The morning is dark and damp and really cold. I should have layered just to get the papers. I’m about to brew more coffee. Today is a hot drink day.

When I was a kid, I was a Cocoa fan. I drank it every morning. My mother would make both cocoa and tea and have them ready when we got downstairs. My brother drank the tea. She used to put the tea bags in a teapot, add the boiling water then put the pot in the middle of the table. She made cocoa cup by cup. She’d use a spoon to pry open the metal top of the cocoa then she’d put a couple of heaping teaspoons into the cup then add water or milk. She always bought Hershey’s cocoa. I remember the top had a slot so the empty tin became a bank. I had cocoa last week, two cups of peppermint cocoa mixed in milk. I was only going to have one cup, but it was so good I had to have a second cup.

Our toast was always made with white Bread. That’s all my mother used to  buy. I don’t even think we knew there were other kinds of bread. Now I seldom buy white bread. I don’t have have a favorite but some breads are better suited for certain meals. Scali bread goes with Italian. French bread is perfect for bruschetta. Bagels, croissants and English muffins are for breakfast though they’ll also do for sandwiches. You can’t have hummus without pita bread. I also buy naan and lavash. In my kitchen right now you’ll find a single leftover English muffin, some rye bread, tortillas and naan. I like to use naan for pizzas.

I’m watching The Mark of Zorro with Tyrone Power. I’ve seen it many times  but not in a while. Zorro has just made his first appearance to wonderfully stirring music. It was Disney’s Zorro which introduced the character to me. I didn’t wondered why no one, especially his father, noticed Zorro sounded like Don Diego and even looked like him below the mask. It was the same with Superman and his curl and Clark and his glasses. I didn’t know the words for it back then, but now I know about suspension of disbelief.