It's A Hot Cocoa Kind Of Day

Don't you hate when a beautiful cup of hot cocoa burns your mouth?  I remember just a few years ago we took Ian out to McDonalds and had a coupon for a free cup of hot cocoa.  Before The Husband or I could stop him, he popped a straw into the cup and slurped a scalding gulp of chocolate tainted water down his gullet.  It totally ruined the evening for him and he couldn't eat his McNuggets or drink any more cocoa.

DON'T DRINK COCOA WITH STRAWS!

I think the lesson was learned.

He recovered quickly and has returned to drinking steaming mugs of goodness, albeit more cautiously and certainly without straws.

But my point this morning is that St. Louis has been walloped with another fluffy layer of snow and my thoughts instantly go to how perfect it would be to drink hot cocoa today.  I wish we had more milk in the fridge because I would love to make cocoa from scratch. 

Sorry, I'm not going to share a recipe because that would involve getting my ass off the couch, but it's like looking for a good grilled cheese recipe on the internet.  There might be some awesome variations but the basics are the same.  If you're looking for grilled cheese you'll need cheese, bread, butter and a hot skillet.  Hot cocoa requires milk, baking cocoa powder and sugar gently warmed in a sauce pot.

OMG!  I think I will make grilled cheese and hot cocoa for lunch today!!!!!  Except that my cocoa won't be from scratch, but from packets and hot water.  Eh, who cares.  I have marshmallows and that makes everything yummy.

We have enough snow outside to warrant pulling out the sled and giving it the annual trip down a snowy slope.  The news reports look like my older kids and my mom got close to TEN INCHES over night!  I'm looking at about 3-4 inches outside, but another blue cluster on TV is rumbling up Hwy 44 so tonight we might have 7-8 inches on the ground.

My deepest apologies to my snow hating friends, but I'm loving it!

Happy Hot Cocoa Day!