Well, it's March. Here in New York, after another warm spell, we're back in the midst of chilly temps. It's more Paris chilly than Northeast US frigidness; instead of negative temps giving your face frostbite, the all the cold moisture in the air just seeps into your bones. These past few rainy days, hiding indoors with a good movie or book seems preferable to sloshing through the streets and subways, the latter which in New York becomes totally crippled any time we get more than 1/4 inch of rain.

I've also been dealing with the cold by whipping up some hot drinks. In this case, hot buttered rum. Now, every bar in town seems to serve a mulled wine, hot apple cider, or hot toddy. But in our high-cholesterol-fearing modern age, it seems that nobody wants any butter in their drinks anymore, even as we scarf down pork belly entrees and bacon desserts en masse. What a shame. Because you can actually make this delicious drink with just a scant 1 teaspoon of butter, or less than the amount the average person puts on his morning toast.