Peppermint Hot Chocolate

You really can't get more in the season than Peppermint Hot Chocolate. I'm already a sucker for a product in a tin, so you know it was going to jump into my basket -- okay, maybe I had to kindly plead to my husband -- after all, I had just bought two other types of hot chocolate in the previous trip to Trader Joe's.

Anyway, back to the hot chocolate. Its tin is really a winner -- it has a nice thick top on it, so the moment you open the package it feels like quality. Then, the better surprise -- there are little chocolate shavings inside the powder! I know, I should have let you discover that for yourself, but I really was thrilled with this. I'm not sure if I can drink another hot chocolate again without little chocolate shavings inside it.

In fact, I was so smitten by this hot chocolate that I've already purchased a second tin of it -- and I can't blame my husband for drinking it, because he said it reminds him of visiting the dentist's office. Well, geez...at least there's more for me!

Adventures in Chantilly Cream

Chantilly cream! One step above whipped cream. Good thing, too, because I've been lusting over those whipped cream cans where you make your own whipped cream. But this was way easier and made an awesome cup of hot chocolate.

Since this was my first time attempting to make Chantilly cream, I just went with a basic recipe:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pour it all in a bowl (it will grow about 3 times its size) and beat it with a whisk attachment on your electric mixer. Or you can do it with a whisk and burn off some of the calories you're about to consume.  It took about 2 minutes beating -- and my bowl was too shallow, so my husband was getting splattered with sweetened heavy whipping cream as he kindly tried to photograph me mixing it.  Good thing none of it splattered the camera!

For the record, this probably made enough cream for 4 generous servings of Chantilly cream to top cups of hot chocolate. It will store in the refrigerator, but may need to be lightly whipped again the next time you use it, in case some of the liquid separates out.

I had a lot of fun watching the cream grow thicker and thicker, and I'm already looking forward to next time -- I think chocolate Chantilly cream is in my future. I will say that a full teaspoon of vanilla extract is actually quite a lot for this recipe. I figured that one can never have too much vanilla, but...I was wrong. It was very powerful. I guess I'll just have to experiment more...

(By the way, that awesome cookie I'm dunking is a Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Joe Joe from Trader Joe's! Soooo amazing.)

Plumes Coffee House

I'd been to Plumes once before -- after all, it's a favorite cafe of many students in the downtown Monterey area. This time I decided to go in and pay more attention to what I was drinking. Considering that I was on my work break, I had to grab my drink to go.

After staring at their menu for some time, I decided on a Mocha Blanca (. Have I confessed to preferring dessert coffee drinks yet? Well, I do. In fact, I haven't done the study yet, but I believe there is probably a statistically significant relationship between the number of calories in a coffee drink and how much I enjoy it.  Keep that in mind from here on out.

As I said, I was running back to work with this drink, so I had to grab a quick snapshot of their presentation in a take-out cup. I was pretty pleased with it...I mean, chocolate shavings on top of the whipped cream is always nice!  Shortly after, I covered it with an ugly plastic cap. Oh yeah, and their cups have this really awesome texture, so it's not really hot holding the cup. My drink ended up being excellent. Turns out it was a good move to detour over there.

As Plumes is in downtown Monterey, you can easily swing by the Farmer's Market on Tuesdays and then stop by, snag a warm drink, and sit in the window watching the people walk by. Hmmm...maybe I'll do that next time and try their Apple Cider.

Constant Comment

  

Okay, I'm going to admit that I haven't always been a big tea fan. In fact, despite loving tea culture, I never really drank tea before I went to Japan (and it was the middle of summer, with humidity I have never before encountered in my life). I was served cold tea or cold black coffee by my students, and I wasn't about to offend them by not trying it.

With that background in mind, I have to let you know that I still haven't acquired much of a taste for black tea. Constant Comment is the first black tea that I've tried where I'm actually looking forward to having the next cup. Seriously, I carry some in my backpack while I'm at school, just in case the craving strikes (and it does...frequently). I've been mooching off of some scrap packs I grabbed from my in-laws, but I think I'm going to have to invest in my very own box.

Yum!

(For the record, it's a black tea with an orangey flavor and some sort of spice that really sells me. Maybe it's cardamom...something about it just oozes wintry goodness.)

Has anyone encountered something like this in a loose leaf version? If I find one, I'll let you know.  I haven't looked yet.

Lupicia Tea

When I lived in Japan I fell in love with a little tea shop in the basement of a spendy little mall. I loved to walk in there and try out their tea samples, smell the tea in the tins, and imagine a kitchen with stacks of these little tins.  I just couldn't imagine buying all my tea and then having to take it home in my limited luggage space. Well, lucky me, Lupicia has an online site that serves the U.S., too!

'Tis the season for sitting inside and enjoying hot drinks, so I finally sat down and ordered myself a generous sampling of their loose leaf teas.  I'll let you know how they are as I work my way through them!