Is Hot Chocolate Just for Cold Winter Days?

Photo Credit: The Midnight Writer
Seriously, what is your opinion? Hot chocolate- is it just for cold winter days or is it just as enjoyable in the summertime?

Oh, you thought this blog was just about coffee? I'm sorry if you had that misconception, but I thought I explained it very well in the introduction to this blog. This is a cafe. Here, we will share about all drinks shared in a cafe/coffee shop setting. This includes many kinds of drinks, such as:

• ~ teas
• ~ coffees, espressos, capuchinos, lattes
• ~ hot chocolate, cocoa and chocolate based drinks
• ~ herbal teas
• ~ energy drinks
• ~ smoothies
• ~ juices

As you can see, there is a lot of room for discussion. But this post is about hot chocolate.

MMMMmmmmm......Delicious, rich, hot, steamy cup of chocolate is great for the cold hands in winter time. After coming in from sledding all afternoon, we used to cozy up in the living room near the woodstove and share hot chocolate with marshmallows. Mom knew how to make it best. The conversation centered around the chocolate, the next day's sledding excursion and who was going to shovel the driveway after the next snow. Beyond that, we talked excitedly about a good movie to watch that night and was there enough cocoa and marshmallows for the next round.

Can you relate?

What about drinking hot chocolate in the summertime? Do you have some good experiences to share or suggestions as to when and where this is a good warm drink to share with family and friends?

My favorite place to drink hot chocolate in the summertime is while sitting around a campfire during a high mountain campout. Usually we spend the days hiking and foraging for neat rocks and plants, so come night fall when the moon rises we build a cozy campfire and circle around to share exciting adventure stories. Sometimes we tell ghost stories or discuss possible adventures for tomorrow.

Camping. Campfires. Family. Friends. Moonlight. Hot chocolate. A perfect combination. With toasted marshmallows from great willow branches.

Smorty will Help you Make Money with your Blog

You have probably seen the ads for many companies that pay you to blog or the ones that allow you to make money from your blog. Smorty is unique in that it works to help prevent you from losing page engine ranking.

I know, two questions come to mind.

• How does Smorty prevent page rank loss?
• Why is this important to you?

The answers are fairly simple.

First, Smorty helps prevent page rank "spanking" from major search engines because they encourage the use of high quality blogs without all the "paid posting" tags. These sites are targeted by search engines who drop the rank because they consider sites that have paid repetitious blog posts written about them to be sort of "spammers". Smorty's method encourages tactful practices and it controls the quality of blogs in their network.

Smorty does not use Wordpress because they do not allow paid posting.

Why does any of this matter to you?

Your site will climb faster in page rank if quality is maintained, if paid ads are kept to a minimum and the layout and content are clean and copy free. If you have a higher page rank, your site will likely be read more frequently by people who browse the internet. This means sales for you.

If you have a higher page rank, and you are a freelance blogger or ghost blogger who uses their own blog domain to write ad copy or reviews for clients, you will get more work. Higher page rank means a site is rated to receive more page views. This tells the advertiser that their ad will receive more exposure than a site with lesser page rank. What do you think the advertiser will choose?

Smorty takes the guesswork out of it for you by outlining the guidelines on their site. Check it out today and consider applying to be a blogger with Smorty. Be sure that you follow some simple rules.

1. I highly recommend that you establish a blog exclusively for Smorty because it's guidelines are unique and differ from many pay to blog companies out there. I have checked out a lot of them so I can attest to this as a fact. That is why this blog will be geared to be a "Smorty blog" reserved exclusively for my personal use and to write reviews and ad copy for Smorty and their clients.

2. Buy the domain and write posts for three months before you submit to be a writer for Smorty. It may be six months before they approve you but give it a try at three and be willing to continue posting on your blog as it increases in size and page rank. Then resubmit when the six month time frame passes.

I have touched on the bare essentials to introduce you to Smorty. Don't worry though, I will be posting more in depth reviews of this company. Come back to monitor my progress with Smorty as a paid blogger because this Cafe blog is awaiting approval. We'll follow the timeline and study the blog's progress to be qualified.

Do you have a Smorty experience that you would like to share with us?

Welcome a Special Out of Season Guest

A&P, COFFEE, SANTA CLAUS, originally uploaded by George Eastman House.

Normally, Santa Claus would not make an appearance away from the North Pole unless it was Christmas and he was delivering gifts on Christmas Eve. Today, The Midnight Writer's Cafe has the honor of entertaining this very special guest. When Santa heard we opened a cafe, he saddled his reindeer, hitched them to the sleigh and headed right on over here to enjoy some of the best company in the world- YOU!- and to taste some of the world's most sensational coffees.

