Hot toddy (noun): A mixed drink made of liquor and water with sugar and spices, served hot.
Also known as: Hot totty, hot tottie, or a hot whiskey (in Ireland)
This screams to be made into a delicious hot chocolate! Off to the edge of the water we went in search of Soirette Macarons and Tea. A bit of a walk in the cold, but when we saw the little white shopfront appear around the corner, we felt excited.
Inside the shop, I noticed wedding cakes decorated with macarons, high tea tiers being cleaned off by patrons, and an assortment of tiny goodies to choose from (topped with tiny macarons) inside the food cabinets at the counter. With only one festival item available today, I asked if it could be made with soy to minimize the effects of the ice cream that would be mixed in.
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You'd stay warm and cozy even in the peaks of Grouse
Mountain with this buttered rum hot chocolate blended with wild
mountain honey ice cream.
Served with a Grouse Grind Reward Cluster.
($6.25) |
We ordered ours with soy, and were told we could sit "for a few minutes" before any high tea customers arrived (how kind of them to allow us that luxury!). To be honest, the service left something to be desired - maybe they were having a busy or stressful day, but the lack of smiles and conveyed sense that I was burdening them with my patronage made the hot chocolate experience less than thrilling.
The hot chocolate had a distinctively liquor-y taste to it, but that potency was balanced with the honey in the ice cream, which seemed to smooth it out a little. Ice cream and soy milk meant it was very creamy and full-bodied, and the drink went down quite smoothly. "Pristine" is a word I might use to describe the small and almost entirely white shop - it felt like a spot you'd go to a little dressed up or to pick up your wedding cake. Macarons were everywhere! That, however, is to be expected - if there were few macarons, I may have taken up issue with the name ("Modern art? Irony?") However, I didn't need to do so because there were more macarons than I would ever need! Cascading down cakes, placed atop small desserts, sitting to be chosen as individual treats, in as many colours as there are ways to eat them. There truly aren't THAT many, because it is so small, but they are all delicate and nice!
Tomorrow is Family Day, so I look forward to sharing the journey with those folks I love!
