Hot Chocolate

After an espresso or two has kicked jet lag into the long grass, I find no better place to plot a course in a city than at an independent bookstore cafe. Many operate more as cultural and community centers than as businesses, with late hours and a medium-sized town's worth of on-site readings, tastings and concerts out of any weather that may be annoying you. Check out their posters and bulletin boards for options farther afield. And ask the staff: Bookstore cafes usually have a nicotine-tinged finger or two on a city's pulse.

Much like the metal that comes from deep within Chile's mines, the national spice also has a copper hue. Within the last few years, merkén , made from ground smoked chiles, has moved from being solely a local curiosity to a tabletop mainstay in Chile and is now making headway into the U.S. market. Traditionally used in the cooking of the indigenous Mapuche culture, merkén has a smoky, warm flavor that adds heat and richness to food, especially wintertime dishes. Mapuches traditionally incorporate merkén into cheeses or use it to coat almonds, peanuts and walnuts, but it's also ideal for meats, lentils, sauces and cazuelas , or stews.

SOME firsts in life one wants to forget, others one wishes could happen again and again. Angelina in Paris is one of the latter ["When It's Cold, It's Haute," Feb. 11]. I first experienced the rich, velvet hot chocolate in the mid-1980s and will never forget that first sip. Along with the little pot of whipped cream and that cold glass of water, I thought I had died and gone to chocolate heaven. It's not often I get to Paris in the winter, but if I do, Angelina is one of the first places I go. SARABETH ROTHFELD Woodland Hills

After an espresso or two has kicked jet lag into the long grass, I find no better place to plot a course in a city than at an independent bookstore cafe. Many operate more as cultural and community centers than as businesses, with late hours and a medium-sized town's worth of on-site readings, tastings and concerts out of any weather that may be annoying you. Check out their posters and bulletin boards for options farther afield. And ask the staff: Bookstore cafes usually have a nicotine-tinged finger or two on a city's pulse.

Hot chocolate is a great pick-me-upper any time of the day or night. Dreamy Hot Chocolate is special because it has peanut butter and orange liqueur in it. DREAMY HOT CHOCOLATE 2/3 cup cocoa powder 1 cup sugar 1/8 teaspoon salt 2/3 cup hot water 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter 6 cups milk 1 to 2 tablespoons orange liqueur, optional Combine cocoa, sugar and salt in large saucepan. Blend in water. Cook and stir until mixture boils. Allow to boil 2 minutes. Stir in peanut butter until smooth.

Just in time for winter: Wendy's says it will spend the next month looking for a way to cool its hot chocolate. Denny Lynch, a spokesman for the fast-food chain, said Tuesday that the company hopes to resume sales in a month or so, after it finds a way to brew and serve the drink at a lower temperature. Wendy's International, which says it sells only about two cups per day per store, serves hot chocolate at 180 degrees, the same temperature it serves coffee and tea.

As soon as we turned the corner onto La Rambla, Barcelona's famed pedestrian street, I was ready to sit down at the first outdoor table and order that hot chocolate. The one I had yet to taste. The one that was out of this world. The one my half-Spanish husband kept telling me about all these years. But my husband kept walking, leading me down the restaurant-lined boulevard teeming with street performers, souvenir sellers, awestruck tourists and enterprising pickpockets.

Because I left Mexico when I was 6, my recollections of our holiday traditions are often dreamlike and vague. But my memory of Three Kings Day, or el Día de los Reyes Magos , remains vivid because it came right after Christmas, in the first week of January, and it meant there was still one more day of presents left. In Mexico, there is no busier time on the social calendar than the end of the year, beginning Dec. 12, the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Then, there are nine days of parties starting Dec. 16 to celebrate Las Posadas, leading up to a big family dinner on Christmas Eve, followed by New Year's and finally, Epiphany on Jan. 6, when the three wise men were said to have offered their gifts to the baby Jesus.

Low-Fat Snack Yum, a frozen hot chocolate--slushy and chocolaty, and with only 3 grams of fat.

Champurrado is hot chocolate Mexican-style, warm and comforting to drink early in the morning or late on a chilly night. What sets it apart from regular hot chocolate is the addition of corn masa as a thickener. La Azteca, a tortilleria-deli in East Los Angeles, adds masa made from whole-kernel dried corn, rather than instant masa flour. A touch of cinnamon enhances the flavor of the drink. Champurrado, $3 for 1 quart at La Azteca, 4538 Cesar E. Chavez Ave., East Los Angeles. (323) 262-5977.

  Mexican hot chocolate Total time: 15 minutes Servings: 4 to 6 Note: Mexican chocolate can be found in the Latin section of most grocery stores. Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try any of the L.A. Times Test Kitchen recipes from this week's Food section, please share it with us: Click here to upload pictures of the finished dish. 6 cups milk 2 tablets Mexican chocolate (Abuelita, Morelia or Carlos V), broken into pieces In a medium saucepan, heat the milk over medium-high heat until it comes to a good simmer.

Because I left Mexico when I was 6, my recollections of our holiday traditions are often dreamlike and vague. But my memory of Three Kings Day, or el Día de los Reyes Magos , remains vivid because it came right after Christmas, in the first week of January, and it meant there was still one more day of presents left. In Mexico, there is no busier time on the social calendar than the end of the year, beginning Dec. 12, the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Then, there are nine days of parties starting Dec. 16 to celebrate Las Posadas, leading up to a big family dinner on Christmas Eve, followed by New Year's and finally, Epiphany on Jan. 6, when the three wise men were said to have offered their gifts to the baby Jesus.

To appreciate Carmen Botez's love affair with chocolate, one must travel back to her childhood in dreary Romania, where the only chocolate she knew came from China, wrapped in red paper and with a slightly waxy taste. After the fall of the Soviet bloc, Botez had the freedom to travel and to taste. And taste she did: dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate (yes, she considers it chocolate, contrary to many confectionary snobs), chocolate with fruity, boozy, smooth and nutty interiors, chocolate mixed with spices.

It was just before midnight and downtown Los Angeles lay empty and silent, its streets subdued by the rain. But on Spring Street, just around the corner from Cesar E. Chavez Avenue, the sidewalks teemed with humanity. Crowds of pedestrians, many bearing bouquets, spilled into the road while a line of cars inched into a parking lot near Our Lady Queen of Angels Church across from Olvera Street. Vendors selling hot chocolate, tamales and votive candles stood over their steaming stands.

  Total time: 40 minutes Servings: Makes about 5 quarts(20 1-cup servings) Note: Adapted from Patricia Rubalcava. Abuelita and Ibarra Mexican chocolate tablets are available at most grocery stores. Champurrado can be garnished with cinnamon sticks, if desired. 2 (4-inch) cinnamon sticks 1/2 pound fresh masa (1 heaping cup), divided 4 (3.15-ounce) Mexican chocolate tablets, broken into small pieces 1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk 1 (15-ounce)

SOME firsts in life one wants to forget, others one wishes could happen again and again. Angelina in Paris is one of the latter ["When It's Cold, It's Haute," Feb. 11]. I first experienced the rich, velvet hot chocolate in the mid-1980s and will never forget that first sip. Along with the little pot of whipped cream and that cold glass of water, I thought I had died and gone to chocolate heaven. It's not often I get to Paris in the winter, but if I do, Angelina is one of the first places I go. SARABETH ROTHFELD Woodland Hills

I believe that when most of us consider entertaining, we think first of asking friends for a meal or to a party with substantial appetizers. But at this time of the year, after the spate of holiday parties, something more modest seems appropriate. In keeping with this idea, a hot chocolate party would be a simple but imaginative alternative to a more time-consuming dinner. The idea for such a get-together came to me several days ago while I was doing some much-needed cleaning in my study.

Christopher Reynolds missed the mug on hot chocolate ("Paris, Always in Season," Dec. 12). I smugly predicted what I would see when I came to the name of the "dangerously rich hot chocolate" locations--and it was neither La Cour de Rohan nor La Jacobine Restaurant and Salon de The, which Reynolds mentions. I shouldn't have been so smug. Some people are just led astray. And so, Christopher, hop on the Metro, grab a cab or run all the way to 226 Rue de Rivoli. See "Angelina" on the storefront restaurant, "founded in 1903."

WHEN winter set its chilly grip on Paris, I started scouring the rues and boulevards for my one true love: chocolate. Hot chocolate, to be exact. In France, the warm, rich, winter drink is known as chocolat chaud. Unlike the United States, where warm milk is mixed with sweetened cocoa powder to create a "chocolate-flavored" drink, the main ingredient in chocolat chaud is real chocolate.

Many years ago people used to sit around the radio and listen to stories. You'd be surprised at how exciting it was to hear a good story told this way. That's because we have the ability to make pictures out of words. For example, here's a little poem: If happiness were a cup of hot chocolate, And I were the chocolate's cup, I'd spin and spill it everywhere And let others drink it up! Try this simple art activity to help you create a picture from the poem.