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Adventures in Hot Chocolate

March 10, 2012 at 10:44 am by Claudia

You all know about my love for hot chocolate during the winter months, don’t you? I’ve written about it many times. I even shared the ultimate in hot chocolate with you when I was working in New York City last year. This rich confection was a treat from the City Bakery:

My favorite? Ghirardelli’s. Umm-ummm good!

But Ghirardelli’s is a bit pricey. I usually find a way to validate my purchase: “I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I rarely eat out, it’s cold outside. I deserve it.” But as winter is winding down, I couldn’t quite justify buying another tin. I started drinking Mandarin Orange Spice Herbal Tea in the afternoon. Very nice, but not quite the same as hot chocolate. Yes, it has a pleasant taste, it’s hot, it’s in a mug…but it’s not chocolate.

So, I found myself at Trader Joe’s the other day and happened upon a display featuring their tins of hot chocolate. Perfect, said I, perfect! Because we all know part of the allure of Trader Joe’s is the great prices. The price turned out to be considerably less than Ghirardelli’s. Yippee! And why not try another brand? I was expanding my horizons. I was proud of myself.

Fast forward a few days. Don left for work in the late afternoon. I feed the dogs at that point, make some tea or hot chocolate and sit down in the den. It’s a peaceful time that I look forward to. The dogs sack out after they’ve chowed down. The house is quiet. I usually read some blogs and sip on my beverage of choice.

Ah! This was the time to make that hot chocolate from Trader Joe’s. I warmed up the milk – actually, almond milk – and read the directions on the label which said to add 2 tablespoons of cocoa to warm milk. Hmmm. Ghirardelli’s instructions were to add 4 tablespoons. I figured I’d split the difference and use 3.

Off I went to the den, mug in hand, dogs at my feet. I got settled, opened up my laptop and proceeded to take a sip of the hot chocolate.

My mouth felt like it was on fire.

My taste buds were screaming. It felt like someone had dumped pepper in the mug and mixed it with the hot chocolate. It was bad. I almost did a spit take – had I been in a movie, I guarantee the director would have made me do one. What happened? Had I dumped everything into a mug that had something else in it? Unlikely. Was this a bad batch? Had someone, God forbid, tampered with the hot chocolate, like the Tylenol scare of so many years ago?

I ran to the kitchen and dumped it out. What the ???

Then I grabbed the tin for a closer look.

It was ‘Spicy Hot Cocoa.’

Spicy? Who the heck drinks Spicy Hot Cocoa? Well, obviously people do, but not me! When I told Don about it, he imagined the spices to be cinnamon and cloves; gentle, warm, comforting spices. Well, there’s cinnamon in it, for sure. But the main spice? Cayenne Pepper.

Yes, you read that correctly. Cayenne Pepper.

No wonder I ran to the kitchen, mouth on fire.

I immediately found some sort of generic brand of hot chocolate buried in the pantry and proceeded to drink it. I had to erase the sense memory of that nightmarish taste.

Lesson learned. Read labels more carefully. And pay the extra $3.50 for Ghirardelli’s.

Rocks, Pajamas & a Hair Cut

March 9, 2012 at 8:51 am by Claudia

Recipe for an aching back? Picking up hundreds of rocks from my front yard. And there are thousands more, my friends. Talk about a frustrating task! Every time I think I have a little area cleared, as if by magic, more appear. And where the heck am I going to put them all? The larger ones will be used to further define the edges of my garden beds. The little ones? I have no idea!

Though today is about 20 degrees cooler, the last two days have been glorious. Temps in the 60’s, sun shining…oh spring, please come soon! I hope you’ve been having some spring-like weather in your neck of the woods. I have been extolling the virtues of spring so much that I briefly forgot that spring means no more of this:

Oh no! How can I go on? Fortunately, there will still be a few weeks (or more) of cooler temps, giving me more opportunities to wear my flannel pajamas. This is the Northeast, after all.

