January 24, 2026

WEEKLY MENU 01.25.26

The Weekly Menu 01.25.26 combines two special days that work perfectly together~

What days are we celebrating during the Weekly Menu 01.25.26? You can probably guess one from the post picture, dear reader. Hot Chocolate! Can there be a better time of the year to get that on the menu? How’s Fern treating you? We are all agog that our temperature is so low. How weird is the weather this winter? It got cold, stayed cold, and has been snowing too, although not as badly as last year.

Erieland traditionally gets a fair bit of snow.

According to the National Weather Service, Erie, Pennsylvania, averages 104.3 inches of snow for a normal winter season, usually from November through March. Our total snowfall at this writing is 50.1 inches, down from over 90 inches at this point last year. (Current Top 25 Snowiest US Cities) For those that don’t feel like mathing, I’ll do it (with my calculator):

That’s 4.2 FEET

The good news (seriously) is that the shallowest of all the Great Lakes, our very own Lake Erie, has about 95% ice cover. Why is that good news? An iced-over lake means the Lake Effect Snow Machine is turned off since the winds can’t race across the open lake, picking up moisture.

Why, thank you, Fern.

So I guess you take the good with the bad. Frozen Lake? Good. Hot Chocolate? Very good. The fact that all the boysies are beyond wanting to play in the snow? Priceless.

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I don’t miss struggling to get everyone into their snow pants and boots only to have them come in four and a half minutes later with a runny nose from crying and a slush-filled face from an “accidental” snowball toss. I do miss the Cocomotion machine that Aunt P gave us one Christmas. They don’t make it anymore, although there are substitutes, I’m sure.

After I locked the boys on the cold side of the back door, all I had to do was add milk and hot chocolate mix to the machine, and it did everything else. Thoroughly mixed, warmed, and nicely frothy, it was ready in about 10 minutes. (Five minutes after everyone dropped every bit of wet clothing on the floor in the family room.)

Ah. Good times.

I’m doing dry January (and beyond, but that’s a story for another day), so we’re doing gourmet hot chocolate this year.

There are a ton of recipes – I’m stuck between Decadent Hot Chocolate Ganache and a White Chocolate Vanilla Sip. Maybe I’ll do both. If you’re NOT doing dry January, your options abound! For those here that feel like adult bevvies in front of the fire, I’ll use a standard Hot Chocolate Recipe – cocoa powder, granulated sugar, and milk or cream (see recipe in the links below). Then, I add fun shots for additional flavors. Suggestions? Of course!

Peppermint Schnapps (feels like Christmas)
Fireball Whisky (adds heat!)
Skrewball Whiskey (we all know chocolate and peanut butter are a match made in heaven)
Baileys (classic for a reason)
Coconut Rum
YOUR favorite liqueur. What are you thinking?

We had a “snowstorm” in Boston while I was in college. (7 inches: pfff) We didn’t have class, but we were able to get to the package store; that was the first time I had adult Hot Chocolate. That was also the first time I combined Hot Chocolate with the other special “day” on the calendar during the Weekly Menu 01.29.26: NATIONAL PUZZLE DAY!

Ironically, we did an ice cream puzzle

I don’t remember if we completed the puzzle in one afternoon, but it was glued and posted on somebody’s dorm wall, so it did get done eventually. I love the idea of puzzles a little more than the actual execution. Puzzles spread out on the table, waiting for someone to get back in the mood make me antsy. Regardless, I did find some darling puzzles on Amazon that I might try. (The first one isn’t the same as our college snowstorm puzzle, but it’s close!)