Foodie: Nutella Brownies

 
What more do you need for a title when each of those words make my tummy happy?

Being stuck at home during Snowmageddon had its perks.  One was that D and I cooked a huge meal from scratch.  We made a chicken pot pie, but instead of using pie crust, I made a cornbread crust.  It was so good.  Naturally we needed a dessert that would go with that, so I whipped up some Nutella Brownies.

Nutella was something that I knew about as a kid, but my mother would never let me have it.  Kids at school got mutella sandwiches for lunch, and I sometimes had some of those, but not until I was an adult did I get to enjoy this delightful spread on almost EVERYTHING!

My favorite thing to do is to dip pretzels into Nutella-- but I'm not allowed anymore because one time, I ate so many that I was sick.  So now we are only allowed to get the small container, and only if there are no pretzels.  D thinks that if we don't buy them at the same time, I won't eat it and be sick.  I don't know why he wants to keep us apart.  I'm a grown woman, if I want a Nutella stomach-ache, I can darn-well have one!

ANYWAYS, we made Brownies.  And they are good.  They are a little chocolatey, and a little hazelnutty.  Want a recipe?  Here you go:

Nutella Brownies (make one 8x8 inch pan) Adapted from Mother Thyme.com

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup Nutella

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Using an electric mixer or hand mixer, blend butter sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add Nutella and stir until mixture is creamy. Stir in flour.
3. Pour into a greased and lined 8-inch square pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. Don't over bake! Cool before cutting.

There are variations you make on these too.  I want to try peanut butter instead of Nutella, for a peanut butter blondie type bar.  Or you could add some cocoa for more chocolate flavor.  And when I try these variations out, you will be the first to know blog.

Now I'm off to have a brownie for breakfast.  Don't judge me.  You would too.

Apocalypse Now: Snowmageddon 2013

Looka all that snow/ Not that much at first/ Walking is becoming a chore
Visibility is not that great/ It does look pretty though/ Futility, thy name is shovel
Up to the tops of my boots now/ What one wears for Snowmageddon/ Thank goodness, coffee!

I have a strange fixation with the apocalypse. 

Whenever people tell me about some HUGE event that will probably make traveling and stuff a little less convenient, I like to give it an inappropriate title.  When they closed the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto down to fix it, people were worried that they wouldn't be able to get anywhere in the city, since that expressway was a main artery.  So I liked to refer to that weekend as "Carmageddon" because people were talking about it like it was a CATASTROPHE!

Today we had a little snow storm.  But people have been talking about it for days.  Yesterday the buzz at school was that there would be a snow day.  And lo there was.  (I shall never doubt you again Dee.)  Because people were "preparing" for this "emergency"  D and I started calling it "Snowmageddon" in our household.

Unfortunately, the frozen end-of-the-world is not enough for D to stay home for work.  So off he went in the thick of it for justice or whatever.

Me, I stayed in bed and dozed.  Texted some teacher friends congratulating them on a free day of rest, and read some of my book.  But I got wondering how bad it was outside.  So I decided to brave the storm and take some adventure photography.

Really, it wasn't that bad.  Just a lot of snow.  A lot of snow.  And a lot of bad driving.  And shovellers.

I was funny though, I took some pictures and walked around for a bit, and noticed that my fave cafe was open.  So I took a break, and waited before I went out to face the snowpocalypse again.  By the time I drank a coffee and ate a muffin, it had snowed almost 6 inches.

And I started thinking about other types of end-of-the-world scenarios.  Here's what I thought of so far:

• "A-pod-calypse": Over pollenation of ragweed and other weeds that lead to the over-active allergies of people to spread a virus that will end us all.
• "Sunmageddon": the explosion of the sun, not to be confused with  the Hotpocalypse which is extreme global warning, and the need for sunblock SPF 1 million.  Which again is different from the "Hot-Pocketalypse": which is extinction by eating Hot Pockets.
• "Robacalypse": The rise of the machines.  hopefully they will just create a Constitutional Robocracy instead of using us for batteries.
• "Infomageddon": The internet crashes, and we are left to our own devices.  Does anyone know how to use a dictionary anymore?  What about a card catalogue?
• "Zombegeddon": Um. Zombie apocalypse, natch.
• "Babygeddon": No more babies.  No more people.  Like in Children of Men by P.D. James.
• "Crunchmageddon": the opposite of the Big Bang.

