Hot Chocolate

Heather Fendell  

With the cold weather fast approaching and the holiday season creeping up, it’s prime time for my favorite winter beverage: hot chocolate. Hot chocolate is a winter staple and no, it’s not just for little kids. Espresso Royale carries both a classic hot chocolate and a mint hot chocolate while Starbucks has a peppermint hot chocolate and a white hot chocolate. Some frat houses even fill coolers with a dangerous mix of hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps! Hot cocoa has been a favorite for thousands of years, dating back to the Mayan civilization about 2,000 years ago. It later made its way into Aztec culture, then became popular years later in Europe after coming from Mexico.
For me, hot chocolate is a great addition to any snow day. It makes me reminisce about when I used to build snow forts and have snowball fights, only to come back home to the smell of fresh baked cookies and hot chocolate. My personal favorite: Ghirardelli’s Hazelnut Hot Cocoa Mix with mini marshmallows and lots of whipped cream! Nom!
If you’re feeling adventurous, try this Creamy Hot Cocoa recipe, and get ready to snuggle up on the next snow day (or any day for that matter!).

Ingredients
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup white sugar
1 pinch salt
1/3 cup boiling water
3 1/2 cups milk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup half-and-half

Directions
Combine the cocoa, sugar and pinch of salt in a saucepan. Bring this mixture to an easy boil while you stir. Simmer and stir for about 2 minutes. Stir in the milk and heat until very hot, but do not boil. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Add the cream to the mugs of cocoa to cool it to drinking temperature and serve.

Random Thanksgiving Facts

Ben Thompson  

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and everyone is getting ready to indulge in delicious food. Most Americans know the basics about Thanksgiving: pilgrims, Native Americans, turkey, Charlie Brown, and Macy’s. However, there are many more interesting facts about this amazing holiday. I have taken the liberty of surfing the web in search of the most interesting and random facts there are about Thanksgiving.
First on my list is that the author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” was responsible for establishing this holiday. Sarah Josepha Hale campaigned for almost 20 years to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. She sent letters to five different presidents in hope that they would respond to her request. After years of waiting, she was finally able to convince Abraham Lincoln to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday with the hopes that it would help unify the country after the Civil War.
Second: Americans love turkey. Over the past 20 years, American consumption of turkey has increased dramatically, from roughly 8.3 pounds of turkey per year in 1975 to over 18 pounds of turkey per year in 1995.
Third: the Republic of Turkey does not refer to turkey as “turkey” on their restaurant menus. They instead call it “large bird”.
Fourth: Franklin Roosevelt scheduled Thanksgiving one week earlier in 1939 in order to help the economy. He believed that giving people another week of Christmas shopping would help spur the economy. Many people argued against this and the date was changed back in 1941.
Enjoy your break, enjoy your turkey, and have a good holiday!