I love almost everything about winter. I love the colder weather, I love the snow that falls to cover the ground and tree limbs, and I love taking any chance I get to be outside and enjoy the unique time of year. There is nothing better than taking a long winter hike or spending a few hours outside building a snowman with children or friends. As much as I love being outside, sometimes the cold air gets to me and I just need a break. My favorite way to warm up after a cold afternoon is to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate.
I'm not sure what it is about hot chocolate that I love so much. It seems to me the perfect beverage: warm, creamy, milky, and filled with lots of chocolate. What is there not to love about that? I have friends who prefer a latte or a cup of tea. You will never see me being unfaithful to my favorite drink. Whether I am at home, work, or visiting with friends at a local coffee shop it is hot chocolate that I will always choose.
I guess part of why I love hot chocolate so much is because it reminds me of my childhood. I have many fond memories of mom fixing me a cup of hot chocolate after a long day of playing outside or sometimes, or, if I was lucky, after just an ordinary winter school day for no reason at all. After my mom mixed the ingredients (whatever they were) just right, I got to add marshmallows to the top. I loved this part. I could adorn my cup of hot chocolate with as many tiny mallows as I wanted. After experimenting with several amounts of mallows in my hot chocolate I remember finally settling on thirteen as the perfect number to place in my cup. Unlike most people, the number thirteen was a magic number to me, or at least it felt magical because of the way those thirteen marshmallows made my hot chocolate even better.
As an adult I have continued to love hot chocolate just as much. I love coming home from a long day of work and stopping in the kitchen to make a perfect cup. I have a special recipe that I have been using for a few years now and it just keeps tasting better. Friends and family have asked me to share it but I just cannot bring myself to do it. Maybe if they appreciated hot chocolate as much as I do then I'd let them in on the secret. Until then, I'll keep my recipe to myself and enjoy inviting them over to share good conversation over my now famous hot chocolate. I guess I'll even let them put in their own marshmallows and try to find their own perfect number.
Author Rachael Cleipher enjoys a cup of <a href="http://www.findhotchocolate.info">hot chocolate</a> for almost any occasion. Learn more about this great beverage at www.findhotchocolate.info
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