Afternoon coffee time. 3 p.m.Make sure it's really a break, and wait until the appointed time. It all tastes better and is more pleasant this way.
Essential-- hot coffee; cookies or just a tiny bit of leftover dessert or dark chocolate; a book or two for browsing.
Not essential, but nice-- company.
See the cookies on the plate above? I made these up (if you can call it that) one day two or three years ago when I felt like having a treat but I didn't want to bake. I had a box of Carr's whole wheat crackers (which are more like cookies than crackers) and a bar of Green & Black's 70% dark chocolate. I melted the chocolate in my makeshift double boiler, which is a pyrex bowl set over a pan of boiling water, and then I spooned the melted chocolate on top of the crackers, gently smearing it with the back of the spoon to spread it around. I put the cookies in the freezer just long enough to let the chocolate harden (otherwise, it's really messy!), and then I put the cookies in a jar. These are addictive.
