Oh Chocolate (and a giveaway)

Can you see the poppies ? It's my favorite tray !

 The winter autumn has finally settled in. As I write, it's almost 6:51 AM and the sky is still pitch dark. It is getting colder, windier, and wetter. The warm days we had were really a blessing, they were probably the last light filled days until next ¿May? Funny how I used to associate summer with warm weather, and now I know it is more about the light, less about the temperature. Days getting shorter is not something I experienced in Mexico. Or maybe I was just not paying attention. Anyway, with this weather, what one wants the most is to stay inside, watch a movie and maybe have some hot chocolate. Oh chocolate. Mexican legacy to the world. The word itself comes from the nahuatl, xocolatl. It was so valuable for my ancestors that at some point it was used as a coin. As a drink, it was sacred, only to be drunk by priests during special ceremonies.

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Traditionally it is dissolved in hot water, much like coffee, and then you can add milk.  Hence the name of the book: "Como agua para chocolate" (Like water for chocolate). But nowadays, even in Mexico it is prepared in milk. The traditional way is to make it out of  chocolate "bars" that already come with the spices (cinammon, vanilla) that give it it's traditional taste.

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 To prepare it you simply warm milk, add pieces of the prepared chocolate, and while it is in the fire, you shouldn't stop beating with the molinillo, a special mexican whisker.

 And here is where the giveaway comes in. One lucky winner will get an authentic mexican molinillo (since we have 2) delivered right to their door. To participate, just leave a comment, telling me, if you could travel anywhere in the world this moment, where would you go,  and I will draw a random winner on the 30 of October.

Oh and I forgot to tell you, if you go to Mexico, don't forget to visit a chocolate factory in Oaxaca, and if  you are in this side of the ocean, there is a chocolate museum in Barcelona.