Some Weekend Sh*t

We’re having a blast over here this summer.

Eating noodles.

Blowing bubbles.

Making delicious foods.

Getting our picture taken.

Since James had to work on Sunday, I got lots of kiddo time this weekend. Nora Lea is talking, she babbles and coos, she has a few clear words, but mostly phrases I can’t specify. Except for one.

The one word she repeats over and over and over again?

“Shit.”

She says it while playing with her instruments, chasing Pinot and eating noodles.
She says it while paging through her books, coloring on her pages.
All. Day. Long.

I do my best to ignore it as a charming developmental anecdote but whoo boy, it’s giggleworthy.
I mean, it’s serious.
Very. Serious.

Beer and the Cheese that Loves it

Cheesewhizzes was fun.
Our favorite surprise(!) beers were the Chau Tien from Anderson Valley Brewing Company and this wacky Chipotle Ale from Rogue Ales.

Our favorite cheeses were the horseradish cheddar (you can find any old kind in your grocery store, our guest found it at Sunshine Foods) and the Chimay triple cream.

Yay cheese! Yay beer!

Friends in Cheesus

Cheesewhizzes event tomorrow, “Beer and the Cheese that Loves it.”

For all these alcohol-related events going on around here, I’m maintaining well. I usually go home early, I’m tired and there’s a wiggly toddler on my hip.

It’s just usually that my belly gets heavy and my feet get tired and lo, I’m already six months pregnant? Like, how did that happen?

Seriously, you readers have to be with me on this.
Didn’t I go from announcing my pregnancy to the third trimester rather, well, speedily?

I understand there’s lots going on and we’re busy, but it sort of feels like I gained 15 pounds in my belly in two weeks.

Yeah, I’m finding balance too, just like Troemner.

I’ve dropped daily Graces, you’ve probably noticed.

Realized they’d outlived their utility for me. Daily, I caused myself more stress writing them than the solace provided.

But if I had to come up with some today, they’d look like this:

1. Farmer’s market Caramel Pear Butter from the students at the Culinary Institute.

2. New computer setting up. I’m at inbox zero! Ha ha ha. Ha.

3. PSD to HTML companies saving me weeks of work.

4. Cheesewhizzes event tomorrow, Cheesewhizzes excitement in the months ahead. You too can throw a Cheesewhizzes party! It’s a brokey party too! If you’re brokey, Cheesewhizzes is just the thing for you! More coming all about it next week!

5. My craving for anchovy sandwiches. As typical as it could be for a pregnant lady, at eight am each morning, I toast bread, melt some extraordinarily sharp white cheddar on said bread and lay out 8 anchovies on top of the cheese. I have to eat these in private, away from the dog and baby’s judging eyes, but ohmytheyaresogoodwiththeirsaltyfishiness. Anchovy sandwiches.

So things are good around here, is what I’m trying to say.
Busy, but good.

Recipe: Naptime Brownies

You and I can make these brownies during the course of a Nora Lea nap (which seem to be getting shorter and shorter by the day, sigh).

Thirty minutes.
Thirty minutes is all it takes to whip up some exquisite brownies.
Thirty minutes from scratch.

I put off buying instant espresso powder for a long time. “Too hard to find,” I protested, “Not in the budget this week,” I said. But I was wrong. It wasn’t that hard to find and not that hard to budget for.

That was two years ago and I’m almost half-way through the container.

Good value, is all I’m saying.
Worth it, is all I’m saying.

It adds a better flavor to chocolate stuff than just chocolate. Instant espresso powder makes chocolate pudding more complex, it makes truffles less tooth-aching, it makes chocolate cupcakes a little more, well, more.

So, go shake out your change jar and get some already!

Ingredients
1 1/4 stick butter cut into tablespoon-sized pieces
1 1/4 stick granulated sugar
1 cup Dutch Process Cocoa Powder (As with most my recipes, I use Penzeys)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
2 large eggs
1/2 cup flour

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325°.

In a medium-sized bowl, add butter, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and espresso powder. Toss all these ingredients together until the butter is well-coated with cocoa powder and other brown granules.

Put the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds on high. Remove bowl and stir.
Put the bowl in the microwave again for 30 seconds on high. Remove bowl and stir again.
By this time, the bowl should be warm and the butter should be starting to melt and mix with the dry ingredients. If this is the case, (since microwaves and medium-sized microwave-safe bowls are like snowflakes) put the bowl in the microwave for a final 30 seconds.

Stir, stir and stir until you have a dark brown fudgy grainy mess.

Add one egg, stir and stir until it’s incorporated.
Add the other egg, stir and stir until that’s incorporated.
Add the vanilla. Stir until that’s incorporated and you’re almost there.

Add the 1/2 cup of flour and stir kindly. What I mean to say is that you need to be gentle here. Just mix until the flour is barely incorporated.

When all is mixed, plop brownie mixture into a flour or parchment-lined 8×8″ pan and smooth out the top so it’s as even as you can muster.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, depending on your tolerance for fully-cooked brownies. My tolerance is low, so I err near the 20 minute mark.

Now for the most difficult part of the recipe – let cool completely on a rack or on one of your burners. It’s important, this part with the cooling, to let the brownies set up and save your tongue from a brutal burning.

Serve with either a dusting of powdered sugar, vanilla ice cream or a tall glass of milk.

Look at what you can do!

Kenny Rogers Taco Dip

As you’re already aware, our bocce team, Joanie Loves Bocce, and I come up with food themes for bocce every week.

This past week, the theme was Kenny Rogers. Participants were welcome to find any food that represented Kenny. Roasted Chicken, any gambling-related food, anything to do with Dolly Parton, we were open.

Tony made Kenny’s Fire and Ice chili (with pineapple), and dang, it was tasty.

Here’s what I brought: