Italian Hot Chocolate and More

Last week, Colette and I made an excursion to Hanover, NH.  A quest, if you will.  We had heard that our favorite gelato shop, Morano Gelato, also served Italian hot chocolate during the winter months.  Say no more.  We felt compelled to try it.

Step #1, study the menu.  Here, we discovered that you can get the Italian hot chocolate plain, or with a scoop of gelato in it.

Decisions, decisions.  They always have a tantalizing, drool-worthy display of flavors. Wickedly, they post their flavors (made fresh daily) on Facebook and tempt me from afar. (Some summer day, I’m simply going to have to make an impromptu visit when pear gelato shows up on the menu for the day!)

In the end, I opted for a small Italian hot chocolate served without gelato.  And Colette opted for the full chocolate experience by ordering it served with a scoop of dark chocolate gelato.  I think next time, I will get a scoop of this Forest Berries flavor in my hot chocolate.

The amazing elixir comes from this golden vessel, where paddles keep it continuously mixed.  Be still my heart!

Oh goodness!  And, yes, it really does need to be eaten with a spoon.

Suitably enlivened by cups of chocolate and sugar, we stepped out into the brisk winter air and spent some time walking up and down Main Street.  I love the beautiful, colonial architecture of the buildings.

As Colette says, “Llamas were spotted in Hanover” that day.

The beautiful campus of Dartmouth University.

Colette did a bit of shopping in the lovely J.Crew store.

Before we left, we stopped in at the Dirt Cowboy Cafe.  It’s a cruel thing to put the chocolates display just inside the door.

It’s a cozy and bustling place populated mostly by Dartmouth students seeking caffeine.  And they’ve come to the right place, as there is an entire wall of exotic coffee beans sold by the pound.

An almond croissant and a chocolate croissant came home with us to share with the guys after dinner that night.  Delicious!