A Rustic Snow Day Feast

As much as I love this el Niño winter we’ve been having, I must admit that a few weeks ago when it did finally snow, I was as excited as I used to be when I was younger, and snow meant a day off from school. The meaning of snow days has changed over the years and currently, snow equals food. My mother has this thing about snow, any time it so much as flurries, she tells us “the roads are frozen you can’t drive anywhere”. I think she loves the idea that we are all trapped in the house together, unable to escape due to her claim that we’re in a “state of emergency”. If you think I’m exaggerating, my father can confirm this.

 

 

With that said, when it did snow a few weeks ago, all I wanted to do was sit by the fireplace. Fabio came over and we decided to put everything we could in the fireplace. We started with chestnuts. While fab was cutting chestnuts, I thought that they needed to be accompanied by a hot wintery drink, so I got the can of Nutella out of the lazy susan. I found a very simple recipe for Nutella hot chocolate:

·      Begin to heat whole milk (I prefer whole milk when making hot chocolate because it’s nice and thick)

·      Slowly add spoonful’s of Nutella and continuously stir

·      Add as much Nutella as you would like, I personally like a lot of Nutella – extra chocolaty!

I don’t think I could ever go back to regular hot chocolate!

 

Fabio, being the carnivore that he is, decided that we had to eventually throw some meat on that fire. Luckily, we had chorizo that was freshly made by Fabio’s parents a few weeks ago. Don’t worry, there will be an entire post on the preparation of the chorizo! It is undoubtedly the best chorizo I have ever eaten. Fabio put the chorizo in aluminum foil while I sliced up pieces of bread to serve with the chorizo. Once the chorizo hit the fire, the aroma that enveloped us in that living room was like no other. We were salivating. As if this feast wasn’t enough, my mother called for freshly sliced tomatoes with olive oil. We grabbed a couple of beers, and we were set.

We went to town, and my father, who is constantly dieting became frustrated after eating more than his fair share. He told us that he wanted to get an electric collar, similar to the ones that dogs wear. “Every time I go near the refrigerator, I want you to be able to activate the collar so I get electrically shocked and don’t eat.” He was so serious. I could tell that our rustic meal had done some damage.

-Gabriella