of dreary survivalism and camaraderie into a world of depression, fears and quarrels.