I’ve decorated, shopped, wrapped, and shipped. I’m ready to relax with some spiked cocoa. It’s easy to make and customizable, using your favorite liquor.
- 2 oz chocolate, chopped – semi-sweet, dark, or white, your choice
- 6 oz whole milk, heated
- 1.5 oz of your preferred spirit
Put your chocolate in a mug, pour in hot milk, let stand for a couple of minutes until the chocolate melts, and stir. Pour in your spirits, stir. Garnish with whipped cream, marshmallows, chocolate shavings, or crushed peppermint candy, enjoy.
Do you have a favorite chocolate drink, maybe a stout or porter? Or even a great booze-free cocoa recipe? Drop it in the comments. I’ll be sipping my hot chocolate and watching these reindeer under the Aurora Borealis. I earned it.
If anyone is considering a trip to the far north, like Alaska, after all this shit is over, then I strongly recommend taking the trip in mid-late August. That’s when the aurora come out as well as one of the annual meteor showers–I think the Perseid. There is nothing like it.
I’ve never been to Alaska but it is definitely on my list. I really want to see the aurora.
I do not recommend going with a tour company. I used to work at a couple of the Denali National Park hotel companies and all of the tour companies which came through would try and show these poor people a state that is 2/3 the size of the lower 48 over the course of 10 days. They would wake them up at 4am, tour whatever their touring, ship them to the next location and they’d get to bed at 10pm or later. By the time they got to us (around day 6), the tourists were cranky as all hell.
So, if you go, just plan your own trip, decide what you want to see (definitely check out any of the national parks, but skip Anchorage), and take your time.
Thanks for the info. I’ll be checking back with you when the time comes.
My family calls those the “fuck up your neck tour” because you’re craning your neck trying to look at the sights in a crowd the whole time. Alternate names: “runny shits tour”, “is the bus driver a serial killer? Tour”, etc.
We used to call the tourists “tourons”. Half tourist–half moron.
How do you see it in August? It only gets dark for about an hour? I’ve been to Alaska 4 times, 2 in summer & one on Halloween & 1 in winter. The winter one we saw the aurora every night & even from the plane on way home. It is amazing but needs to be darker than I can imagine it would be in August?
Well, Alaska is so big that it depends on what part of the state you’re in. If you’re in the northern part, like the Brooks Range, then it’ll be later in the year before you see the lights. But if you’re in Denali then you start getting enough hours of dark to get a good view by mid-late August. Fall lasts roughly two weeks–you can watch an entire mountainside turn from full summer green to peak autumn colors in that period of time.
I have family in Palmer & Wasila. Fun fact, they used to babysit for Sarah Palin before she was famous.
Was she a cheapskate to the babysitters or did she pay decent wages?
ALSO
Could they see Russia from her house????
You can see a bunch of beautiful mountains from there but definitely not Russia. Never asked about wages. Palin started as mayor of Wasilla where they live & they all liked her until then but things went south as soon as she had power. Everyone in Wasilla now hates her & most are republicans. Whole family are pompous trash.
I bet they’ve got stories!
favourite chocolate drink…i do like a proper hot coco once or twice a winter (not one from a machine made with the instant junk) with whipped cream and a little marshmallow on top
other than that tho…the closest i come is adding a dash of baileys to my coffee
(a dash in my case being about half half….in a mug)(shame i cant do that on workdays….hellova way to wake up)
I liked spiked coffee on the weekends too.
Dark beers or red wine = a winter I can enjoy.
You can mull the red wine and make any number of winter drinks out of it. Whatever the name, you add some spices and some citrus and simmer.
I love mulled wine on a cold winter evening. It’s very soothing.
Red wine works with hot cocoa too! You wouldn’t think so but it’s very good.
Case in point: Ms. MemeWeaver came home with this.
Turkish coffee porter? Somebody loves me.
She’s a keeper!
I will be trying this. 😽☕️
There are fancier boozy cocoa recipes but sometimes I just want quick and easy.
Also please take me with you if you go see the Northern Lights. It’s a dream of mine 🌌
Deadsplinter Road Trip!
It’s Happy Hour at the Casa di Vino da Cugino Matteo (mangled by me translation of Cousin Matthew’s House of Wine.) Since we never have people over any more my wine needs have decreased substantially. Not my own personal need, God knows.
Every year, though, for the big Holiday Open House I put in a big order at a liquor store downtown. Apparently they track this and wonder where I’ve been. “Um, no big Holiday Open House this year?” I thought. The Better Half said, “You know, Mattie, the well [our bi-sectioned wine fridge with two temperature zones…] is looking a little dry.” So I put in an order from some “dealer’s choice” mixed cases of wine four days ago. They finally came. These uncertain times, I guess.
Among the bottles were some Champagne knock-offs so that will spare me/him from getting some for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day.
“Oh God, two bottles of Riesling. We can pour this right down the sink.”
“Don’t touch it! I’ll cook with it. You can use it with pork chops. I also know how to make this Alsatian recipe mustard glaze that I made once…But what’s all this? These bottles of red? I wonder if they’re drinkable. I suppose they should be.”
“Aren’t we heading into ‘Mattie’s World of Beef’ season? You go through gallons of it.”
This is true, and check out exciting FYCE developments from me!
I always look forward to your FYCE posts! I’ll be expecting some fancy wine cookery.
Do you use the wine to deglaze the roasting pan before adding a cornstarch and milk slurry to make a gravy?
That’s what we do with white wine and pork.
Not exactly, although I am no stranger to deglazing with wine. I stole a recipe from Food & Wine years ago that involves apples, cinnamon, and Riesling, that I sometimes make. The Riesling becomes part of the sauce. Pork chops are easy and quick. It’s when I take a crack at them that it becomes a tad more involved, let’s say. Maybe I’ll dig it out and make a FYCE post. Riesling, by the way, is a good thing to serve to people who have no problem drinking alcohol, they just “don’t like wine”.
Double Nickel : Campfire Comforts. Bourbon barrel aged Brown ale. 9.3%
Xmas lites tomorrow, along with raking leaves.
At first I thought you meant Christmas light beer. Then I remembered, this is Yellowbird, can’t be, he means Christmas decorations!
Mrs yellowbird just bought 6 cases of the xmas light beer: “Saint Nickels Pickle”
😂
1940s
Louis Jordan – Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby
1950s
Bobby Darin – Mack The Knife
Love me some Louis Jordan. Clearly you have impeccable taste in music because we posted the same artist.
Oh shit, posted these on the wrong page!
I dunno they go pretty well with cocktail hour 🙃
My favorite chocolate drink is Canfield’s Diet Chocolate Fudge soda. It became impossible to find in the late 90s, though it is still in production. I used to drink it all the time growing up, associating it with grandma who always had it on hand. But past ten, 15 yrs I’ve only run into in the wild twice and once on Amazon.
I used to drink that too! There was a chocolate cherry flavor that was also good. I haven’t seen it in a long time. ☹️