Besides being a strange young person, why do you think about these things, Stephanie?

I'm glad you asked that, voice in my head.  I have two theories:

First:   Every time I read the news, or watch something on TV, I'm confronted by news of things that will or should have killed me.  Its tiresome.  I refuse to be scared of possibilities.  So I give them funny names.  My brain tumor scare was "Cancergeddon."  Its how I deal with the fear of the unknown.  I guess.


Second:  I really do think that how we think about our end, can help us to be better people, thereby avoiding that ending.  Its why I like to read apocalyptic novels.  It is interesting to think of how writer see humanity.  Will we come together and help each other out?  Create a new utopian society?  Or will we become even more violent, and competitive and try to eat each other?  it is a great philosophical question.  Much more thought-provoking than knowing what someone thinks about a glass of water. So, are people inherently good, or bad?


I'll leave you with that question.  I'm off to count our canned goods.

Will answer for friendship

So, Sierra doesn't think she had any friends to tag with this questionnaire thing. That just isn't true, so I tagged myself.  Here are my answers:

 

1. What was your first job? – My very first job was babysitting.  I watched this kid who was like 6 years younger than me while his mom went to her club meetings or something.  He was the greatest kid.  Not hard to watch or anything.  I would let him stay up, and then 5 minutes before his mom would get back we would rush him to bed.  after a while, he would decide to go to bed at his bedtime.  He said that he would be too tired in the morning otherwise.  See?  You don't have to be a hard ass to get kids to do what you want!

My first "real job" was as a youth leader and lifeguard at the YMCA.  I taught swimming lessons, and a youth leadership program.  It was one day a week, and it paid pretty well.    

2. On a scale of 1-10, how much do you hate Nickelback?  40+.  But, Fox You (Very Much) loves them; and I can't figure that out.

3. Dumbledore gives you a cloak of invisibility. Where do you go with it? – Lately, I've been thinking about celebrity couples.  Not the lame ones, but the really fabulous ones.  I wonder if Laurence Fishburne and his wife Gina Torres walk around professing their fabulousness.  So I guess I would use it to spy on celebrities.  And the ones I don't like, you bet I'd sell those stories.

4. Who are your celebrity crushes? – Um, none really.  I love Brandon Flowers, but a lot of people don't know who he is, so more for me.  He's a little unkempt, but that's how I like my boys.  I like them to look a little homeless. Besides, he's a musician.  They are far superior to actors.  Movie stars give me the creeps.  I mean, you don't know who they will be when you are talking to them.  They make their living lying to people.  How can you know that they are ever sincere?  Trust?  I doubt it. 

5. Would you rather be the top scientist in your field or get mad cow disease? – Top scientist.  Have you seen the movies?  They always get into cool adventures, and have awesome romances.  Mad cow disease just gives you... I dunno... cramps?

6. Zero ramifications: who do you wish you could punch in the face? – Just one?  Or one a day?  I need more details here.  Can I throw one punch and line a bunch of people up on the other end of it then run down the line?  If so, then Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Ann Coulter.

7. How do you prefer your coffee? – One spoon of sugar, and enough soy milk until it is the same color as my skin.  That's what I tell people when they pick up coffee for me.

8. Have any books inspired your spirituality recently? –The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood talks about an elaborate religion ("called the gardeners") based on environmentalism; and that was pretty intriguing.  After I read it, I changed my Facebook profile to note that my religion was ecology.  I think that's the closest I have ever been "spiritually inspired."  What do you want?  I'm an atheist. 

9. What color light saber would you chose in a battle with Jar Jar Binks? – Pink.  I've never seen a pink one and its about time.

10. Are you original? Are you the only one? Are you sexual? – No.  The costumes in that video did rock though.  And if we're being honest, I did learn that dance routine for a recital.

11. YOU BETTER ROCK YO BODY NOW (EVERYBODY, YEEEAH)- Ok.

I answered the questions in hope that you will consider me a blog friend.  So, what d' you say, Sierra? 

Bassability Books: E-Read-a-thon!

For Christmas, I got  tablet.  A pretty fancy one: I got an ASUS Infinity Transformer.  It is a tablet, and docks into a keyboard to become a netbook-like thing.  It is by far, one of the coolest gadgets I have ever had.  But cool gadgets are one of the great things about living in the future.

