Good people.
We are
less than one calendar week (merely 5
LONG school days) away from the glory that is known as
any-break-in-the-world-that-gives-us-all-a-bit-of-a-breather-because-really-they’re-nutters-right-now. Some people just call it “Spring Break.” You say it your way, I’ll type it mine.
It is also that glorious, quarterly season when we try to
cram as much of the built-up-put-it-off-until-we-have-a-minute STUFF as we can
into these handful of days while also doing some unusual activities that other
people seem to be pretty excited about.
I hear that others call them “breathing” and “just sitting still.” Once, I even heard about this odd phantasm
that some refer to as “watch a movie together.”
We might give that one a go, too, just to see if it lives up to all of
the hype.
In actuality, the boy watches movies a couple of times a
month. I don’t because why? It’s literally just sitting there, fretting
about not doing anything for 2 hours.
Maybe that’s just me. But color
me compulsive, idle hands do not a happy person make I. Or something like that. I probably won’t cross stitch that onto a
sampler quite yet.
In other news…SPRING IS COMING! I know that
means that many a day will still be lambasting us with frigid rain, gloomy
skies and windy wind, but my eyes have been on the hurt for some green around
this place. And, here’s a fun thing,
when you move to a new house, it turns out that when plants suddenly appear in
the ground, it makes springtime things all the more exciting. It’s like SPRING-CHRISTMAS every couple of
days when you find new bits of things sprouting where there was previously no
sproutage happening.
But here’s some sad, s-a-d news (the very opposite of
SPRING-CHRISTMAS, I assure you). I
cannot seem to be able to make a decent pan of homemade brownies any
longer. I have lost my way and am just
groping blindly in the cocoa dust storm that such insecurity creates. The problems are seemingly insurmountable:
- I like sugar. But I like desserts that use less sugar but still taste delightfully sweet even more. Hence, I always cut the sugar in a dessert by 1/3-1/2. I’ve been doing this for years without having any problems. But…
- The oven at this new domicile is one part crazy and the other part finicky. It’s newish and it’s a solid brand, so I don’t foresee having to replace it for years yet (le sigh…). But it bakes HOT and the stove gets SCREAMIN’ HOT, and for the most part, I’ve learned how to accommodate and such. But…
- When you reduce the amount of sugar in a recipe, you similarly reduce moisture. Apparently. This, I’ve been told. (Refer to bullet point #1 that clearly states “I’ve been doing this for years without having any problems.”) This should result in dry brownies. Bu
- To accommodate the loss of moisture, I’ve tried the standard “bake for less time” and “take away an egg white + add another egg white.” But… (This is the last time, I assure you.)
- My brownies are still dry. OY + VEY = LE SIGH.
So this leaves me with 4 options:
1.
Use brownie mixes.
2.
Test new recipes ad infinitum.
3.
Put up with dryer than desired brownies.
4.
Never eat / make brownies again.
Clearly, this is foolishness. One would think that this “master baker”
(pointing thumb at m’self) could throw together a decent pan of decadently
fudgy with crackly edges brownies. It’s only like six ingredients with a little bit of mixing and a little bit
of oven time.
So, someone feel free to take pity on me and send me copious
amounts of p-e-r-f-e-c-t brownies. Or,
come bake with me. OR, send me your
p-e-r-f-e-c-t brownie recipes.
(orallthree?)
Hear ye, oh hear ye…springtime and perfect brownies we shall
soon see (???)!!!
May-be.
