While frozen hot
chocolate does not sound like the right kind of thing for December, it is a
great nostalgic and refreshing treat even in winter. This version is
inspired by that classic New York City institution Serendipity who is famous
for one thing - its decadent frozen hot chocolate that little tourists and NY
princesses have been enjoying for decades.
The restaurant (and frozen hot
chocolate) make a brief cameo in Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rivka Brunt
which was a real sleeper hit for me. I had not heard anything about the
book before I picked it up and about 10 pages in I was deeply in love with the
book. It is an emotional coming of age story of an awkward girl -
June Elbus - living in suburban New York in the eighties. I
immediately connected with the character. June, at 14, is a little weird,
a little overweight, she likes to wear lace up boots and medieval style dresses
and hang out alone in the local woods and pretend she lives in medieval
times.
June is lonely and isolated and the only person in her life that
gets her is her gay uncle Finn, who is a painter that lives in New York and is
dying of AIDS. This is the eighties so the disease is new and something
to be kept under wraps. In stark contrast with June's positive
relationship with her uncle is the fractured relationship she has with her
older sister Greta - the two of them used to be thick as thieves and then Greta
became mean and is cruel and mocking to her younger sister. The book is
about these two relationships and June's rough passage into young adulthood.
I think I formed such a connection with this book because like
June Elbus, I was an dorky nerdy kid in the eighties (though the book takes
place in the early eighties when I was not a teenager yet). In June Rivka
Brunt has created a character that the reader will instantly emphasize
with. She doesn't have many friends and her older sister, who used to be
her best friends, treats her with the kind of contempt uniquely mastered by
pretty teenage girls.
The only person that makes June feel special is her
uncle Finn - her mother's brother. Finn is a painter and when the novel
starts he is in the final stages of painting a portrait of June and her sister
Greta.
June's attachment to her uncle mimics a teenage crush, which her
sister taunts her with and makes her question herself.
The fact that Finn
is sick is not spoken of, and when June learns the truth she is
devastated. Eventually June warily gets to know and form a relationship
with Finn's boyfriend Toby. He is the person who June's mother blames for
giving her uncle AIDS and so June must meet with him in secret. He is a
bit dangerous - he smokes, he drinks, he is British and a little
wild.
Through Toby, June learns things about her uncle she never knew and
questions whether she knew him that well at all, and whether he really loved
her as much as she thought. She also questions her mother and her relationship
with her uncle. June's relationship with Toby forces her to grow up and
realize that the world our parents paint for us is not always the truth.
Equally central to the story is June's complicated relationship with her sister
Greta who is going through a bit of a crisis. The emotional
roller-coaster of these two sisters being at odds and then coming back together
is incredibly moving. While the novel deals with difficult subjects like
AIDS, loss, family lies, at its core it is about love and it treats its main
subject - June - with great affection. I devoured this novel and
absolutely loved it. Highly recommend.
Frozen Hot Chocolate
(printable recipe)
Frozen Hot Chocolate
(printable recipe)
June's Uncle Finn is the person that introduced to her to all the
cool places in New York - the Cloisters, museums, Central Park and Serendipity
Frozen Hot Chocolate. This Upper East Side institution with it's carnival
decorated interior is famous for one thing - this rich frozen treat. I
have no idea what else the restaurant serves, if anything. For me it
seems perfect that this place was somehwere June visited with her Uncle -
I remember going on a trip to NY with my Mom in the 80's and I thought it was
the coolest place I had ever been and this Frozen Hot Chocolate was the most
delicious thing I had ever tasted. It is basically a milk shake, but it
is fabulous.
Ingredients
3 ounces chocolate of your choice, chopped
2 teaspoons hot cocoa mix
1 tablespoon sugar
1 and 1/2 cups milk
whipped cream and chocolate shavings to serve
Directions:
1. Melt the chocolate in a
bowl set over simmering water.
2. Remove the bowl from
stove and stir in the cocoa mix and the sugar until smooth.
3. Slowly stir in 1/2 cup
of the milk until incorporated.
4. Combine the chocolate
mixture, rest of the milk and ice in blender and blend until it is a slushy
consistency.
Serve
with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.
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