celebratory harvest moon peanut butter brownie

Yes, one singular brownie. Created in a low-walled very wide tart pan. Mostly inspired by my need to make a really big brownie to see if it would, if it possibly could work. And maintain some semblance of structural integrity. I did also draw some from the sight of the enormous glowing moon behind silhouettes of trees and reflecting off the water as I crossed the bridge. This sight being seen the night of Friday last. I know. I am once again posting late. However, I'm hoping if I allow you to revel in the glory that is this brownie I can hold but which is larger than my own head, perhaps I can distract from the tardiness of this post.

See??!!! Is it not extraordinary?! And no butter was used in the making of this baked good. Surprising but true, in fact the peanut butter held the whole thing together. And added crunch. One always could do with more crunch.

At least that's what I believe. Besides, how often do you see brownies shaped like this? and it cut so well and held up remarkable. Next I will conquer the gigantic cookie. But first I have to catch my breath. That this is a bit weighty, I mean after all, it's the size of the moon!

I take requests

Well first I made dinner, and it was mighty tasty.

However the most important point is that I pulled out the ice cream maker again (I know it's been ages like as in a whole week or so since my last batch) and as the title implies, I took a request.

Specifically, the roommate was having a no-good-very-bad day and wanted Cherry Garcia ice cream so I picked up ingredients (namely marascino cherries and lots of cream) and made exactly what she was craving. Twenty-four hours after the request was voiced that is. Still it is impressive. Be impressed.

And it was delicious. Just the right mix of thick and creamy vanilla with chunks of fruit and small crunchy chocolate morsals. Super super super yummy.
And a fun sneak peak of some stuff I have been working on. Involving stencils and stripes.

And a travel pick for the road. The red beach, on Santorini in Greece. Very pretty even though a sharp sharp manical rock cut my foot when scrambling up a hill.

But how can one resist the blue blue sky?! One can't is how.

excessive baggage

What is this you ask?


This is my luggage, about three hours into an excruciating process to make my luggage completely awesome, albeit in an over the top and ridiculous way. I acquired a pair of plum suitcases from a friend (sent the feelers out there, thinking 'I would like to have a suitcase' and a week later, said friend hear me say I wanted a suitcase and said she had a set she had replaced that was going to the goodwill and WAM! there's a suitcase, actually two really, for me to play with and decorate to my hearts content) and since they were free (love that) I didn't feel any qualms with the possibility that my playing around could result in totally messing them up. So I pulled out some fabric paint and and covered the larger on in a nice yellow color. It still looked a little messy and like a kid had gotten a hold of a parents suitcase and gone to town with their paint kit however, so I felt, naturally enough, that it was still in need of something more. And I had purple puff paint so......

.....and I so began to add some decoration with some puff paint (a supply I always seem to have handy-it is so easy to apply to whatever surface) and it just escalated from there.

Until (roughly 70 hours later) it looked something like this.

I know it is, um, a little too much, but well, I like things that are over the top.

And this means I will NEVER have difficulty recognizing which suitcase is mine on the baggage carousel!
And here's another travel photo. One showcasing my lovely bracelet tan which I acquired from being in summer for six months (I know, my life was soooooo difficult) which is sort of sweet and comforting to think about now, with this much shorter length summer now behind me and a fall stretching out in front, full of, oh I don't know, pie and baking bread and cozy home diy projects and maybe perhaps some canning? We will see.

What is this you ask?

in which i cut a pepper

Disclaimer:This one, teeny-tiny pepper was spicy enough to make our entire meal (and like twelve helpings of leftovers) have a very impressive bite. And yes I did wear gloves and I was very thankful that I did. And I meticulously got rid of every single terriefying seed and used the underside of a cutting board now dedicated to cutting spicy stuff. I will try this again in the future cause it was yum yum yummy even if that yumminess included the side effect of my mouth tingling for the whole evening.
And here is a bit of the place this type of chile (thai birdseye)is from. Or at least the place where I tortured my tastebuds by eating extra spicy three times a day.
Enjoy

bounty dinner

So I originally titled this post bounty hunter, accidentally of course. But maybe that was my unconcious trying to make excuses for my month-long absence. And isn't that a good one? Oh I'm sorry I missed updating my blog and all but I've spent the last thirty days on the road hunting down the bad guys like the bad a** I am.
Come to think of it, that's a fantastic reason not to post regularly so I'm sticking to my story. Yeah, I was temping as a bounty hunter but now it's back to the 9-5 (or rather eight to five) daily grind of office work and telephones and paperwork. When one is a bounty hunter one does not have to do much paperwork.
However you do have to eat when you are a bounty hunter, which is something I did do during my sojourn away from these hallowed, erm, halls. And this was one meal I made during that time, a hearty filling meal with much of it's produce derived from a fantastically productive garden I was able to scavenge from (and by scavenge I mean that I stayed there and they filled my pink floral cooler with deliciousness like potatoes and plums) and make this bountiful spread.
Starting off I had a bag full of the smallest, cutest, creamiest baby potatoes.


Which I scrubbed and cleaned and then proceeded to roast mercilessly in a dish in the oven with fresh dill and pepper and olive oil. More on that later.

Next was a cache of brussel sprouts which needed to be taken in hand and made to feel my wrath. AKA I soaked them and got rid of all the bugs.

Then I chopped them in half (and admired their pattern)and threw them in a skillet with some water so they would cook through.

With some fun things in there like spices and brown sugar and lemon juice (I know weird right but don't sass my about this cause it tasted mighty good) and just as the water had all evaporated, they grilled a bit without getting burned. Win!

And then a whole bunch of other stuff went down, like cooking up some sausages and grilling some onions with that. Can I get a YUM? And throughout this whole operation there was a halved acorn squash chilling (or rather baking) in the oven with the potatoes, just hanging with it's bad self, and absorbing all the delicious flavor or maple syrup and cinnimin and nutmeg. And then it was all dished up and we stuffed our faces. Me and my unnamed-for-their-safety sidekick that is. All in all a fantastic meal, which of course produced an alarming number of dishes.

And not one to leave well enough alone and let my poor tummy recover from that onslaught of flavors I proceeded to finish off the night with a strawberry plum upside down cake. Made with sour cream so it was creamy and sort of spongy. Also the sugar and butter and strawberry juice carmalized in the pan into something not of this world. Magical I tell you. I named it the make-you-feel-better-strawberry-plum-happiness-upside-down cake. Yes I like long names (it's a bounty hunter thing) and yes it is able to make one happy. It is happiness cake after all.

And after a slice (or two-don't tell) thanking my stars I was wearing elastic waist pants, I continued on with my quest for wrong-doers and bail-jumpers alike. Safe in the knowledge that my tummy was full of a delicious feast of veggies topped with dessert and that's the best any bounty hunter can ask for.

*note* I will attempt to get back in the groove with more regular blog posts from now on. This is like a fresh start, and hopefully my shame over my abcense will guilt me into regularity if nothing else!

*also* for all concerned persons, I must add that I am not in actuality a bounty hunter nor a gun for hire (perhaps a spatula for hire if such a think exists? I will look into it). That is just something I made up to cover up the fact that I just didn't post anything -not because I was not making and or baking, as quite the contrary my kitchen has been vastly productive and my desk reasonably so- because I have been busy and running around like a headless chicken and it's been a choice between eating the food I've made or posting it and *sigh* I did choose selfishly to consume it.
But I have tropical drinks, painted suitcases, chocolate-dipped oat/nut bars and sparkly headphones in the future, so hopefully I can redeem myself yet after my wrong-doings of the past. forgive me?