A Cold Walk & Hot Cocoa

      I love my neighborhood at night. The air is crisp and there's less traffic to make a ruckus. Roads and sidewalks are lit by lampposts and twinkling yard lights so the trash is harder to see. (Lawn gnomes are still visible but you can't have everything.) The city blocks have a sense of romance to them when blanketed by the dark.

The path to a park behind the high school. Love these stairs!

      I used to walk the area alone at night. Unfortunately, there's been a few incidents in the area and I decided that it's safer to have Shadow, my Black Lab, with me. He loves to take me for a walk, as it's an extra one for him. There were a couple of times where I tried to snag a picture of him in the leaves but he was just too excited. (Ended up with some great blurred photos of a dark creature with shining eyes though. Those will come in handy for a story.😁)

      Like an idiot, I forgot to bring my gloves. It was 37°F outside and we've had a lot of rain lately so my hands were freezing after about five minutes. Hopefully, that'll teach me to bring them tomorrow night.

I resisted the urge to jump into this leaf pile. You're welcome neighbors!

      Since I was cold, all I wanted was a steaming cup of hot chocolate. Shadow and I cut our trek short and we went back home after a quick tour through the park.

      I don't typically have the instant cocoa in my cupboards. When I was a kid, all we ever had was the store brand canister variety. The kind with the crunchy, tiny marshmallows inside. I grew up thinking that the Swiss Miss single serving packets were for rich kids. (To be fair, I've seen the prices for Swiss Miss in the store and I think they still are.) For me, it's cheaper to have cocoa and chocolate on hand and just make it from scratch. As a bonus, I think it tastes better.

Tonight's cocoa concoction was: almond milk, cocoa powder, chopped dark chocolate, sugar, salt, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg

      I was SO happy to wrap my fingers around the mug! (I also may have snuggled it a bit. 😂)

      Making hot chocolate from scratch doesn't take much longer than the instant stuff.

Basic Single Serving Recipe

• 1 mug of milk (almond milk, coconut milk, soy milk or water - whatever your preference)
• 1 Tbls of cocoa powder
• 1 Tbls of finely chopped chocolate (whichever is your favorite)
• 2-4 Tbls of sweetener to your liking
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract (again, use whatever fits your fancy)

Warm the milk but be careful not to let it boil.
Toss in the other ingredients and whisk until they're dissolved.
Let everyone else wish they had a cup of cocoa as well. Or be really nice and make one for them too.

      The milk can be heated while gathering the rest of the ingredients and it can be made to suit any taste. My favorite is to use a rich dark chocolate and throw in a dash of cinnamon. My eldest daughter loves white hot chocolate and my youngest begs for mint. We've used peanut butter cups, Andes chocolates, caramel bars and cookies and cream bars to make different flavors. They've all been pretty tasty. My girls and I disagree over what goes on top. I say whipped cream while they insist on marshmallows.

      How about you? Which kind of hot chocolate do you prefer, instant or homemade? Do you like to try different flavors or stick to the traditional? Are you holding a cup of Swiss Miss right now?

Photos by @brisby

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