Hot chocolate with marshmallow in red mug (2020) Painting by Yue Zeng

I love chocolate. My mom loves hot chocolate. I couldn’t recall when she begins to fall in love with this drink but the result is whenever we made an family order, it has to have hot chocolate. When we are at home she loves to drink Swiss Miss Dark Chocolate. Every time we went to Target, she asked me to take 8 to 10 boxes of this product. Sometimes I found myself reaching my hands to the very back of the shelf to get the last box. She would also fill her suitcase with this mix drink powder when she went back her home.

On the other hand, I am more interested in marshmallows. If I could choose my Swiss Miss it has to be the marshmallow one. I still remember when I went to summer trip with my aunt’s family years ago (2008) in Adirondack area. One night my uncle was doing BBQ in the yard, their elder girl, one of my cousins who was 8 back then asked for marshmallow. I was curious so I asked her what was marshmallow. This word sounded strange but fun at the same time. She was shocked. The 8 year old looked at me as I was just back to civilization from the woods. She asked me “You NEVER had marshmallow before?” At that point I really didn’t know what exactly was marshmallow and I didn’t want to lie. So I said “I never had marshmallow before.”. Next second I could see her eyes wide open and filled with confusion. She probably never thought someone at my age (24) never happened to have marshmallow. She showed her compassion. She is always such a sweet girl. She ran to her dad and asked if she could make a marshmallow exclusive for me right now. Of course my uncle said yes. She carefully prepared one toasted marshmallow and brought it back to me. She watched me tasting that marshmallow until I said “Fantastic~! This is the best I have ever had~!”. She was satisficed and went back to her younger sister. But I was the one who felt weird. The moment she brought the marshmallow to me I was shouting inside my head “oh, so this is the thing you mentioned. Of course I knew it! Just not the way I used to and definitely not the cooking method I used to. “ I couldn’t tell my cousin what I was thinking so I told my mom the whole story. She was laughing. The next time she visited me in Syracuse, NY, we BBQ marshmallow together as planned. She was pretty happy about the dessert and brought the story and cooking method back home to her friends. I was sure she enjoyed their shocking faces when she told them the marshmallow can be toasted on BBQ. LOL~

So I painted this piece as it has memories for both me and my mom.

I hope you enjoy it too~ O(∩_∩)O

Related themes

Hot ChocolateRed MugMarshmallowBeverageStill Life