I had really grand plans for my day. It mostly involved adding to this little stash of presents under my baby-sized Christmas tree.
But in what is becoming an increasingly common theme in my life, I am completely exhausted. I made it to my brunch plans today, but that's about all I managed to cross off my to-do list. I didn't get any new presents. I didn't do any of the lingering dishes in my sink. I didn't even hang my coat up when I got home.
Instead, I'm curled up on my couch, kicking off what will be a winter-long West Wing marathon. My same friend who gave me his many cans of pumpkin also gave me his complete West Wing dvd collection to look after while he's overseas for a year.
Although I blame the series in part for my total disillusion about what my life would be like when I moved to DC, I can't get enough of it. It's one of the smartest, wittiest shows I watch (which isn't exactly a feat, given my embarrassing reality tv habit, but we'll ignore that part). During that lovely nine months in which I was jobless, I would sit in bed and watch two hours of re-runs back when Bravo still aired them, then I'd force myself to get up and kick off the daily job search.
It's been a busy weekend (I at least earned my extreme exhaustion), so I haven't done hardly any cooking. To distract you until I manage to cook something, I bring you the best brownies outside of a box mix ever.
See, brownies used to be something I thought were not worth making from scratch. I genuinely believed that they were just as good out of a box as they were from scratch (if not better). And I'm someone who thinks it's borderline sacrilegious to serve or give a dessert.
But I'd really been wanting to try Pioneer Woman's "knock you naked" brownies, and a charity bake-off at work seemed like the perfect opportunity. Until I couldn't find boxed German chocolate cake mix at any grocery store in the vicinity of my apartment. So I googled "caramel brownies," because I'd already spent a wince-inducing $7 on three bags of caramels, and I didn't want to relinquish the idea entirely.
And I landed on this deliciousness:
It was amusingly easy to mix the batter up. It literally all happened in one saucepan (yes, saucepan!) in a matter of maybe 5 minutes. There was no sifting or chopping, just a little stirring and pouring. The brownies looked a little questionable in the oven, and I honestly thought they weren't going to turn out well. Naturally I had to take one for the team and sample one before the bake sale.
Although the caramels I bought didn't melt quite like the ones in the picture from the recipe, the brownies still turned out sinfully amazingly fudge-ily delicious. I swear I gained a pound eating just one sliver, but it was totally worth it. I've absolutely found my new go-to brownie recipe (even if it didn't win me the bake-off). I'm currently contemplating whittling it down to a one-serving recipe, some how...
But for now, I'm going to spend some quality time with President Bartlett and company.
But in what is becoming an increasingly common theme in my life, I am completely exhausted. I made it to my brunch plans today, but that's about all I managed to cross off my to-do list. I didn't get any new presents. I didn't do any of the lingering dishes in my sink. I didn't even hang my coat up when I got home.
Instead, I'm curled up on my couch, kicking off what will be a winter-long West Wing marathon. My same friend who gave me his many cans of pumpkin also gave me his complete West Wing dvd collection to look after while he's overseas for a year.
Although I blame the series in part for my total disillusion about what my life would be like when I moved to DC, I can't get enough of it. It's one of the smartest, wittiest shows I watch (which isn't exactly a feat, given my embarrassing reality tv habit, but we'll ignore that part). During that lovely nine months in which I was jobless, I would sit in bed and watch two hours of re-runs back when Bravo still aired them, then I'd force myself to get up and kick off the daily job search.
It's been a busy weekend (I at least earned my extreme exhaustion), so I haven't done hardly any cooking. To distract you until I manage to cook something, I bring you the best brownies outside of a box mix ever.
See, brownies used to be something I thought were not worth making from scratch. I genuinely believed that they were just as good out of a box as they were from scratch (if not better). And I'm someone who thinks it's borderline sacrilegious to serve or give a dessert.
But I'd really been wanting to try Pioneer Woman's "knock you naked" brownies, and a charity bake-off at work seemed like the perfect opportunity. Until I couldn't find boxed German chocolate cake mix at any grocery store in the vicinity of my apartment. So I googled "caramel brownies," because I'd already spent a wince-inducing $7 on three bags of caramels, and I didn't want to relinquish the idea entirely.
And I landed on this deliciousness:
It was amusingly easy to mix the batter up. It literally all happened in one saucepan (yes, saucepan!) in a matter of maybe 5 minutes. There was no sifting or chopping, just a little stirring and pouring. The brownies looked a little questionable in the oven, and I honestly thought they weren't going to turn out well. Naturally I had to take one for the team and sample one before the bake sale.
Although the caramels I bought didn't melt quite like the ones in the picture from the recipe, the brownies still turned out sinfully amazingly fudge-ily delicious. I swear I gained a pound eating just one sliver, but it was totally worth it. I've absolutely found my new go-to brownie recipe (even if it didn't win me the bake-off). I'm currently contemplating whittling it down to a one-serving recipe, some how...
But for now, I'm going to spend some quality time with President Bartlett and company.
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