LATER THE SAME DAY: VIETNAMESE CINNAMON HOT CHOCOLATE & DINO

Eleven hours after the first batch of Vietnamese Cinnamon Hot Chocolate was served, we've made five batches for the day, about 120 quarts. The flavor finally came around, it became very tasty, and a world apart from the early morning batch. We put out a tureen at exactly 1:48pm that tasted so good, I thought we had it nailed down for good. But, around 3:15, when I checked it, it had become too thick and the cinnamon flavor had drifted away.

I heard a nice number of people in the store say how much they liked this flavor today - and while I'm not saying they're wrong -  the undeniable takeaway is that this flavor was not a success today.

Sometimes, however, there's help from surprise places. While refilling a tureen an hour ago, the bakery playlist had Dean Martin going. The thought that Vietnamese Cinnamon Hot Chocolate could be serenaded by Dino instantly made my day's wrestling match with the hot chocolate so much easier to process.