Oh yeah, that's the stuff.

I can't sleep right now, but shortly that will be remedied, because I've made myself a steaming cup of my Auntie Marcia's Warm Elixir and have been sipping at it blissfully for the past few minutes.

Auntie Marcia (who is a lovely and talented person, and a rather snazzy jewelry-maker if I do say so myself) made her Warm Elixir for me many moons ago. It's a lovely alternative to hot chocolate and worlds better than simple warm milk as a sleep inducer. There isn't really a recipe as much as a procedure. Here's what I did:

In a small saucepan, I sprinkled some good aromatic cinnamon and threw in three or four green cardamom pods (cardamom powder would've worked fine as well). I let them heat up, dry, on the stove for a bit, just to get the aroma going, then tossed in maybe a quarter-cup of evaporated milk and whisked it around. Then I added some regular milk -- about 1 1/2 cups, I'd guess, but I just eyeballed it -- and enough sugar to taste. Let that heat, stirring with a whisk until it got frothy and the mixture expanded a bit. Once it seemed well incorporated and hot enough, I took it off the heat and added a splash of vanilla extract and a splash of almond extract. And since I like my elixir warm and not scalding, I cut the heat some by adding a bit more cold milk. Into a cup it went, then into the Soozcat.

Oh, it is good.