Thursday, October 05, 2006

Fun Morning

Had a good morning over here already. This morning was the first hard frost we've had for the season (at least that we've noticed anyway!) The kids were excited about the "Snow" and since that's what they thought it was, we had an early-morning impromptu science lesson, whereby we all went outside and investigated what it was. This turned into a full-fledged playtime when they decided to haul out their sleds from the garage and try out the hill in the yard. We have a nice-sized hill out front that the kids have been itching to sled down since we got here. Today was their chance, they decided.

So! While the rest of the neighbor kids filed onto the school bus, (boy were our kids glared at! lol!), our kids had a BLAST going up and down the hill...

And, since this was the first "snow day" of the year - (well, it wasn't snow, but you know what I mean), I made some of my stashed gourmet hot chocolate. (Anyone else an Ibarra chocolate lover?) Even got out my authentic Mexican molinillo frother and had a little cultural experience with the kids explaining how to froth up the chocolate, taught them a little Spanish song to sing while using the molinillo, gave a little "history of chocolate" lesson (hey, I was a Spanish minor, plus I am a woman. How could I not know the history of chocolate off the top of my head?!) We pretty much had a ball... all we were missing were the churros!

Don't know the joys of "real" hot chocolate? You can do homeschool with us today too! Do a Google search or check:

http://messycucina.blogspot.com/2006/02/el-molinillo.html http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/mexicanchocolate.htm

Have I mentioned how much I love homeschool? :O)

3 comments:

Missy said...

And I thought it got chilly here last night. Guess it was nothing compared you you all! Sounds like you had a blast. (I wish I had been homeschooled to be able to have so much fun at school!)
Missy

Calico Sky said...

you and the kids may have to package up some snow and sent it to me, the thought of no more snow is pretty sad...
yup, I think I had guessed you like the homeschooling part ;-)
can you post the recipe for hot chocolate?

Anonymous said...

The chocolate recipe is easy. Go to the store and buy some Ibarra chocolate. Since you're in England, it might be tougher to find; it is a Mexican chocolate. But, I've seen it sold online, so perhaps you'll have luck finding it that way. It comes in an octaganal-shaped box which is yellow and red.

The way we make it is we grate up the 2 sections of chocolate per serving in a saucepan, (it grates into powder, it's so hard), add 1 cup of milk per serving, and heat. As it heats up, we froth it up with the molinillo - the bubblier the better. If you don't have a frother, just pulse it in a blender after the chocolate is melted. That'll work too, but it isn't quite as fun for the Littles. ;O)