"fall drinks" news and stories

It's really chilly here in the Northeast. I love the cold weather, it's just that the first big chill of the season can be shocking, especially since we had such an oddly warm October. This is the first time I had to turn on the heat this fall.

So how about some hot chocolate? Having a nice hot mug of hot chocolate on a cold evening is one of the great things in life. Here's a recipe for Easy Mexican Hot Chocolate (which includes cinnamon and chili powder) and here's one for Avenue' S Hot Chocolate (though I've never had Valrhona chocolate). Here's one that uses coffee from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, and Jamie Oliver has one he calls The Best Hot Chocolate. I wanted to try this recipe for Hot Cocoa and Homemade Marshmallows from Tyler Florence last year but didn't. I'll correct that this holiday season (though I have to admit I'll probably go with packaged marshmallows or Fluff instead of making my own).

Fall is my favorite season, for so many reasons (I'm a poet and I didn't even...well, you know the rest), and one of them is the food and drink options available. Fine Living has a list of 10 cocktails you can drink on those chilly fall days and nights. Maybe after a day of Christmas shopping, or when everyone is over your house on Thanksgiving Day and you're trying to figure out some way to have all of your family members get along.