Thanks for all the wonderful comments on yesterday’s post. A couple of things come to mind: my friend Barbara said that she thinks women have been taught not to ‘toot our own horns’ and I think she’s right. I’ve always had a reluctance to do so and that hasn’t always served me well. I was speaking about those who seem to post only (and endlessly) about their accomplishments. It gets old, fast. But, yes, I could probably toot my own horn a little more than I do. But only a little.

The other thing I want to touch on is that I know many of you must promote your blog business and/or your Etsy shop and that the accepted method to do these things has become social media – using Twitter and Facebook to help get the word out there. That requires a juggling act of sorts, which must be time-consuming. But if you need to promote your business, you have to do it.

I know that writers hoping to get published are told to get a Facebook page because publishers and agents will automatically check to see how many fans or likes they have. That has become the way of the world in this century. The work can’t speak for itself? It all seems so exhausting.

There’s much to think about.

Okay. I’m not tooting my own horn, but you asked for photos of the hair cut.

I took these with my iPhone – always tricky. It’s just a simple cut, but I had about 4 inches chopped off. I feel so much better. And because I always feel awkward having my picture taken:

See? All about me, me, me.

I look rather startled.

And a little nuts.

I am.

Have a great Friday!

A Love/Hate Relationship with Social Media

March 8, 2012 at 9:14 am by Claudia

On the road this morning to get my hair cut! Yes, I know this excitement seems a bit over the top but I’ve put it off for months. My hair is baby fine and when it gets too long – which it is – it just doesn’t look good. If I parted my hair down the middle, I’d look exactly like I looked in college. And I’m not in college, if you know what I mean. I’m going to tell Amanda to take 3 1/2 inches off.

I have a love/hate thing with social media. Everyone is tweeting, it seems, or texting, or on Facebook. I have a twitter account. I’ve had it for months. I think I’ve tweeted twice. And I had to force myself to. I can’t help but wonder who the heck cares about the minutia of my life? I don’t even care, so why should I expect someone else to? It just looks like an endless time-waster to me. Rather that tweeting about a moment, how about living in the moment?

I love Facebook for one thing: I have reconnected with former students and friends from theater, high school, college and grad school. That is simply wonderful. That’s what I use Facebook for. To connect to people I care about and who live all over the world.

The thing about Facebook that irritates me is the endless self-promoting that goes on there. Of course, we all want to share good news, it’s only natural. But when post after post is about ‘look at me…I did this or I did that’ – my eyes glaze over. It turns me off. The truth about me is that I’ve never been comfortable bragging about myself or listing my accomplishments. Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished. But I’m not a person who feels the need to tell everyone about it. Nine times out of ten, it’s my husband who will sneak in a post about something I’m involved in. And sometimes I will tell him not to!

I don’t link my blog posts there. I don’t want a Facebook page for this blog. Why do I need another page with fans when I already have you all here? I don’t get it. The time that it would take to maintain a blog Facebook page is time I’d rather devote to…the blog.

Maybe it’s just me? After all, with reality television, social media and YouTube, we have entered a world that is often about ‘me, me, me.’ I’m clearly not of this generation. I wasn’t raised to constantly toot my own horn. Maybe it’s that Midwestern Protestant upbringing?

The irony that I have a blog hasn’t escaped me. I love to chat about things here on this blog. But that seems different to me. I hope it’s different. I’m naturally self-deprecating. Most of the time, I see life through a humorous lens. Observations about life are the basis for most of my posts.

I’m sure I will occasionally share something I’m proud of – something I made or some decorating ideas – after all, I share something or other with you every day. But I promise not to make that the focus of this blog. I think of this blog as a potpourri of observations, ideas, projects, and the occasional heartfelt rant.

What are your thoughts on social media? Mine are clearly conflicted!

I have to get going. I’m closing with another photo of Ms. Smartie Scout:

She’s brilliant, isn’t she? And a bit crazy.

Whoops! It’s Thursday and that means Thrifty Living 2012 and I totally forgot to send you over to Elaine’s blog – where she is going to share about homemade household cleaners. Stop by!

Adventures in Hot Chocolate

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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