Saying goodbye

Our last soda machine at work is being taken away today. I managed to buy one last diet Dr. pepper though. My co-worker said they're just making room for the slurpee machine, but I'm doubtful. Farewell good friend.

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Funny money

When's the last time you saw one of these? Someone put it in the offering basket at church.

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Bring on the brownies

These treats are really for work (because of their fatty deliciousness), but I decided to make them a day early because I had more time tonight and I really wanted to be able to enjoy a piece before they got shipped off to those undiscerning piglets at work. They're called Marshmallow Crunch Brownie Bars and they're from a food blog that I enjoy stalking. I started by taking a short cut route and made a Betty Crocker dark chocolate brownie mix in a 9x13 instead of making it from scratch and then followed the rest of the directions. After the brownies baked, I pulled it out and covered it in mini marshmallows and then stuck it back in the oven for a couple of more minutes.
While the marshmallows baked, I melted a menage a trois of creamy peanut butter, milk chocolate chips, and butter in a sauce pan.
Once melted, a cup and a half of rice crispies joined in the party sauce. After cooling off the heat for a couple of minutes, the crunchy chocolate mixture is spread (carefully and slowly) over the cooling marshmallow brownie.
I think I may have added a wee bit too many marshmallows, hence why that layer is like 3" tall. It's currently cooling down on the counter before I tuck it in the fridge to finish hardening up before cutting a piece (or two) for the Canadian and I to enjoy after our evening constitutional.

Toe cozies

My compression toe cap finally came in so I was able to pick it up this morning. Besides it turning the tips of my toes purple in 5 minutes, it feels fine. The therapist threw a piece of foam under it for more pressure, so we'll see how it helps. Though I don't know why she ordered a copper colored cap - do I look like George Hamilton??

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Brew club night

My inaugural brew club meeting at Sierra Nevada. The Canadian and I got there early and helped set up chairs and tables and were able to pick prime locations before the crowds showed up. We tried lots of samples, voted on some, and talked about the upcoming beer competition.
Our neighbor Doug brought a sample for the group to try too. It was over carbonated so he wasn't going to enter it into the competition.
After our meeting was over, we high tailed it to the restaurant for dinner. On the daily special menu was a rock shrimp and hot link pizza so we ordered one of those to share.
Delicious! Even though, by that hour, anything would have been promptly devoured.

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P.B. & B.

With the shortest ingredient list ever, I put together some tasty little nuggets of magic.
Peanut butter and bacon cookies. It's literally just chunky peanut butter, sugar, one egg, some baking soda and bacon. I used them for medicinal purposes to help combat the Canadian's cold. Nothing soothes a stuffy nose like freshly baked cookies. It's science.

Taste of Spain

So who got up crazy wicked early this morning (8:30ish) to go to the farmers market? Me! I was under some delusional impression that I would be able to find things like cherry tomatoes and green beans there, even though Chris tried to warn me with his misguided dose of logic. He asked me why I thought the farmers market would have any other vegetable besides cabbage if vegetable plants weren't even available to buy yet from garden centers. Bah! And you know what? All you find at the farmers market this time of year is cabbage and leeks. Refusing to leave empty handed, I bought a loaf of my favorite olive bread from Tin Roof Bakery and out of curiosity picked up a ham and cheese empanada from a booth run by some self-proclaimed Spaniards. When I got home I threw it in the toaster oven and split it with the Canadian to go with our scrambled eggs.
Good, but a little heavy on the pie crust dough. Maybe I'll try one of the chorizo ones next time. The lady said that Spanish chorizo is not the same as Mexican chorizo. It's leaner and not as spicy. That sounds perfect to me. Maybe by then they'll have some damn vegetables (shaking fist)!!!!