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The quest for the best local hot chocolate

I am at work, so I thought I’d console myself by buying a fancy hot chocolate (and by earning overtime, so not so much consoling as luxuriating)

Only – woe! – the cafe in the basement is closed because they are not working on Martin Luther King day.

So my other options for a fancy pantsy hot chocolate within a 1 block radius include:
– Dunkin Donuts (who pretty much just has a machine where they’ll give you the equivalent of cheap ass powdered cocoa, but I have coupons that would make this option free. Also, they are the closest)
– Starbucks (I have gotten tasty hot chocolate from Starbucks before when I was in Seattle and people were trying to brainwash me to the glory of Starbucks – no lie!)
– Cosi (most likely to have an annoying line, but also probably the most satisfying option)
– Bucks County Coffee Company – (untried, but it seems reasonable that they’d be good, ya’know?)

I will be waffling about this for at least another hour while I am inside and toasty warm.

ETA: The winner was Bucks County Coffee. Well, sort of winner. They looked at me funny when I asked for a fancy pants cocoa and did not try to sell me on drizzles of chocolate syrup or odd flavors or anything. They just made me a regular hot cocoa and charged me $2.50. That said, it was like good powdered cocoa where you get just the right ratio of powder to milk. It was light and creamy, but went down easily and is now all gone. Not a luxury drink, but tasty and yummy nonetheless.

ETAA: The next day, I tried Cosi. Again, I went up and asked for some kind of fancy hot chocolate (only not the white chocolate thing they were advertising), and again the person shrugged and offered me a regular hot chocolate. A large was $3. This time it was milk and syrup, instead of powder, but she could have had a heavier hand with the syrup. It ended up being a bit too bland for my taste.

ETAAA: Hot chocolate from the cafe in the basement. Eh – it’s a lot like hot chocolate everywhere else. I did not see how they made it, though, since I sent a student worker to get it for me. No, not quite that imperiously: I just asked if she’d mind getting it after she asked if she could go get a coffee for herself.

When did dark chocolate sexiness go out of fashion? I liked that fashion.

Health and Food

So I pushed the recovery on the injured knee and let myself get worn out. And when I am tired, my immune system crashes. So I have a cold.

I’m having the weirdest relationship with food right now. It just doesn’t taste like much, or I have to put a lot of work into tasting it.

And the stuff I am making at home, mostly seems to make me actively uninterested.

Part of it is that I’m worried without a reliable sense of smell that just cooking is becoming a high risk activity – especially as food sits around longer when I’m not interested in eating it.

But even when I make something safe (like a whole tube of Pillsbury cinnamon buns because I’d just finished reading Sunshine by Robin McKinley and was craving cinnamon rolls as big as my head like you would not believe), it still hardly registers as having eaten food – I just feel vaguely starving and uninterested in eating.

I am going out to eat more because I can trust that food to be food.

And I am craving fancier food because then not only do I know the food is good, but the atmosphere is also soothing.

And yet right after I eat, it still feels as though I haven’t. And I don’t know if that because I’m still hungry because it was over 24 hours since the last time I ate or just that I’m not registering my innards correctly.

So I’m pretty much trying to make sure I keep track of time, but that’s never been the easiest thing for me to do, either.

I just want to be back on kilter.

Death Bi Chocolate?

I do not have a baking talent… or really much of any talent for desserts.

So, dear friendslist, is it a plausible goal to produce something chocolatey and tasty (but not necessarily gourmet) for the Death Bi Chocolate people by Monday noon?

Especially considering that I recently re-injured my knee with the grotty cartilage?

Ingredients should cost no more than $15 and be light enough to be hopped across the street. Preparation should be able to mostly take place sitting down.

Are there any recipes that fit these requirements? (even if I don’t make something for the event, it’ll still be great to know if such recipes exist)

I know this isn’t the best year to try my hand at participating, but it has come to my attention that this year it will be held somewhere more local than it used to be, so I’d love to see the event do well.

Plus – chocolate!

Wisdom from the comments: Epicurious Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Orgasms, Whacky Cake, French Chocolate Candy, and these fancy shaped brownies:

Fancy shaped brownies are very easy. You will need:

brownie ingredients
a sheet of parchment paper
a half sheet pan
a spatula
cookie cutters

Line the half sheet pan with the parchment paper.
Spread the brownie batter over the parchment-lined pan. Bake till set. Let cool.

Cut in shapes with the cookie cutters. Place on a serving plate. Eat the scraps.

If desired, microwave butterscotch chips or white chocolate till they melt and drizzle over the cutouts. Lick the drips off your fingers.