How To Spice Up Your Hot Chocolate

After yesterday''s holiday cookie extravaganza, we need something with which to wash them down:

How To Spice Up Your Hot Chocolate! Imaginative and simple additions to hot chocolate to create delectable, gourmet holiday drinks!

http://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/1054517/delicious-hot-chocolate-recipes-infographic

Still Cold...

...and we could use some warming up (it was 34*F here this morning!). Check out these marvelous recipes for delicious variations on hot chocolate! Those who know me will not be surprised to learn that I am very eager to try the Lavender White...as well as the Caramel!

R.I.P. Errol Brown

Errol Brown, former lead singer of Hot Chocolate has passed away at the age of 71 at his home in the Bahamas. He will most likely be remembered for singing "You Sexy Thing" but for me, his hit song will always be "Every 1's A Winner," a song that, despite it being released in 1978 and sounding like a disco song, was not really a disco song. It is a strange confluence of genres: disco with its chilly synth texture in the background, funk with its bass line and vocals by lead singer and songwriter Errol Brown, soul with its chorus of fantastic black back-up singers, and rock and roll with its blistering--and absolutely genius--guitar riff played by Hot Chocolate band member Harvey Hinsley using a Roland GR-500 which gives it that crispy, buzzing quality. Brown was awarded an MBE (a Member of the Order of the British Empire) by HRH Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 for "services to popular music," and he and his band played at Charles and Diana's pre-wedding reception at Buckingham Palace.

R.I.P. Mr. Brown.

http://www.errolbrown.com/

Holiday Treats 2014

My first clear memory of winter—probably around 1968 or so—is connected to our house on West Main Street. My mother hung wreaths of red, crinkled cellophane with a single tiny red bulb in the front windows. We had a fireplace and my mother and father helped me make a long chain out of colored construction paper to hang from the mantel. Mom made her Christmas butter cookies and I associate their warm, safe smell and luscious, enveloping taste exclusively with Christmas. We mixed white frosting with food coloring to get red and green and I got to frost a few cookies, and then sprinkle on the multi-colored decorations. I ate several before bed each night with a glass of milk and it was heaven. And of course, Santa had to have some on Christmas Eve so my mom and I would leave a little plate for him—and a carrot for the reindeer.

Mom’s Christmas Butter Cookies
Sift together three cups of flour, one teaspoon of baking powder and half of a teaspoon of salt. Then cream together one cup of butter and three quarters of a cup of sugar; stir in one unbeaten egg, two tablespoons of milk and one and a half teaspoons of fine vanilla extract and mix well. Add the dry ingredients a third at a time. Chill the dough for one hour. Roll the dough onto a floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Roll to one-eighth of an inch thickness. Use cookie cutters and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake them five to eight minutes at 350*, watching carefully. Frost and decorate. Enjoy.

JEF

Currently listening to...

...the British act Hot Chocolate perform "Every 1's A Winner." Wow, this song really holds up after all these years. It came out in 1978 (I bought the 45 the day I heard it on the radio--oops, sorry, a "45" was a 7" vinyl record for those born too recently), and although it was played in discos, it was not really a disco song. It is a strange confluence of genres: disco with its chilly synth texture in the background, funk with its bass line and vocals by lead singer and songwriter Errol Brown, soul with its chorus of fantastic black back-up singers, and rock and roll with its blistering--and absolutely genius--guitar riff played by Harvey Hinsley using a Roland GR-500 which gives it that crispy, buzzing quality. Take a listen and get your groove on, kids...

Hot Chocolate broke up but reformed with a different lead singer.
http://www.hot-chocolate.co.uk/

Here is Errol Brown's site:
http://www.errolbrown.com/

Hot Chocolate Weather