i love hot chocolate, and normally just buy the mix from the grocery store. but i ran out the other day and realized that i had all the ingredients to make my own dry mix. it was kind of a pain to find a recipe online that ONLY involved what i had on hand (what the HECK is up with adding non-dairy creamer to your cocoa mix? ugh!) AND was a dry mix i could store. as is my wont, i grabbed a couple of recipes, took what i liked from both, and made up my own. this is what i ended up with, and it was PRET-ty darned tasty, if i do say so myself.

Full disclosure: nothing in QBert’s Kitchen is an exact science. please adjust as your gut or tastebuds suggest.

• 1 Cup dry non-fat milk (powdered milk)
• 1/4 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• scant 1/4 Cup sweetened ground chocolate & cocoa
• 1/2 cup vanilla sugar*
• 2 pinches sea salt**
• 1/3 Cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips***

mix all but your chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl and whisk until thoroughly blended. add your chips in and whisk in evenly. add about 3-4 rounded spoonfuls to a large mug and top with boiling water.

to quickly convert this into my trademark winter drink, “The Little White Girl” (so dubbed by an old bartender friend), simply leave a little room at the top and add a generous pour of Vanilla Vodka. mmmmm!

*to make vanilla sugar, take a whole vanilla bean and chop into small segments – abt 1/4 inch long or smaller. put 1/2 cup of sugar and your bean segments into a food processor and blend until your bean is completely dissolved into the sugar.

**you want to make sure your sea salt is the drier, finer variety, more like regular table salt. the coarser, damper kind, may not blend into the mix properly. regular table salt will work too, but i prefer the sea salt.

***if you don’t have minis, which i didn’t, put the regular sized chips into your food processor and pulse until they’re chopped up a bit. they will melt in the hot water and make your hot cocoa extra rich & creamy.

Grosgrain giveaway: Made by Rae Jackpack Backpack

also, reversible baby clothes!

Gaga Bum!

1. What is your decorating style? Vintage, glittery, old fashioned? Clean, bright and modern? Eclectic? Other?

i guess you could call it eclectic. my furniture is pretty clean and modern, but i like to have lots of knick-knacks and funky accents. most of my house is in warm colors (orange, red, yellow, and some pink) with dark brown or black accents. my craft room is cool, though – light blue walls, turquoise chairs, sage green and brown accents.

oh, and i LOVE LOVE LOVE mid-century modern designs – bright, bold, patterns and graphics are my passion, design-wise.

2. Do you have any allergies? Scents? Foods?

i’m not allergic, per se, but i don’t like strong fragrances. i’ve gone all organic and hippie-ish and don’t use commercial cleansers, so i’ve become really sensitive to artificial fragrances. when i do have scents, i like them clean and fresh – citrus, grass, rain, lavendar

3. Do you like to decorate certain areas for the 4th? Your house, hour patio, your porch, your garden, etc.

honestly, i haven’t decorated for the 4th since i was a kid. i don’t have kids yet, and i’m in an apt still, so it’s just not all that rewarding right now. however, i would totally put something up on our door or on the balcony if received.

4. What are your hobbies? Crafting, reading, movies, thrifting, spelunking?

in terms of crafting, i knit, sew and am learning embroidery. i also do some scrapbooking. i LOVE thrifting/antiquing, even when i can’t afford to buy anything. i read a LOT and have way too many books. i had to start using the library to save money and space.

5. What sort of crafts do you enjoy? What sort of crafts don’t you do?

i love sewing and knitting. i have an on-again, off-again relationship with scrapbooking. my mother was an artist, so i have a tendency to get into real art on occasion. when i do that, i love collages and sketching.

i don’t know that there are any crafts i don’t enjoy, just those i haven’t tried yet.

6. What are your 4th of July traditions? Picnics, parades, boating, etc?

i usually take it pretty easy. i’m in that weird stage of life where all of my friends have families/kids and i don’t, so it’s usually just me and the fiancee, maybe a friend or two, out at the pool, and watching the fireworks from the balcony.

7. Do you have children? If so, how many and what are their ages?

no kids. i want them! but none yet. i have cats, but i PROMISE i’m not the crazy cat lady. no cat knick-knacks and they definitely don’t wear clothes.

8. Are you a cook? A baker? A Take-Out Queen?

i’ve recently learned to bake bread, but i’m more of a cook. i don’t follow recipes/directions very well, so i like to make up my own, or find a recipe and tweak it. i LOVE asian/indian foods and would like to learn more about how to cook them. i also want to learn to make cheese. i did a little canning last summer and want to do more this year. it’s hard to do much in an apt, but i’m hoping to learn enough to really get into it when we get a real house.

9. What is your favorite scent? Least favorite?

i love fresh, clean, green scents, like grass or cucumber. my favorite commercial scent is probably the lavendar-vanilla blend in bath-and-body works aromatherapy line. i also love lemon and other citrus scents.

other than simple vanilla, i really dislike anything that smells like baked goods. i hope i don’t offend anyone, but i cannot STAND that “warm-vanilla-sugar” fragrance that was so popular a few years ago. i don’t particularly care for berry scents either. anything too strong just gives me a headache, so light is best. if you can only smell it by practically shoving it up your nose, that’s perfect.

10. What is your favorite sweet treat? (Chocolate melts this time of year…)

i love fruit flavors – summer sorbets and daquiris are wonderful for me! those little gummy candies shaped like orange slices are one of my favorites.

my name on etsy is infamousqbert, so if you want to look at my faves there, that might give you an idea of my style.

miniature knitting.*

why yes, that is a Jayne Hat

tiny hat & scarf!

tiniest baby clothes ever!

*wow, these people are crazy protective of their images. almost none of them are copy/saveable. oh well, their loss for lack of linking!

GINORMOUS KNITTING!!!

“Knitter Ingrid Wagner is breaking the world record for big knitting, she is using knitting needles bigger than broomsticks and knits with recycled materials to make a rug in a day.”

This is Christien Meindertsma knitting

sewing machine silhouette, found on etsy

what a neat thing to have as inspiration in my craft room.

birdcage mirrors  from anthropologie