Spicing Up Hot Drinks

The snow makes me want a hot drink.

A dash of cayenne pepper sprinkled into my hot cocoa gives it a wonderful punch. If you try it be very, very careful not to overdue and make sure you are not allergic to the pepper.

I do not put cayenne pepper in my Mom's cocoa bur top it with whipped cream and sometimes a bit of cinnamon.

For coffee, I add cinnamon to the grounds before brewing. It seems to give the coffee a smooth flavor.

Does anyone have any suggestions for variation on winter comfort drinks?

Vacation - Foods

Collage of Pictures from Hawaii

One of our favorite places is Hawaii. Of the islands we visited, the Big Island of Hawaii, is most precious to us. With the city of Hilo on one side and Kona on the other, one enters a world including every climate one could imagine from tropical, to snow, to volcanoes, as if the four seasons all agree it is their favorite place to stop and rest.

We love the small bananas used in many items including pancakes and purchased papaya from a local market. The ocean scenes were fantastic as was the food. We enjoyed driving around the entire Island meeting those selling Macadamia nuts from the trees on their farms and enjoyed the unique features of each island. We found a small shop selling coffee and sandwiches, the avocado given to us was from the huge tree in the backyard overlooking the ocean. The coffee was from the beans in front of the small store. The Macadamia nut farmer suggested this unique place, high on a hill overlooking the beautiful Pacific Ocean, when we asked him if he could direct us to a nearby coffee shop.