Enjoying

There are two main reasons I love to cook:
1. I love the effect food has on the senses. You know, how your mouth starts to water when you smell baking zucchini bread or see the steam rising from a bubbling pot of soup...
2. I love the look on people's faces (and yes, the compliments) when they truly enjoy eating something I made for them.
If I don't also love something I've made, I feel unaccomplished. But if someone says something is wrong with something I made them, that inspires me to try again and again until I get it right.
Such is the case with my special blend hot cocoa (sometimes affectionately dubbed "Auntie Shann's Cocoa," though this name came around before I was actually anyone's Aunt). I love to combine flavors and spices and different types of chocolate, and I usually love my combinations, but historically for others it's been hit-or-miss. And it's usually a miss. So I keep on trying. I think maybe the thing is that there are too many flavors and people just aren't looking for that in a cup of hot cocoa. So here's a super-simplified version you can make yourself (and let me know if you like it):
To a mug of hot milk add 3 tablespoons Ovaltine malted chocolate, 1/2 tablespoon (or more if you like it bitter) unsweetened cocoa powder, and nutmeg to taste (I add sort of a lot because I love the taste of nutmeg in my cocoa). If you added too much cocoa, add a pinch of sugar.