Happy New Year to all (two or three) of my readers! I hope your holidays were happy and that the new year is off to a wondrous start. 

In my continual efforts to “go big”, or at least go bigger, with my blog, I’ve decided to start designating a series of “official” things. To that end, I am very proud to present, drumroll please… the official mug and winter drink of #MyTakeByTamara.

The mug was a thoughtful (the best kind) Christmas gift from my niece, Brittany. I loved it immediately, and the thoughtfulness that went into its making. It is  clearly worthy of its “official” designation. See for yourself:

As for the official winter drink, it’s a homemade (maybe home-assembled is more accurate) caramel sea salt hot chocolate, served in the official mug, of course! The recipe comes from #Ghirardelli, who I am willing to make the official #chocolatier of this #blog. (Seriously, Ghirardelli, call me, we can make a deal that will be advantageous for both of us!) 

Here are the pics, with the caveat that they are mostly a “fail.” An official drink of such a prestigious blog as mine deserves better photos and I’ll make sure that happens next time. I want you to be able to see the grains of sea salt sitting atop the whipped cream and caramel. 

The good news, though, is that the taste was utterly delicious 😋 and making it was pretty easy, too. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed the first blog of 2017. Stay tuned for more! And for those of you lucky enough to be in an area that is actually cold for winter (as it should be, and as it’s not anymore here in PA, much to my chagrin), stay warm! The official drink recipe, included below, will definitely help! (Oh, and just for my faithful readers, my addition of caramel on top of the whipped cream was the finishing touch the recipe needed. You’re welcome! 😉)

With love and kindness, 

Tamara