Exotic Hot Chocolate

Every now and then, I get the notion that should like to 'cleanse' my system. In the interest of everyone's time, I'll just say that it's not as intense as it sounds, and usually just involves drinking lots of water and not eating any solid food for a day. But this time around, I thought - hey, I should ACTUALLY try to do this right, it might be refreshing. Well, that led to internet researching. The internet promoted this 'lemon tea diet'. Ooo, sounds nice. It was a cocktail of lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayanne pepper. Perfect! I'm a fan of all that! Then I read on... "drink only this tea, water, and maybe some peppermint tea. If you're new to fasting, a 5-8 day fast is recommended. The fast shouldn't be continued past 10 days." What? Gandhi? "If you feel faint, sit down IMMEDIATELY."

Anorexics feel faint sometimes too. I ride a bike to work. And that was the end of that idea.

I'm not saying I would never enjoy a good fast. In fact, I hope I do someday. But someday when I have less moving around and thinking to do. I went home that day, having enjoyed a few cups of fresh lemon water, and made hot chocolate from scratch.

Started by simmering some milk with a couple of chilli peppers in it

Used some dark chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate chips from Trader Joe's.

Grated the zest of a mandarine. Let the milk simmer for 7 minutes or so and then...

Took the utmost care to melt the chocolate on low heat, stirring constantly

Added the milk VERY gradually so that the chocolate would dissolve in the milk... as it would otherwise form a granular appearance. Also added the mandarine zest.

I enjoyed the swirly patterns of the added milk until it had a liquid consistency of which I approved.

I added the teeniest pinch of cayenne pepper, and served it in a white mug. I did not take a picture of the final product (bad food blogger!) so you'll just have to imagine what very thick, rich hot chocolate lookes like. It had a little kick from the zest and cayenne pepper, but also a full/roundness to it from the chili pepper that seemed to balance the intense sweetness of the chocolate.