Tag: chocolate

Mid-afternoon boost

Sometimes at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon on these cooler days I enjoy a hot chocolate which is a bit more substantial than a cup of tea and, unlike coffee, won’t keep you awake at night. Microwaving might be a quick way to heat the milk, but I often burn my mouth, and watch nervously to make sure it doesn’t boil over. I tried a caste iron saucepan, but spent ages cleaning it afterwards. So I’ve bought a small milk pan with a pouring lip on each side.

With this marvellous piece of kitchen equipment, making hot chocolate has assumed the significance of a ritual. I heat the milk slowly, use a wooden spoon to stir in a square of dark chocolate, check it is hot enough (not boiling), then froth it (for a touch of luxury – and you need less milk) before pouring it into a warmed mug. Lovely. It goes well with an oaty biscuit!

The melted chocolate and milk
Frothing the hot chocolate
Notice the milk hasn’t stuck to the pan so it’s easy to clean (due to the gentle heating and stirring).

That time of year

That time of year thou mayst in me behold,

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

William Shakespeare, Sonnet 73

A friend and fellow blogger wrote of how strange it is to celebrate Easter in Autumn as we do here in the Southern Hemisphere. It is a Spring festival. Halloween should be now instead. Easter, Halloween and Christmas have simply been transplanted according to the calendar year instead of by the seasons. It is great that we have our own Matariki at the right time of year, following the Māori lunar calendar. Still, I enjoy a summer Christmas, and hot cross buns seem right as the temperatures cool, and I love being able to get the full range of locally made Queen Anne chocolates – shallow as I am!

Cute tea towels can be irresistible too – not to mention the delicious new flavour from Whittakers

The leaves haven’t fallen yet, as they have in Shakespeare’s sonnet, but there are some lovely colours appearing. I saw a golden tree last week which lit up Norman’s Road, opposite St Andrew’s College.

I stepped outside this morning into the sunshine after two rather gloomy, overcast days. There was a mackerel sky in every direction. A friend, visiting over Easter, mentioned noticing a mackerel sky where she lives in the North Island.

From my back garden looking North
East
South
And from the street looking north west
Autumn colours, looking west from my gate

And now the clouds have joined up into another overcast sky and I’m reaching for a warm jersey. That time of year.