The holidays are officially over

We've started an annual tradition of having a party for Dia de los Reyes. I love throwing parties, and it's nice to have one a little later than most other holiday parties. Plus it's a good excuse to eat yummy Spanish food and attempt to bake roscon de reyes. This year my attempt rose rather dramatically in the oven. It was still yummy, but a bit dry. I decided this year to make hot chocolate to go with it and that ended up being a perfect combination. In years past I've generally stuck to tortilla and paella, but this year I was inspired by our proximity to gourmet grocery stores to have a tapas party. It seems a little weird to have a Mormon tapas party since we didn't drink any wine. I did buy a bunch of fun drinks to try with our food; the sparkling blueberry juice was my personal favorite. From left to right we had: assorted Spanish cheeses (Manchego, Mahon, Tetilla) with membrillo, tuna tapenade on toasts, jamon serrano and chorizo, assorted olives and almonds, veggies with garlic dip, and bread. My friend Mindy brought some really yummy serrano-wrapped shrimp that really rounded out the menu well. Delicioso! The best part of the party, however, was the lack of a sideshow. I was nervous about asking my friends to leave their kids at home, especially since we didn't have to get a babysitter ourselves, but I think it was a very nice idea. It was great to have grown-up conversation with our grown-up food.

Tomorrow we get back into our usual routines. A month of vacation sounded like a good idea, and it really was for the most part. But that doesn't mean that we're not all a little bit happy to get back to regular life. I'm still not sure yet if I'm going to be teaching one class, two classes, or none at all. It's looking like two classes but nothing is certain yet. Either way, I'm still feeling a little sad about the end of the holidays. If you are too, try this recipe for Spanish hot chocolate. It's basically like drinking hot chocolate pudding. Make sure you have some kind of pastry to dip in it:

For each serving, mix together 1 cup milk, 1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch, and 2 oz. chopped bittersweet chocolate. Whisk constantly over medium heat until chocolate melts and mixture thickens and begins to bubble. It will thicken more after standing for about five minutes, and that will also help keep your tongue from burning up. I made a giant batch by using eight cups of milk and an entire bar of bittersweet chocolate from Trader Joe's (pound plus!). It's also best if you use whole milk. Just don't think about the calories.