20 February 2013

Salted Caramel Brownies


Poor MAS, he came home, after a month of being elsewhere, to me sick and in bed.  For like, the entire long weekend.  I'm thinking he didn't really mind, he slept even more than I did.  In fact it might be ideal for me to be sick every time he returns from either a long trip or a European trip.  He always comes back wasted, I am always overly excited and plan way too much, he sleeps in, I cancel brunch reservations an hour away that I made for 10 am (really, what was I thinking?).  But this time was different.  We slept.  He made me tea.  I re-watched and he started House of Cards.  We slept some more.  There was much more tea made.  And then, after complaining for days that I just wanted a cookie, we got up and made the Smitten Kitchen Salted Caramel Brownies.  We ate half the pan and went back to sleep.  The next day we woke up and polished off nearly the entire second half of the pan. Went to bed and then come Tuesday (a whopping two days after we made the brownies) we fought over the last little gooey and oh-so-delicious corner.  In the end it was a 50/50 split.

To say these brownies are delicious is to not say nearly enough.  I'd like to have them around always, but then I'd eat them always, and that, would be bad.  I'm thinking about making them again though.  This afternoon.  I might even credit them with making me well again.  There was no sign of improvement until that entire block of brownies had been devoured.  So if you've got that cold thing that's going around and can't shake it, make some brownies, worst case you'll be blissfully happy for the five minutes it takes you to eat them.


07 February 2013

Things that may or may not happen when your husband is gone for a month: Part I





1. Lights hanging from the ceiling - happened.  I should thank Lauren for this as she sent me down the rabbit hole of DIY-dom.  The instructions are not as easily found today as they once were, read IMPOSSIBLE, so I had to wing it from a list of supplies I found on Apartment Therapy. Overall I think in a month (or six) I might re-do the entire fixture with some sense of wiring and quality control. Also it needs a few more glass spheres, it's not nearly dramatic enough.  But for now it is amazing and I love it.  And it did not cost $1750 or whatever I had started to think we were going to spend.

1b.  Getting that drywall on the other side of the living room patched up so I can finally finish painting the ceiling - did not happen.



2.   Two dogs becoming a team - happened.  It might be the fact that I've been forcing them to cuddle with me every night for the past 30 in an effort to stay warm and snoozy, or just the simple passing of time.  Whatever it is IT IS HAPPENING.  There is still some growling on Frances' part when shit isn't going the way she'd planned it to ... but they sit on chairs together and alternate peeing on bushes that ought not be peed on and every once in a while stand still enough to photograph.  Or this could all just be because I bought them matching harnesses.  Maybe that is the answer.

I may have also applied to graduate school, planned a trip to NYC in the spring, eaten my weight in meat sandwiches, discovered mint goes with everything so long as it's in a smoothie, headed back to yoga four times a week and started and finished House of Cards on Netflix.  There is more, it was quite a productive month for me, but I'll fill you in on that later.