Comfort drink

We called off our Avilon Zoo adventure since it is quite impossible to commune with the animals on a wet, rainy, day like today. With no Gabbie to accompany me, I thought I should finally catch up on my reading, instead. A Million Little Pieces still lays half-read along with all the other books I brought home from the Powerbooks warehouse sale several moons ago, and it is my bad that these books lay idle on most occasions (I half-blame them addictive TV-series DVDs).



To further evoke that I-feel-like-reading-today sensation, and to complement the unperturbed, relaxed, monsoon atmosphere, I thought of making myself a nice, thick, hot chocolate :). Mind you, by thick I mean serious melt-in-your-mouth thick. The first time I made a hot chocolate, I let the milk-tablea mixture simmer for a good 20-30 minutes by accident. This lovely, yummy, kitchen accident made Leo and our friend, Eva go gaga over my hot choco. I, on the other hand, always make sure that there's a glass (or tea cup) of milk available to wash down the chocolate. Normally, I use one sweetened chocolate tablea to one cup of fresh milk, but since I already have a half kilo of premium chocolate (tastes a tad sweet, much like your regular choco bar) sitting on my kitchen counter (bought from Deutche, a chocolate stall in Mega Mall), might as well embark on another kitchen adventure and skip the tablea just this instance.







I heated two cups of fresh milk (I used CowFresh) and made thin slices of chocolate from the big slab, about 150-200grams.







Then I slowly added the strips of chocolate to the milk, mixing it using a whisk. To give that extra-thick texture to the drink, I bring the heat up to medium and let the mixture simmer some more. When you get a faint tug in the consistency of the mixture, it is a sign that your hot chocolate is thick enough. You can always pour in more milk if you like it a little more soupy. Serve in a mug or tea cup, add some marshmallow bits, and enjoy with your favorite rainy day book :).







(If you want a silky, gooey texture, you can bring the mixture to simmer some more, and you'll have the perfect chocolate dip for your churros. One of these days, I might try making churros myself :p)