Hot chocolate recipe

Hot chocolate can be a delicious and comforting beverage, especially during cold winter months. If chilled, however, you'll have a refreshing drink or possibly a dessert depending on how you dress it up.

Hot chocolate should not to be confused with hot cocoa. The former is made with actual chocolate and is a richer, much more substantial beverage. The latter is produced from cocoa powder or from a manufactured product containing cocoa powder such as hot cocoa mixes available at grocery stores.

Ingredients

• chocolate
• milk/water

Optional Inredients

• cream
• flavourings: such as herbs, spices, liqueur, mint etc.

Method

1. Obtain some good quality chocolate. This can be milk, dark, or even white chocolate, depending on your preferences and flavors you wish to add.
   
   
2. Chop the chocolate finely on a clean cutting board or counter. One of the easiest ways to chop the chocolate is to use a serrated knife. The amount of chocolate you use depends on how strong and rich you want the beverage to be. A good starting point is 25g of chocolate per cup of liquid. If you need more chocolate, simply add it.
3. Turn the stove top to a medium-low or low setting. Pour milk or water into the pot and gently add the chopped chocolate.
   

An alternative to direct heat is to double boil. If you choose to double boil, place a small pot of water on high heat and put a metal bowl on top. Add the chocolate and stir until fully melted turning the heat down some once the water has reached boiling point. Then add cream at 1:1 to the chocolate and stir, effectively making a ganache. The ganache will be added to your mug of hot milk when finished. Add any flavorings suggested below to the ganache while stirring in the cream. (Using the double boil method should make it more difficult to burn your chocolately goodness, but be careful with the bowl as it will get hot!)

Make sure each serving of hot chocolate is at least 4oz (120ml) for a richer beverage and at most 8oz (240ml) for a thinner beverage.

This is the point where you can add liqueur if you wish. Doing so now will burn off some of the alcohol and mellow out the flavor.

Spices and other flavorings can be added here as well. To increase their flavor presence in the hot chocolate, they will need the opportunity to steep for a longer period of time. However, if you want a subtler, less pronounced flavor, hold off for now.

4. Stir continuously with a whisk until the liquid and chocolate combine completely. Just when you think the two are incorporated, you might notice black flecks scattered in the chocolaty matrix. These flecks are bits of unmelted chocolate, so you should continue to stir until they disappear.

5. Add desired flavorings once you have a fully emulsified liquid in the pot. Liqueur can also be added, but if you do so now, you might find the flavor too strong because the alcohol will not have had a chance to evaporate.

6. Turn off the heat and pour in cups immediately afterwards. Garnish with whatever you wish, such as mint leaves, cinnamon sticks, or whipped cream.

7. Enjoy! And have fun with trying out all sorts of variations!

Exam postponed

Nice when you've been studying 2 whole days for tomorrow's exam and you receive a message the type "Tomorrow's exam has been postponed to a week later". Isn't it? It's even nicer when you consider that your brain won't memorise what you studied now for a week later and that the day before the new date I have another exam that finishes at 5pm. How on earth am I going to study what I did in 2 days just between 6.30pm. till around 9.am next morning?

The brilliant idea of it all is that the concerned department won't even dare to contact you and you get to know through a dear fellow who happened to go to university and by chance sees the new notice and sms collegues.

All this continues to proof my hypothesis: the University of ***** is nothing but stinky shit!!

So what I just want to say to all the responsible:
Thank you very much AND
FUCK YOU all!!!!

Exams on the way

Tralala...here we go:

Fri 25th Jan - Economic Geography
Tue 29th Jan - Analyse de la langue
Thu 31st Jan - Commentaire Composé

Don't be mistaken, I have only 3 exams because I had 11 presentatiosn and assignments to do during the whole semester. I don't know why I'm feeling quite relaxed about these exams. I don't know if this is good or bad either. Over-confidence is not usually recommended. But on the other hand, I did study (almost everything) already so I shouldn't worry. Or should I? Let's keep our fingers crossed

Crazy World

How else can you describe the situation where the lecturer that has beaten the shit out of you last year asks you "Did you continue French Honours? Because your French is so good." Should I punch him in the face or should I smile because IT happened?

....I'll tell you the answer in a year and a half.

...BTW I did continue French Honours...

Update of homemade dishes

Risotto and Meat