Dear Friends,

I write to you on Front Day Eve. What an exciting night that approaches the excitement of Christmas Eve. We were ever so close to having an early Front Day this year, but close does not cut it. This year, more than any other year, proves that we should all listen to Mother when it comes to weather. She always said, “Front Day is one of our most special days. It is a sign that God again is with us, not that God ever left us. It is a sign that the city has prevailed through another tropical season. Advent is near and hurricanes are in our rear. Let us rejoice and drink hot chocolate!” I could not say it better.

As you well know, the definition of Front Day is the first Saturday in New Orleans after a long and hot summer. The weather must be sunny. The high should be in the 70s and a low must be 60 or lower. The dew point will be in the 50s or lower. Usually there is a wind with a northern component. On some Front Days, it feels like it is the first time in months you can go outside and suck in a full breath of fresh and clean air. Although I predicted an early Front Day this year, for the fifth time in six years, Front Day is quite late again. I am grateful it did not wait until November. And it is Halloween! Front Day, since its inception three decades ago, has never fallen on Halloween. Nor has it ever followed a hurricane passing over our city. Thank you, God, that our city was spared from severe damage just two days ago. What a day Front Day will be this year! We, as I hope you, will be celebrating tomorrow with an enormous mug of hot chocolate.

One of my favorite memories of hot chocolate comes not from Front Day but from a trip to NYC, that wonderful city. Mother and I had gone up in late November for some Christmas shopping. She loved that film Serendipity, so had it in her mind to try the dessert restaurant bearing the same name. It was a chilly evening by the time we had finished shopping that day. A few flurries were floating effortlessly in the still and magical late autumnal air. When our eyes scanned the menu, I think we both came to the house speciality, frozen hot chocolate, at the same time. We both, eyes as bright as a thousand suns, looked at each other. We did not have to say another word. I signaled the waitress, and with the same effortlessness of Zach Morris I said, “We will have the frozen chocolate. One cup, two straws.” It was delicious.

We probably all can share similar stories about life-changing cups of hot chocolate. You might remember exactly where you had your first hot chocolate. I have heard some friends say their first hot chocolate was in Tiger Stadium or in their church just before going out for Christmas caroling. Or perhaps your first cup was, like mine, served by the loving hands of your mother at home on a cold evening by the hearth.

Hot chocolate comes in many forms, but most often in the powdered cocoa form. A few years ago, all the rage in the hot cocoa world was hot chocolate on a stick. Usually made of cubes of ouverture chocolate, these chunks were submerged in hot liquid in which they melted. I never enjoyed this style of hot chocolate, although I received several packages of them from Neiman Marcus and Saks.

Marshmallows are hotly debated by chocolate dilettantes. I prefer the tiny cubes of mallows to large ones. And I put more than many think is prudent, allowing layers of the mallows to melt before drinking, giving the chocolate a creamy texture. Abecedarians to hot chocolate often prefer the marshmallow puff. When a visitor asks for the fake marshmallow, I will try to coax them to the real deal, but they often insist on the plastic-like foam.

If anyone tells you his hot chocolate should be served over 170 degrees, question everything he says. Such ludicrous opinions are no different from gun enthusiasts arguing that Jesus wants us to be armed to the tooth. Absurdity should always be rejected, except in matters of dialectic reasoning. I believe hot chocolate should be served between 155 and 160 degrees Fahrenheit. My tongue, and those of all the guests I have ever entertained, have not burned while drinking hot chocolate at that temperature. If you are hosting a hot chocolate party, or just serving it as part of an evening night cap, measure your temperature before serving. How horrible it would be if a guest had a burned tongue because of your carelessness and could taste not the rest of his drink after a few sips.

I prefer to drink from my Lenox Santa mug because it makes me feel like one of Santa’s loyal elves in the North Pole. I snagged a few at 75% off during the 2014 Dillard’s New Year’s Sale. They have been one of my best post-Christmas sale purchases. Whatever your mug of choice, the material should protect your hands while giving your companions some cheer or warmth of heart. Santa mugs, thus, are my choice.

Friends, let us get to the list, TulaneLSU’s Top 10 hot chocolates:

10. Land O Lakes mint chocolate

9. Starbucks peppermint

8. Hershey’s

7. Silly Cow sea salt and caramel

6. Jacques Torres

5. Ghirardelli double chocolate

4. Saxon Traditional Belgian drinking chocolate

3. Scharffen Berger

2. Williams-Sonoma hot chocolate

1. Mother’s secret homemade hot chocolate

A secret kept so closely not even I know how she does it. It is the best hot chocolate you will ever taste.

May each of you have a beautiful and blessed Front Day, October 31, 2020!

Faith, Hope, and Love,
TulaneLSU