Blue Berries, Pink Birds, and Cocoa Comfort

Apparently, if you pour cold milk over frozen blueberries and breakfast flakes, you create frosty, glazed mountain peaks. Eventually, the blueberries thaw, and the milk turns to melted, lavender snow. If you design a snow face, it smiles at you, but ironically, when you empty your bowl, there lies a southern flamingo.

Proof of these phenomena is shown in the photos below. I actually grabbed my phone and took some pictures. It’s what I do when life winks at me.

Then I did some research. Evidently, flamingos are not born pink. As chicks, they have dark grey downy feathers, and it takes several rounds of molting for them to obtain their characteristic pink color.

I also discovered that a flock of flamingos is called a flamboyance. Apparently, whoever gave a group of flamingos this title believes that flamingos tend to attract attention because of their exuberance, confidence, and stylishness. During mating season, for example, great numbers of them crowd together to show off dance moves that flaunt head-flagging, wing salutes, twisting, preening, bowing, and marching.

Flamingos are fun, pink is fun, dancing is fun, and eating anything with peanut butter and chocolate is fun! Which is why, later in the afternoon, when I felt the absence of warmth and missed the aforementioned food combination in candy form, I decided to make myself a hot peanut butter chocolate drink. I melted a heaping tablespoon of creamy peanut butter in boiled water and then stirred in a packet of cocoa mix.

Ah, the comfort of hot chocolate, made ingeniously more flavorful with an added nutty taste. Don’t know why I never thought of it before. Funny thing, though: a quick web search proved that Hershey’s Reese’s brand, along with some other food developers and food bloggers, beat me to it.

Nevertheless, I pleased my palate and myself, even if only because I briefly believed I invented a new warm drink. Spiraling down Wikipedia Hill, I learned about the creator of the original candy, H. B. Reese, including the fact that he originally called them “Penny Cups” because they could be purchased for a mere one cent in 1928. Suffice it to say that in my stylin’ pink sweatshirt, I had the confidence to try something new with exuberance, making me a flamboyant PB & chocolate lover who also delights in blueberry mountain peaks. 😉🤪

“The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo.” — Lewis Carroll

Wishing all of you moments of peak flamboyance,

Annmarie