January 25, 2025

WEEKLY MENU 01.26.25

The Weekly Menu 01.26.25 combines two ideally suited special days~

What days are we celebrating during the Weekly Menu 01.26.25? You can probably guess one from the post picture, dear reader. Hot Chocolate! Can there be a better time of the year to get that on the menu? How’s that Polar Vortex treating you? We are all agog that our temperature is now so balmy; when it hit 20 degrees Fahrenheit, we swooned. Too warm! Must turn down the heat. The snow machine hasn’t stopped, luckily.

Erieland traditionally gets a fair bit of snow, but this is ridiculous.

According to the National Weather Service, Erie, Pennsylvania, averages 104.3 inches of snow for a normal winter season, usually from November through March. Our total snowfall at this writing is 92.1 inches. (Current Top 25 Snowiest US Cities) For those that don’t feel like mathing, I’ll do it (with my calculator):

That’s an absurd 7.675 FEET

The good news (seriously) is that the shallowest of all the Great Lakes, our very own Lake Erie, has about 80% ice cover. Why is that good news? An iced-over lake means the Lake Effect Snow Machine is turned off since the winds can’t race across the open lake, picking up moisture.

Why, thank you, Polar Vortex.

So I guess you take the good with the bad. Frozen Lake? Good. Hot Chocolate? Very good. The fact that all the boysies are beyond wanting to play in the snow? Priceless.

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I don’t miss struggling to get everyone into their snow pants and boots only to have them come in four and a half minutes later with a runny nose from crying and a slush-filled face from an “accidental” snowball toss. I do miss the Cocomotion machine that Aunt P gave us one Christmas. They don’t make it anymore, although there are substitutes, I’m sure.

After I locked the boys on the cold side of the back door, all I had to do was add milk and hot chocolate mix to the machine, and it did everything else. Thoroughly mixed, warmed, and nicely frothy, it was ready in about 10 minutes. (Five minutes after everyone dropped every bit of wet clothing on the floor in the family room.)

Ah. Good times.

I take my Hot Chocolate Adult Style Now.

We’ll use a standard Hot Chocolate Recipe – cocoa powder, granulated sugar, and milk or cream (see recipe in the links below). Now, I add fun shots for additional flavors. Suggestions? Of course!

Peppermint Schnapps (feels like Christmas)
Fireball Whisky (adds heat!)
Skrewball Whiskey (we all know chocolate and peanut butter are a match made in heaven)
Baileys (classic for a reason)
Coconut Rum
YOUR favorite liqueur. What are you thinking?

We had a “snowstorm” in Boston while I was in college. (7 inches: pfff) We didn’t have class, but we were able to get to the package store; that was the first time I had adult Hot Chocolate. That was also the first time I combined Hot Chocolate with the other special “day” on the calendar during the Weekly Menu 01.26.25: NATIONAL PUZZLE DAY!

ironically, we did an ice cream puzzle

I don’t remember if we completed the puzzle in one afternoon, but it was glued and posted on somebody’s dorm wall, so it did get done eventually. I love the idea of puzzles a little more than the actual execution. Puzzles spread out on the table, waiting for someone to get back in the mood make me antsy. Regardless, I did find some darling puzzles on Amazon that I might try. (The first one isn’t the same as our college snowstorm puzzle, but it’s close!)