A
Steamy Tale of Desire
"What you see before you, my friend,
is the result of a lifetime of chocolate." -
Katherine Hepburn
 February
offers little except short, brutally cold days. There's
just not much one can do except huddle inside waiting out
those 28
interminable
days until
finally March
arrives with its promise
of a green,
leafy Spring.
This may sound a bit silly but I rather enjoy these cold
days because it's the only time of the year I get to enjoy
hot cocoa.
Yes, you can drink hot coffee in winter but most people drink
hot coffee year-round, so it's nothing special. Personally,
I'm not a coffee drinker so the whole Starbuck's thing completely
baffles
me, especially
people
who drink
hot coffee
in August. In Texas.
Ooooh-kay.
But wrapping one's hands around a
huge, hot, steaming mug of liquid chocolate when frigid
winds are howling for your blood outside the door is sublimely
decadent,
especially when alternating between holding
and
quaffing.
Actually, you don't drink cocoa... you inhale it, aspirating
the heat as well as the calories. Like the buffalo, nothing
gets wasted.
I don't know about you but I never use mixes. Swiss Miss
is for sinners. What kind of alien being needs dipotassium
phosphate or hydrogenated fucking coconut oil in their hot
funky mugs of chocolate love anyway?
For me, the careful and
meticulous blending of a little cocoa, a lot of sugar, a
pinch of salt and however much milk
the cat will allow to me to have is my equivalent of the
Japanese Tea Ceremony, a secular ritual
enacted
as
much for the soul as for
the
nourishment it provides.
But today, February 5th, it was 70 degrees in Dallas. Tomorrow
is going to be even warmer, and the long-range forecast says
clear and sunny.
I can't have my cocoa now. It'd be wasted, pointless.
I'm
pissed.
Yeah, I know. I can hear the sounds of the world's smallest
violin playing just for me.
In a way, the warming
of this planet's atmosphere was in part exacerbated by all
those coffee lovers driving to Starbuck's in their SUVs for
another
overpriced
half-caffe
espresso latte. If they'd all just stayed home and indulged
in this drink of the gods we wouldn't be in this
mess.
So next winter, if there is a winter, stay
home and raise a cup of this divine nectar to Mother Earth.
She'll thank you for it. And so will I.
=mike=
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