It gets mighty cold at the North Pole, so Santa keeps a plentiful supply of his favorite coffees, teas and hot chocolate for all those elves. You know he needs to keep them happy if he wants to see all that toy production throughout the year. Those busy elf hands take time out to sip hot chocolate by the fireplace with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Thank you for taking the time to join us and our very special guest for a delicious cup of vanilla capuccino with cinnamon. As a special thank you to Santa for traveling all this way just to sample our goodies (we gave him a box of fresh baked cookies for the road. Who says he has to wait till Christmas Eve?) we are also giving Santa ten cases of his favorite coffees, hot chocolates, teas and flavors to carry him over until his next visit.

He told us some funny and adventurous stories about driving the sleigh through blizzards, rain and winds. The whole time Santa Claus talked about his near mishaps because Rudolph forgot to turn on the light of his nose, he still laughed and smiled in his jolly old way. What a pleasure to listen to this mysterious legend up close and personal tell his stories. It was like sharing coffee with my Dad on a Sunday afternoon. Delightful!

Santa is on his way back to the North Pole to feast on one of Mrs. Claus' special dinners that she has waiting for him. Don't worry, you still have time to give him your wish list for next Christmas. Santa will return to pick up your letters right here at The Midnight Writer's Cafe. So be sure to post your list in the comment section any where on this blog. We'll be sure to drop it in our special Santa Claus mailbox for you.

The Midnight Writer

I am Waiting for This Blog to be Approved by Entrecard

Practice some yoga. Take some deep breaths. Stretch. Breathe in deeply. Repeat twenty - five times.

Are you relaxed?

Good. If you came here expecting to drop an Entrecard, please be patient. Admin is reviewing it and I am certain that it is only a matter of time before I receive the greenlight email. Then I can place that wonderful Entrecard widget that we all love so much.

Did you say you're not a member of Entrecard yet? Well, what are you waiting for? Hurry on over to Entrecard and sign up! It is so much fun and it's a great way to find other great blogs to read. Entrecard will help to increase your blogs traffic because it encourages other people to browse the internet looking for blogs to read. Surfers will drop on your widget which will earn you ec points, credits given by Entrecard that allows you to buy advertising on other blogs. Your page rank will increase over time, too.

It's a wonderful way to meet new friends and to learn a lot about blogging, about business, internet marketing and almost any topic that you can imagine.

Joining Entrecard was probably one of the most fun I've ever had online. See you over there, and here. Be sure to come back looking for the widget in my sidebar.

Now, what should I write about in the topics of coffee? Do you have a favorite coffee shop?

The Midnight Writer

Going Radioactive on Entrecard with Midnight's Cafe

Five posts folks and now this blog qualifies for Entrecard. Right On! woot! Yeah! and all those expletives. You can tell I am overjoyed.

Now I understand that for a blog, five posts is just a hair among thousands to make a wig! I promise you, I will be adding lots of hairs to make an awesome full bodied wig. Okay, enough with the puns.

I have several drafts in process right now and I'm working on many new ideas for this blog while I construct outlines to some really good content to share with my readers. (that's you. uh hum.) I need caffeine!

This is where you come in. My ideas fill boxes and file cabinets galore. That does no good if you do not want to read what I write about. So pull up a chair, pour yourself a brew of espresso or whatever you like, and take a minute to jot down some ideas in my comment section. Leave a way to contact you so I can let you know when your brilliance appears on this blog. Sound like a plan?

Okay, let's get busy and write some riveting content here. Meanwhile, drop on my Entrecard so I can pay you a visit and share more ideas on life, love and coffee.

The Midnight Writer

This Cafe is Now Listed on Technorati so Please Fave Me

You probably noticed the neat little green button that is classic for Technorati. It is so small and unassuming. And it takes up very little room. So please, click that button and join Technorati if you don't already belong to it. If you do, please add me to your favorites. I could use the brownie points.

Thanks in advance. Oh, I apologize. I didn't hear you ask that question at first. I was thinking hard about how to get page ranking for yet another blog domain.

What do you get if you fave me on Technorati?

That's easy. You get the satisfaction of knowing that you helped someone who is striving with all her heart and soul to become a successful freelance writer and blogger.

Not enough for you?

Well, you also get faved by me on Technorati. That will help pick up your blog page rank and give you a back link.

Still not enough for you?

Hmmm...let me think for a minute. Oh, I have it! If you leave a comment right here on this blog, with your blog link, you will get a second back link to your blog and drive more traffic back to you. In return, I'll come over to your blog and leave a comment with my link. I might even ask a profound question to stir the minds of your readers and get a big dialoue happening.

Sound good? If it's still not enough, well then meet me at Starbucks when I pass through your town and I'll buy you a cup of coffee. First, you have to email me or write in the comments what town you live in. When I come that way, I'll drop you an email and it's a coffee date. okay? Is that bribery?

My email is themidnightwriter1@gmail.com. What's yours?

The Midnight Writer