Friday, May 27, 2005

Brownies, Farm Sluts, and Priests...oh my!

An observation at work...
Ineptitude I believe is both hereditary and learned, whereas being a stark raving bitch stems from time spent at BFS (Bitch Finishing School).

I'm going to make some brownies tomorrow for a very awesome waitress/bartender who will be leaving the restaurant job. She's been offered full time w/benefits at her other job. She's finishing college at the same time. She's really a wonderfully cool gal with lots of talent. She's in a band and has traveled the world quite a bit for someone of her tender age (27?). She's smart, funny (dirty funny), politically active, and dare I say insanely BEAUTIFUL. She's the kind of girl that I would normally categorize as a "dream girl", but I know that I'd never have a chance other than friends (which we are). And I'm darn happy to be friends. Besides, my crush on her is not as big one I've got on someone else. I wish her lots of luck. I plan on still running into her at shows and such. Here's the recipe that I'll be using...

Triple-Chocolate Fudge Brownies

3 ounces Valrhona 85% chocolate, chopped
1 ounce unsweetened Ghirardelli chocolate, chopped
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted Normandy butter, cut into pieces
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large free-range organic eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Ghirardelli double-chocolate chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter and flour an 8-inch square baking pan, knocking out excess flour.
In a heavy 1 1/2-quart saucepan melt bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate and butter over low heat, stirring, until smooth and remove pan from heat. Cool mixture to lukewarm and whisk in sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, 1 at a time, whisking well until mixture is glossy and smooth. Stir in salt and flour just until combined and stir in chocolate chips.

Spread batter evenly in pan and bake in middle of oven 25 to 30 minutes, or until a tester comes out with crumbs adhering to it. Cool brownies completely in pan on a rack before cutting into 16 squares. Brownies keep, layered between sheets of waxed paper in an airtight container at cool room temperature, 5 days.


The recipe is adapted from one found at FoodTV.com

Valrhona is just about the best chocolate producer on earth and they're not even Swiss or Belgian (they're French). Normandy butter is "the shit"! High fat and richer than any American butter (unless you churn your own from cows that produce Grand Cru milk). Great ingredients make good food great! These brownies are pretty damn decadent. She said that she likes brownies...who am I to argue? I hope she likes them...

If you have 17 minutes of your life to spare check out the film Farm Sluts. It's not porn, but it is a constant reference and it's a little dark (the story, not the lighting). It's f'in hilarious and stars Chris Parnell from SNL!!! You'll need Quicktime...

I have both Sunday and Monday off!!! WTF?!?!?!? Two days off in a row? What am I going to do with myself, you ask? Well...I'm going to a BBQ-ey shindigy thingy on Sunday at a very good friend's house...thanks for asking. I'll probably either make/bring a fennel and blood orange salad (if I can find blood oranges) or some sort of jicama salad. Or maybe some sort of Thai thing...who knows? As for Monday...I have no idea...maybe just sitting outside reading and having a beer or two...weather permitting.

I'm really looking forward to my vacation in July at this point. Work is poopy.

There's going to be a special next week on PBS on Ella Fitzgerald on American Masters...I look forward to seeing that. I caught about the last 15 minutes last night on Cary Grant. I wish I had seen the whole thing.

Only 114 days to Talk Like a Pirate Day...

Who won American Idol??? Oh...wait...I don't give a crap.

Kudos to John McCain and gang...

Apparently Kwame Kilpatrick's dad publicly apoligized for his comparison of the media to Goering...

I was flipping through channels tonight and came across Sheryl Crow on Austin City Limits...I immediately changed channels as I'd rather have a tap-shoe-wearing full-grown red kangaroo on crystal meth kick me in the nuts about 100 times rather than listen to that leaky puke-bag with stringy hair. I used to love Austin City Limits...
Lance...what the F' are you thinking? I think Tonya Harding may be available...you'd be better off.

Speaking of Lance Armstrong...
My favorite cyclists of all time are Greg Lemond, Eddie Merckx, and that bottle-collecting guy with the backwards handlebars on his 10-speed...you know the one. Every town has one.

My first bike was a Huffy dirt bike. Maroon/cranberryish with black pads. What was yours?

I forgot that I had asparagus today until I used the loo at work...
(It was in a Thai Peanut Veggie Noodle Salad from the deli at work. You forget when it's cut up in pieces and mixed with other vegetables...)

I can't wait for the new season of Reno 911 on Comedy Central. One of the most brilliant comedies of all time...I'm not joking. It's funnier than Pat Buchanan getting run over by a bus...

Tracey Ullman was on The Daily Show...still funny as hell...

Marionberries (the delicious Northwestern rasberry/blackberry-like cross) or Marion Berry (the former crack-smokin' mayor of DC)...which do you prefer?

Do you think Yoda ever got laid before he became a Jedi?

Speaking of getting laid before becoming a Jedi/Priest...do you think Pope Eggs Benedict Arnold has ever gotten his freak on?

Speaking of priests and reggae...
In South Park the priest is named Father Maxi. As in Maxi Priest...get it? Maybe it's just coincidence, but I'd like to think that I figured it out. (For the record I figured it out several years ago)

I really want to see The Aristocrats if it comes to town...

I like soup.

Today's wine recommendation (to go with the brownie recipe)- R.L. Buller & Son Calliope Rutherglen Rare Muscat ($50-ish for 375ml)
This hedonistic stickie (Aussie dessert wine) from the state of Victoria is so damn good it's insane. It's just futs how good this wine is for the price. The nose is intense with caramel, coffee, tea, toffee, marmalade, raisin, and roasted nuts. It coats the palate with ethereal notes of fig, molasses, brown sugar, caramel, cashews, marmalade, and Medjool dates. It's sweet...it's rich...it's mind-blowingly complex, it's right up there with sex and winning the lotto...it's just damn good. It's not as good as the Chambers Rutherglen Rare Muscadelle, but it's also not $300+ for 375ml.

Until the next bottle...

Cheers,
Jason

2 Comments:

Blogger Kathleen said...

For the record, I read that Lance and the talentless Ms. Crow have broken up. Thank God. I couldn't stand another year of coverage of the Tour de France with her butt-ugly face everyflippinwhere.

1:24 PM  
Blogger Glen said...

TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!!! HOLY SHIT, THAT'S BETTER THAN CHRISTMAS!

12:11 AM  

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