Blond Brownies

Welcome to the first official day of spring break for public schools in Hawaii!  Yay!  Double yay!!  I really needed the break, and I am NOT going in to the office.  I am not going in to the office.  I am not going in to the office.  I need to keep repeating that so it sinks in.

The office needs to find another person to dump on.  I'm not dumb enough to get caught doing all the work, especially on my vacation.  The boss needs to get his shit together.  

Mr. Dependable was supposed to take the Ds on a trip, but he decided to postpone the trip and wait for good prices.  Uh, yeah, when will that happen when kids are on vacation?  Nearly fifty years on this earth and he hasn't figured that one out yet.

During the last break, D2 invited a friend over for a baking session.  They wanted to bake with bacon.  They made chocolate bacon cookies.  Turned out pretty good, at least the first few.  After about a half-dozen, the bacon flavor got really old.  I never thought I'd feel like that.  So far, D2 hasn't extended a baking sesh invite to anyone, but she did ask me if KN could spend the evening.

"KN spending the evening" entails hours of pool play (not sure how much of this will happen with the cold front) and tons of snacking.  Both D2 and KN are big time snackers.  In preparation of KN (or RT, perhaps) coming over, I prepared some blond brownies.  I guess my mind was elsewhere (not at work, thats for sure) because before I realized what I was doing, I added the nuts in the batter.  Both D2 and KN don't care much for nuts, so I guess I'm going to be eating the brownies without any help from them.  Anyone wanna come over for brownies?

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Blond Brownies

     1/2 c butter
     3/4 c sugar
     3/4 c brown sugar
     2 eggs
     2 tsp vanilla
     1 1/2 c flour
     1 tsp baking powder
     1/2 tsp salt
     1 c white chocolate chips
     1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
     2/3 c chopped macadamia nuts or pecans, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9 x 13" pan.  Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.  Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Gradually stir flour into butter mixture.  Stir in chips and 1/2 c nuts.  Spread evenly in prepared pan.  Sprinkle remaining nuts evenly over top.  Bake 30 minutes.  Cool completely before cutting into squares or bars.

doing the Captain Morgan

Mr. Sun hasn't been seen for a while here.  In fact, its been freaking cold.  The electric blanket The Help got me for Valentine's Day Boss' Day has come in handy.  The last time I owned an electric blanket was when I was in college.  Speaking of college days, one of my friends from my freshman year, Flo Beck (Anchorage, AK), was known for a potent potable. . .Flo Tea.  Flo Tea was a staple at all the weekend/weeknight parties in her room.  It was Crystal Light iced tea (in those days it only came in 1 variety) spiked with Captain Morgan Spiced Rum.  I made some for my grandfather when I came home for summer vacation after my freshman year, and he loved it.  He said he was happy I was learning a lot of new things in college.

I found this pic on my waterproof camera a few days ago.  It was taken before last week's post (Korean Tofu Salad), and that's probably the last time we saw the sun.  The Ds took advantage of a string of sunny weather days and went for a dip.  After a small battle over who had to get a dead bee out of the water, they decided it was easier to get along with each other than deal with me.  One of their pool play activities was attempting to do the "Captain Morgan".  Where do kids get these ideas?  I don't even buy Captain Morgan!  As a self-described "rum snob", my preferred brands are 10 Cane, Pyrat, and Tommy Bahama.  My current pour, Cross Keys, is also very smooth.

Since we had some time this past weekend (Mr. Dependable said he had to work), The Help got his background and lights set up for a photo sesh with D1.  I enthusiastically helped him with his equipment because it was a treat that there was someone else willing to pose.  It was a great opportunity all around.  The Help got to practice his action shooting skills with his new toy.  D1 got some neat pics, including portrait shots which she can distribute when yearbooks come out since her picture was again left out of the yearbook.  She happened to be away on a Key Club service project when it was her turn to take class yearbook pics.  D1 had a good week.  She was officially notified that she will be Junior class president next school year.

This is my favorite pic from the session.  She doesn't care for it, but I love how her hair is wanging all over the place.  Kinda reminds me of Medusa.

D2 was camera-shy and refused to pose for any pics.