Homemade Hot Chocolate

I touched on this briefly in my earlier post, but thought I'd elaborate with a little more back story.

While we were in Costa Rica on our honeymoon, Ryan and I took a day trip to "The Villa Vanilla". I personally was super excited about this place! Ryan on the other hand was only going because he knew I wanted to go. I vaguely remember it being a new attraction that the hotel was offering (all of our excursions were through the hotel) and almost not going because it became a hassle.

Well, it all got worked out and we took the long drive to this farm in the middle of no where. I didn't totally know what to expect, but knew it would be something I'd enjoy. We get there and everything is semi-shady. There are Costa Ricans sitting on logs craving some sort of wood, small little farm style houses and not much else. Eventually a hiker-looking gentleman come out - the first person who seemed to speak any considerable English. He happened to be an American who had moved to Costa Rica a few years earlier, bought this massive piece of property and grew out of it, the Villa Vanilla. Ryan and I mentioned more than once while we were there that this guy was a genius. What money he didn't make off of selling his produce, he made off of tours and stupid tourists like us.

First we did a tour of his barn-type area, where he had samples of his different products. We played a little game where he would let us smell, touch or taste certain things and we had to guess what it was. I was the only person interested in cooking/baking on the tour and had to stop myself at one point from being the only person making guesses :(

Afterwards, we did a tour of his organic 'farm'. It was the most interesting farm/garden. It was all settled in around trees. Vines of different things were growing up the trees, I learned sooo much! For example the cinnamon we eat is tree trunks. They literally would cut limbs off of their cinnamon trees, carve off slivers of the bark (so THAT's what those costa rican's were doing) and grind up the sheets of wood into powder for us to eat (and also that his cinnamon was the 'good' cinnamon)!

We learned about the different stages of the vanilla bean, he showed up different species of pepper and so much more.

Afterwards we took a short hike to my absolute favorite part of the whole experience. He had a little 3-wall 'house' type thing that stood at the top of a mountain/cliff and over looked his property. It was TO DIE FOR! He had the most beautiful, unobstructed view of the rain forest! While we were there he let us sample different drinks and stuff that he had made with his products while we just enjoyed the view. Perhaps even cooler than the view was that while we were standing there, WE SAW A TREE FALL IN THE RAIN FOREST! Maybe it doesn't sound that cool, but it was freakin' awesome! All of the sudden the peaceful silence was obstructed with a load cracking and BAM there was this void in the middle of all the trees were a tree had just fallen. We both assumed it fell naturally... (did I mention I forgot my camera that day??? of all days!!!)

After the tasting we were lead back to a little gift shop where we could purchase some products. I had warned Ryan that I would probably be spending a good bit of money - and I did.

I bought vanilla extract, cinnamon sticks, ground cinnamon, cocoa beans, ground cocoa, oregano, pepper, and more. (SHHH - don't tell Obama - I brought it home)

Most of this stuff I've used over the course of the last year and a half, but I still had some in the cabinet. In particular I had the ground cocoa. Half the reason I still had it was because I forgot it was there. The other half of the reason was because I just couldn't remember how the guy told us to make hot chocolate out of it (ah - yes, I'm getting to the point now...). Yesterday with the snow and the family time, I decided to just go for it. It would either go to waste and not be used or go to waste because it tasted terrible.

I assumed it wasn't sweetened, but wasn't sure. I boiled some milk and added the cocoa and sampled. Sure enough it was still bitter chocolate. Hmm...

Next step we added some brown sugar. I considered adding plain white sugar, but thought brown sugar would be a little more rich. It was well on it's way... but it was still missing something... VANILLA! I added a dash of vanilla and tried it again... PERFECT! I let Ryan taste it (the true test) and he LOVED it! So much so, that when he was outside today he requested I mix up some more. Sadly though, we only have enough left for about 1 more cup...

I could alway buy more here, but would much rather go back and get it myself...

because I love our honeymoon soooo much....

Question: I love going to new places and while I typically enjoy them all, usually end up saying I loved it, but don't plan to go back. Mostly my reason is because there's somewhere else new I'd rather go. I loved Spain and would love to take Ryan, but I'm sure we'd hit a number of other places before considering it. I loved Paris, but would never plan a trip specifically to Paris (maybe a day trip or a couple of days if we ever went to London...to see the stuff we missed)... but I would with out a doubt go back to Costa Rica. What's you're favorite place you've been? The one place you can't get enough of?

Cord Blood

From what I've noticed, banking your cord blood is all the rave right now. At every class we've taken at the hospital, we've been given information on how to bank your cord blood. The pamphlet usually goes on to explain the number of benefits and life saving results of banking it, etc. I never actually looked into banking it for ourselves, but everything I've read/heard says that typically this is a fairly expensive process. Generally it could cost thousands up front, then you have the added cost of annual storage - which can be hundreds of dollars a year. It just was not something Ryan and I could afford to do.

However, we have also been given our share of paperwork on donating your cord blood. One company that takes donations in particular is the Brady Kohn Foundation. I remember hearing about this company as early as our first appointment and thinking "sure, why not?". Basically what I've gathered is that you donate your cord blood with the hopes of helping others. In the event that your child needs the donated cord blood, if it's still available, you have the opportunity to use it. I have O- (or is it positive? I don't know, either was it's the 'super' blood) and I'm not sure if that really matters much in the way of cord blood, but I figured they'd want my goods.

Being the procrastinator that I sometimes can be I kept thinking "I need to get on top of that" and continued to put it off until about 2 weeks ago. I went online to do a little research and found out that it's not as simple as signing a paper when I check into the hospital, there's a whole process you need to do before hand.

For anyone interested in the process, here's a run down of what needs to be done:

1. Call the foundation (phone number/info can be found on the above link). They will ask you for some information and mail a form for you to fill out.

2. This form will come within a week or so and ask the typical questions they ask when taking blood. A few questions on your sexual history, travel experience, family health and more.

3. You mail the forms back to the company for them to review.

4. They send you a donation package in the mail that you need to take with you to the hospital for the doctors to collect the cord blood and send away for storage.

I'm currently between steps 3 and 4. When I called I was told they were treating my donation as a rush because I waited until the last minute. I would recommend that if it's something you're interested in doing that you take the necessary steps early in your pregnancy. I'm currently concerned that I could go into labor before the package gets here - thus wasting their time and the apparently valuable cord blood.

My paperwork was held up slightly due to an answering error (I guess I answered some questions too quickly) and some concern about places I've traveled. When I was contacted about the questions earlier this week the lady said that she'd get the paperwork signed off on immediately and get the package out to me as soon as she could. Hopefully it will get here soon so that I can have it safely stowed away in my hospital bag before it's too late.