Froth!

On the last day of school before Christmas break, Sammy's Spanish teacher made "Mexican Hot Chocolate" for all the kids in class. Sammy was raving about it. He gave me all the details... Mrs. B. had some chunk kind of chocolate, and you can buy it at the grocery store, and she put it in a pan of milk with some sugar and while it heated up and melted the chocolate, she used a wooden thing to make it thick and creamy. He wanted to go to the grocery store NOW to get the Mexican chocolate, because he said I wouldn't believe how good it was.

I trust Sammy's judgment on all things hot chocolate, because since that boy was very little, he's loved hot chocolate. When we're anywhere near a new coffee house, he wants to stop in & try their hot chocolate. There's a really, really good coffee house in Midland, a nearby town, called Espresso Milano, and Sammy likes to go there on a regular basis to get their hot chocolate. He doesn't have too much trouble convincing me to take him there, because both Kev and I have a Major Thing for their "White Rabbit" cappuccino, which is a vanilla flavored strong coffee drink.

I usually drink my coffee plain black, which is what I need first thing in the morning. Straight, strong black coffee, no flavors, not sweet. By the time I get to Espresso Milano anytime we go, though, I've already had my pot of coffee at home. A White Rabbit is like a treat. A sweet, yummy treat. With a coffee kick. I often like mine with an extra shot of espresso. Mmmm...

So anyway, back to Sammy's new found love of Mexican hot chocolate. I did a little research on the Internet and discovered just how ignorant I was about hot chocolate. Mexican hot chocolate, or rather, hot chocolate made the traditional way it is made in Mexico, is a serious drink, and seriously wonderful. I found a kazillion web sites (almost 300K on a Google search!), but my favorite site was this one by Linda Stradley, "Rediscover True Hot Chocolate", which includes a lot about the history of hot chocolate. It also has a picture of the wooden implement like the one Sammy's Spanish teacher used, and it's called a molinillo.

So right before Christmas, Kevin and I did some shopping, including some grocery shopping. While at the grocery store, I found the Mexican chocolate Sammy had told me about. And then began my search for a molinillo. I thought it'd be really cool to give those 2 things to Sammy for Christmas, like to put them into his stocking.

I discovered that if there is a store that sells a molinillo... we could not find it. We actually ended up over in Saginaw, which is quite a ways from our home, and I ended up calling places there and in Bay City. No luck. I did have several people suggest I try "Peel N' Pare" in Midland. I had already called them... they were my first call. On our way back home, I decided to go into Peel N' Pare and see for myself.

Peel N' Pare is a specialty cooking/kitchen store, with just about anything you may need for gourmet cooking (except large appliances). They also have a lot of specialty and expensive coffee beans for sale, though they don't make coffee there (it's not a coffee house). It's not a big store (and surprisingly, no web site), but they have a lot of stock. And it's what I would call a high end store. Lots of expensive stuff. But they have items that you really can't find anywhere else in our area. Beautiful, pretty stuff. If I had a fortune, I could spend a good chunk of it in that store.

Alas, they had no molinillo. But at the suggestion of someone there, I bought this for Sammy for Christmas... the "Bonjour Caffé Froth Monet" in the blue and white box. It's a milk frother; a simple tool that froths milk like crazy. Right near the froth tool, the store had a huge display of bottles flavored syrups, so I bought these 2 for Sammy and a couple of the red plastic tops, too... These are the kind that Espresso Milano uses...



This is the Mexican chocolate I found at the grocery store. It comes in round, individually wrapped patties inside the box. It's not dense like baking chocolate or a Hershey bar, and it's got some spice in it, like cinnamon or something. It smells wonderful.



This is how the frother works. You pour milk into the glass container up to the line indicated...



Then you put the tool in and just pump it up and down...



I discovered you have to be sure to bring the tool up above the milk and back down into it to get a really good froth going.



It's very quick, about 20 pumps and you're done. 20 seconds. A little milk goes a long way...



Then I put the container into the microwave for about 45 seconds to warm it up. I quickly learned to put it on a paper plate or something, because once the frothy milk starts heating up, the froth seems to grow... sometimes over the side of the container...



I decided to make a couple of homemade White Rabbits for Kev and I this morning, so I poured in some French Vanilla syrup, some frothy hot milk and then some double-strength coffee...



I mixed them up well and topped them off with more strong coffee...



So good...! See how much nice foam there is on the top.



Quick and easy. We don't have a cappuccino machine, and though Kev has suggested one for me for a gift, I've never wanted one. This milk frother tool is super easy, super quick and super easy to clean. And our homemade White Rabbits are really good. Really, really good. And I didn't have to spend twelve bucks for 2 of them either. (Though, heck, yeah, I will still do so at Espresso Milano, because though our homemade version is wonderful, it's not quite as perfect as Espresso Milano's...)