I've been thinking more about this: all the classic sci-fi I read mention these years as the future.  It is so cool what people thought would be available now, and what our world would be like.  Think about it: 1984 by Orwell thought that England would be under totalitarianistic government; Alas Babylon by Pat Frank thought the world would have had the 3rd world war by now; and who could forget what the movie Back to the Future thought about 2013 (Side note: January 4 2013 was the time that Marty travelled to.  This January was back... to the future!)

ANYWAYS, because of my new tablet thing, I have been reading like a machine.  I like to read every night, and now I don't have to wait to get to the bookstore.  This has been good and bad; good because I have been reading a lot more and learning more.  Bad, because my bank account is taking a hit buying all these e-books.  Good thing I like the classics which are largely free! 

So, this Bassability Books post may be a little long. Because I have a few books to get through.  Luckily, I've been reading a lot of trilogies.  So I will treat those as one.  Got to give you a bit of a break so that you can go out there and read some books!

As always, the rating scale:

*** 3/3 - Couldn't put it down.  I may have taken a day off work to finish it.

** 2/3 -  I read it.  Passed the time, probably won't read it again.

* 1/3 - Finished it.  Still don't know why I bothered

0/3 - Didn't finish it.  Life's too short for bad books.

Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy by E.L. James: Welp, I read it.  I guess as someone who is not shy or hindered by her sexuality, I didn't think that the sex in this book was a big deal.  It should probably be said that as an editor (a past career of course) I edited more than my fair share of erotica fiction.  So this was no big deal.  I would talk to a friend (who recommended this book to me) and she was shocked that I wasn't scandalized by these books.  Above all, it was a romance novel.  And I don't usually read those.  It wasn't the best written book; the metaphors were labored and repetitive; and I totally didn't see the appeal of the protagonists.  The girl was consistently demonstrating her own self-hatred; and the message of trying to save a partner who was border-line abusive is not one that I found entertaining.  So I guess what I'm saying is: I don't see why these books were so popular.  They weren't terrible; but not worth the hype either.  

(**) <--- My grade for this book looks like breasts!  That's funny.  And fitting.  What can I say? I have a child's sense of humor sometimes.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson: This book made me want to move to Sweden.  Imagine: a place where journalist actually discover newsworthy information!  Where they have an interest in their society!  Where they are invested and involved in making the news!  Here in North America, journalists haven't really discovered anything amazing since Watergate.  Step it up, newsies!  Otherwise this book had enough intrigue to keep me attached to these books.  I read the whole trilogy, over 1500 pages in 5 days.  That is saying something. (***) 

Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood: I actually had no idea that atwood had started a new trilogy.  I came across these books while browsing the Kobo site, and I'm glad I did.  They are really good.  The story is one I read a lot, since I am strangely fascinated with the apocalypse; it is about the end of the world, but from the point of view of an ecologically based cult.  I'm always happy to find these things; a new twist on an old trope.  (***)

Amped by Daniel H. Wilson:  This is the second book that Wilson has written that I have read.  It is very clever.  If you know your American history (and current events) you can find a lot of commentary on American society.  That's one of my favorite things about reading sci-fi; its meant to teach us about ourselves and our world.  (***)

I've started some new books (surprise, surprise), so there should be more book talk coming in the future.  One idea I've had is to do a type of book club-- but one that is no obligation, and no pressure.  You can read whatever you want, and there would be some questions to discuss if you wanted to.  I think it sounds like fun.  Does someone else have that?  If you do, can I join?

Not the best start to 2013: A list

I know it seems that I've been AWOL around here for a while.  Truth is, I haven't had the best January.  There has been some good with the completely annoying though.  Here are the highlights:

• Government declared our strike illegal.  Morale lowered.
• I started knitting again.  I made some mittens and a hat. 
•  I got MRSA (antibiotic resistant staph infection) from a kid at school.  Was really sick and in the hospital.  Feeling better now.  I'm so done with child-carried plagues.  
• Started looking for a house.  Found 2, but lost out on both of them.  Sigh.
• Read 13 books this month.  It is so much easier to track them using an e-reader.  
• While I was working, I walked through a doorway, and a cockroach fell into my mouth.  I'm still not over that and its been almost a month.  I ate hand soap after it happened.  I am now weary of ALL doors.

It doesn't seem like much, but work and house hunting has been taking up all of my time.  Those things and trying to live my life avoiding doors.