In My World

When my kids were little I often made hot chocolate using a homemade mix.  As the kids got older and life got busier it was just one of the lovely things that went by the wayside, replaced by the convenient. The other day I had a craving for chocolate but it was really humid out and I just didn't crave it bad enough to make me want to walk to the store.  Then I remembered the tin of cocoa in the cupboard. I had forgotten just how delicious homemade hot chocolate is.  Here's the recipe I used . . . Serves 2 2 tbsp and 2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder 1/4 cup and 2 tbsp white sugar 1/2 pinch salt 2 tbsp and 2 tsp boiling water 1-3/4 cups milk 1/4 tsp vanilla extract 1/4 cup half-and-half cream Combine the cocoa, sugar and salt in a saucepan.  Blend in the boiling water.  Bring this mixture to an easy boil while you stir.  Simmer and stir for about 2 minutes.  Watch that it doesn't scorch.  Stir in milk and heat until very hot, but do n...

Makes 2 servings Prep 10 minutes / Cooking 20 minutes 280 calories per serving 1 leek, white and light green parts only, cleaned 1 tbsp olive oil, plus more for drizzling 1/2 tsp dried oregano salt to taste ground pepper to taste 2 slices country bread, lightly toasted 45 g brie cheese, thinly sliced 1 tomato, Roma type, thinly sliced Prepare the leeks. Cut off the dark green tops then thinly slice the white and pale-green parts crosswise. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the leeks and oregano, then season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until the leeks are very tender and just beginning to brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Arrange the toasted bread slices on a baking sheet. Distributing the ingredients equally, layer the bread slices with the cheese, cooked leeks, and sliced tomatoes. Drizzle with olive oil, then add salt and pepper to taste. Broil at 10 cm from the heat until the cheese has melted and the tomatoes st...

1/2 cup pure maple syrup 2 tbsp butter Place both ingredients in a pan and bring to a boil.  Boil for 5-7 minutes until mixture reaches 225-230 degrees. Place snow in pan or bowl, and drizzle hot syrup over the snow.  The snow cools the candy pretty quickly.  As soon as the candy is cool enough to eat, it's ready.

  Renée M. Sgroi has a collection of poetry forthcoming released by Guernica Editions,  In a Tension of Leaves and Binding,  but you won’t find this poem shared below in that book. This is a new, unpublished poem, that Renée has shared with us expressly for this issue of the  River Street Review. chilled all Christmas week, rain— rain on the highways splashing back at windshields so that water a hazard and the clouds, so low they became the grey of our hair.  winter paused to greet us New Year’s Day, as if this annual herald wished to freeze beginnings, to silver fresh starts with snow. in Japan,  tsunami warnings issued after earthquakes and here at home, four bodies fished from a frozen river today’s news which, like yesterday, in the year before, was not happy. the squirrel that had dashed all week across the road in rain huddles now chilled, as at midnight, after the Tiffany ball dropped glittered flakes of light for a splintered moment  on this pa...