Hot chocolate

I was sitting here peeking at some of my favorite websites, avoiding my paper of course, and stumbled upon this recipee on Joann Harris' website. As you can tell, from previous posts I am a huge admirer of Harris and her work, and am currently reading chocolat, which I put off for a long time because I love the movie so much. However the book is marvelous and one of my favorite parts in the movie, and book is the hot chocolate. Well here it is Vianne's hot coco recipe:

1 2/3 cups milk 1/2 vanilla bean, cut in half lengthwise 1/2 cinnamon stick 1 hot red chile, halved and seeded 3 1/2 ounces bittersweet (70 percent) chocolate Brown sugar to taste (optional)
Whipped cream, chocolate curls, cognac, or Amaretto, to serve

Place the milk in a saucepan, add the vanilla bean, cinnamon stick, and chile, and gently bring it to a shivering simmer for 1 minute. Grate the chocolate and whisk it in until it melts. If you must, then add brown sugar, but do try without it. Take off the heat and allow it to infuse for 10 minutes, then remove the vanilla, cinnamon, and chile. Return to the heat and bring gently back to a simmer. Serve in mugs topped with whipped cream, chocolate curls, or a dash of cognac or Amaretto.

Thank you Joanne for this recipee!