My last holiday present to myself, that I just tried for the first time just now…

My last holiday present to myself, that I just tried for the first time just now, is a snazzy milk frother/steamer that also makes hot chocolate. You see I already have a fantastic coffee machine that I love, it grinds the beans on the spot and then spits out your choice of espresso, ristretto or coffee. It does not have a steam wand, I didn’t want one with the steam wand and so for many years I have been happy with this coffee machine. But a few days ago I got the vegan pistachio cream (imagine pistachio butter but spoonable and a bit sweeter) from Costco, and – hey, stick with me here – one of the uses it suggested on the label was putting some in your coffee. And that reminded me of this coffee bar/confectionary here in Boulder (sadly no longer in business) that used to make this incredible hot chocolate by putting chocolate, milk, and a nub of Nutella in a cup and then using the steam wand to heat and mix it. And that led me to wonder whether there was such a thing as a standalone frother/steamer, and that led me down the rabbit hole of searching if there was such a thing and, hey, guess what! There are lots of them! Ranging from $20 to about $150. I got one that was a bit more than 20, but certainly less than 150, and the reason I got the one that I did was because a) the reviews, and b) all of the other ones rely on a heating element to heat the frothed milk or cocoa, whereas this one has a little induction set up! So hey, your milk can never scorch! What you see in the picture is hot cocoa (oh my gosh perfect drinking temperature, perfectly blended, you just put the liquid and the powder in and turn the machine on) topped with frothed soy milk (because of course I had to test the frothing function). Before you judge me for this bourgeois indulgence, keep in mind that I never go to restaurants, I never go to concerts, the theater, movies, or anywhere indoors in public, because I’m on permanent medical isolation, so I think that spending a little on myself to make my home isolation a little more fun occasionally isn’t a bad thing. 



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