It’s getting cold in San Diego. As soon as the sun goes down, the weather changes and I practically freeze on my way to my car. I know, I know… freezing to me is midly chilly to someone who lives in snow country, but I don’t live where it snows and haven’t gotten used to such a drop in temperature. Poor Cassie slept on the bed the other night, a sure sign that it’s really cold or else she would have been happy on her dog bed.
When it does get this cold, though, I usually settle myself with multiple mugs of hot tea. My mom bought me a hot water pot a few years ago and I use it daily when the weather turns cold. Actually, throughout the year I’ll also use it for a quick instant oatmeal or anytime I need a cup of hot water. I think mine looks like this, although I certainly haven’t had any problems with it the whole time I’ve had it. Anyway, if you’ve been to my house, you’ve most likely seen the ridiculous tray of teas in the pantry. T says I have a tea problem, but there are so many different tea out there! How else am I going to try them all? My standby is a nice chamomile from Agadio Teas with a little bit of honey – no caffeine, which would keep me from sleeping.
Lately, though, I’ve been on a hot chocolate kick. I love hot chocolate, but I’m picky about it. I don’t like it too weak or too syrupy and it’s hard to order a good mug of it when you’re out somewhere. Choxie used to make a drinking chocolate that was pretty good. My mom (isn’t she cool? always buying presents!) went to buy some for me, but I guess they stopped selling it so she accidentally bought the Archer Farms hot cocoa mix. To be honest, it sat in the pantry for a long time because I didn’t know if it was worth trying. That, and we rarely had milk in the house. Then I started noticing that Archer Farms snacks and such are really good and not that expensive, so I gave the cocoa a try. I think mine is English Toffee, and it’s really tasty! I’ve been making it with milk and just recently noticed that the directions call for water, but I like how it tastes with milk so I’m just going to keep doing that. There’s also an iSi Whip container with fresh cream from our dinner party, so I’ve been indulging in whipped cream on top of my hot cocoa, which just makes it perfect, in my opinion.
If you’re looking for a good hot cocoa, I think Archer Farms is worth trying, especially if you ignore the directions and make it with milk.
Along the lines of hot cocoa, I found out that Max Brenner now sells his cocoa stuff online. I first heard about him when I read ljcfyi’s posts on his NY store and the cute mugs they use. At the time, he didn’t have an online store but I e-mailed them to ask if they were ever planning to sell the mugs online (for those of us who couldn’t get to NY in person). Maybe they had enough interest to finally build an online store? In any case, I broke the cardinal rule of December and bought myself a hug mug and Alice cup. I think I also bought the Kangaroo cup, because it is so cute. It’s probably a pain to clean, but whatever, it comes with a silly little spoon! I justify buying myself these things because I don’t think I would have ever mentioned it as a possible Christmas present. Also, I didn’t buy the Suckao. It’s a very cute mug-thing, but I don’t think I like intense chocolate shots. Remember that Starbucks chocolate shot, Chantico? It was just too much for me.
In all likelihood, as soon as the whipped cream is gone, I’ll probably go back full time to my tea drinking and put the hot cocoa back on the shelf. It’s just a fun little phase so the cream doesn’t go to waste. Besides, I need to go through at least 2 boxes of tea before I can think of buying new tea – the tray is so full there’s nowhere to put new boxes!
ps – okay, Max Brenner’s stuff is neat, but this one is just weird.
Three Dog Kitchen 