I guess it's kind of a tradition in December, to do some kind of "WEEK" - in 2008 it was
surprise fillings - wow, so fun. Last year we did
Minty Week and was that ever refreshing! This year I've been enjoying an eclectic variety of mugged drinks and thought I'd share. Don't get me wrong - classic hot cocoa is
always right. But for people like me, who don't drink coffee, tea or alcohol, there are still more choices than you might think. It just takes a little thinking outside the box. And usually a generous topping of whipped cream.
But as an intro, I have to give props to my favorite hot chocolate mix of all time:
Lake Champlain's Aztec Spicy Hot Chocolate. The ingredients read: sugar, Dutched cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla and cayenne pepper. All my favorite things! It's not that spicy, just wonderfully flavored. Sometimes I can find it at Whole Foods but usually I just order two cans from Lake Champlain each winter and they get me through the whole year.
So if that's my "everyday" cocoa, then
Jacques Torres' Classic Hot Chocolate is my special occasion sip. It's more expensive, it's much more intense and rich, and it is...to DIE for. JT does a Wicked hot choc, too, similar to Aztec, but I find it a little too spicy and it overwhelms the chocolate so I prefer his classic. The mix has big chocolate chunks in it and the mixing ratio is 1/4 cup mix to 1/2 cup milk...so like I said, it's intense but sooo delicious and perfect. JT has outrageous shipping but luckily I grabbed a can on my trip to NY in November, phew!
I also love peppermint hot chocolate from Starbucks, and I saw McDonald's serves some now too - I haven't tried it but I am dubious.
Have you ever gotten a "steamer" at Starbucks? It's just hot frothy milk with a flavor in it, no chocolate. I love Irish cream - amazing! - and I recently tried gingerbread which was pretty good, too. So comforting and warming. But if that ain't your thing, this is the best time of year for other flavor drinks - case in point, this refrigerator case at Target. There are eggnog, gingerbread, sugar cookie and peppermint creamers. Plus red velvet and chocolate mint flavored milks, and lots of eggnog.
OK so I don't have them all decided yet, but a few sips you have to look forward to this week include: hot caramel apple cider, Nutella hot chocolate, cranberry tea, the best homemade hot cocoa mix I've ever had...and more!
One final note - I only have one kind of clear mug, and like I said many of the drinks have whipped cream on top, so many of them actually look quite similar. Just bear with me and read the recipes; I hope they speak for themselves!
It's the busiest month since October. It also feels like the most important month. With the most things to fit in. And the least daylight, making it feel like the month with the least time. And the best movies. I digress.
Oh my gosh, what have I been doing? Everybody remember Heather from my cake deco class? Well we really did have a part 2, the next week, but it has just taken me three months to get around to posting it! But those buttercream roses were such a pain that I do definitely want credit for learning to make them.
Filling.
And the blasted crumb coat. I see the purpose but have a hard time justifying it for all the wasted frosting. So much wasted frosting!
Then the icing. Same as crumb coat, only thicker and more perfect. And Heather's special technique for smoothing it perfectly to look like fondant.
Wow, telling about it goes a lot faster than doing it, go figure. 
So it was a great night and I'm really glad to have gone through the training. But the reality is, I am not going into this professionally. And I am not a perfectionist in this kind of way. So I really won't be doing my cakes like this very much. The frosting is very dense, and it takes a TON, much of which goes to waste. I can't get over that. Plus I like soft, swirly frosting, or ooey, drippy glaze as much as anything. 
We had twenty-one people over. And, putting my college credits to use, we had 150 possible combinations. Or 750 if you use two different kinds of cookies on the top and bottom. Which many did.
Unfortunately, it's hard to be mom, hostess and photographer all at once (plus my camera batteries died), so there are no more pictures of the party, or the glorious sandwiches it produced. But it was SO much fun, and something I'd like to try again, of course with new flavors.
The Swiss Bakery is almost exactly halfway between my house and my Mom's, just a block off the beltway on Braddock Road. Which makes it very convenient to drop in for a little something on our way to or from Grandma's. Of course, the hardest part is choosing what. 
If it's morning, we might get one of these pastries, like their seriously delicious cherry strudel, or a hazelnut croissant. And an artisan bread loaf or baguette for later. Last time I got this schogge brote or something like that - "chocolate bread" - it kinda had my name written all over it in sugar on top even though my spelling is Norwegian.
(Love this picture of Ginger trying to keep Poppy from grabbing all the Swiss chocolate bars within reach while their deadbeat Mom takes pictures with her iPhone.)
So next time you're rounding the beltway and crave a little something Euro, it's worth the stop. Or if you just need a destination off the beaten path of parks and playplaces. Or don't feel like making your own breakfast or lunch. Or cake. Pretty much the Swiss Bakery has it all. (Call me, I'll meet you there!)
As we all know, I am a baker, not a decorator. It's really all about taste for me. But upon seeing Heather's amazing stuff, and some of the other really impressive goods on Frosting for the Cause, it occurred to me a few basics might do me good. So I collected a few other interested novices, and got Heather to teach a two-part class at my house. (We paid her; she's a professional, you know.)
We each got a big fat honking packet with everything we could ever want to know, donned our aprons, and began.
We practiced a lot. Some of those moves are super tricky, especially the shells, man! Turns out most of those little things have a right way (what we were learning) and a "lazy" way. And Heather does not teach lazy!
