Hot Chocolate Haiku

For your enjoyment, I offer my off-the-cuff ode to hot chocolate:

Cup warms my fingers:
Dark and silky, this bitter-
sweet winter escape.

It's time to pretend we're hearty Northerners. My plan for this weekend involves bundling up, embracing the cold spell and raising a steaming mug to welcome the City Bakery Hot Chocolate Festival.

Opening day is Sunday (12-4 p.m.) for this, their 13th annual event. There will supposedly be an outdoor hot chocolate cafe, free ice skating on 18th street, a snowman contest and the opportunity to toast marshmallows. (Hopefully said marshmallows will be their yummy in-house variety with the charmingly irregular square edges.)

I'll be there picking up a daily flavor schedule so that I don't accidentally hit every banana hot chocolate day and miss out on ginger hot chocolate and chili hot chocolate again.

If you happen to be sadly distant from the tri-state, simply make your own marshmallows and hot chocolate. But be prepared... as I recall, marshmallow cookery is a stinky business, thanks to the gelatin processing. Favor the vegan marshmallows if you can't stand the stench.