Although my father lived in the U.S. for 20 years and cooked for Western restaurants, he had never tasted hot chocolate. Upon discovering this, I thought, Whoa...he's been missing out. But then I remembered that what passes for hot chocolate in the U.S, even at high-end coffee shops, tends to be cheap cocoa powder mixed with milk, or worse, water.
The best hot chocolates I've had, like at NYC's City Bakery or anywhere in Spain, are thick, almost soupy drinks made with high-quality dark chocolate. I used to work at a chocolate shop that served delicious drinks made with MarieBelle chocolate powder, but good powders are rare. Hard to find in the US, they're almost nonexistent in China.
Good quality dark chocolate bars, however, are in every 7-Eleven or Watson's. After the dinner that Jacob and I made my parents tonight (black pepper shrimp sautéed in olive oil and butter, with stir-fried green beans), I whipped up some coconut hot chocolate.
译文:
椰子热巧克力
我的父亲在美国居住了二十年，并且还在西方餐馆做过大厨，可是他却从未尝过热巧克力。当我知道这件事之后，就觉得我父亲真是错过了美味。不过后来我才想起来，美国的热巧克力大多数都是由廉价的可可粉混合牛奶甚至兑水制成的，就连有些高档的咖啡屋也不例外。
我尝过的最美味的热巧克力是由高品质的黑巧克力制成，就像纽约城的城市面包房或是西班牙产的热巧克力那样，很浓厚，很粘稠。我曾经在一家巧克力商店工作过，那里的热饮非常棒，都是由MarieBelle巧克力粉制成的，但是好的巧克力粉很少见，在美国不多，在中国甚至完全没有。
然而，在所有7-Eleven或屈臣士里都有提供高品质黑巧克力的吧台，今天我与Jacob为父母做了顿晚餐（橄榄油黑胡椒虾子、油炸绿豆），晚饭后我们就去那喝了一些椰子热巧克力。