Bored?

Want to see a great feat of knitting? (Jeanne, Peri, and Amber--I know you'll appreciate this!)


Search this on Google Maps: 44.244273, 7.769739


Then switch to satellite view, and zoom in.


That was knitted by a bunch of old ladies.

Did you say "Abe Lincoln"?

OMG

...although I'm not sure the child should be reading anything related to Sookie Stackhouse...

but YAY, a child I've never met likes my book! :D




I've been kind of quiet, I know.... I apologize. But it's actually for a POSITIVE reason this time!! I've been writing up a friggin storm in the fiction world. After finishing the first rough edit of the fairy book, I was finally free to devote all of my attention to Book 3. I've been working on that one on and off for over a year, always forcing myself to back off from that project to finish the fairy book first. But now it's all about Book 3, which I'm pretty sure is the best thing I've ever written. 


With that in mind, I am in desperate need of guinea pigs to read the finished fairy book!! Any of you who read Underwood interested in reading Book 2??


I also had a few side stories/notes I've been playing with since the fairy book got started, and over the last several days one of those has actually turned into something that could well end up a novel. I'm not questioning it at this point--I so rarely get such intense bursts of inspiration that I do not question them when they happen. 


So since I have been neglecting blog-writing, I'll share a super secret recipe instead......




Mich's Epic Brownies!
(a.k.a., Coconut Curry Brownies)


From this point on, I must ask y'all not to question me. They're delicious. I promise. My friend's mother once consumed a total of 17 of them in one day (they were tiny, but still...). Whenever I tell people the ingredients, they're like "omg ewwww, really?!?" But the brownies are AMAZING; I swear.


You will need:
for the brownies...
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 - 3 tsp curry powder
- 1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips (~6 ounces)

- 1 cup melted butter (2 sticks)
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 can coconut milk


for the icing...
- confectioners sugar
- 1/2 can coconut milk

- 2-4 tbsp. melted butter
- curry powder


To make them:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the melted butter, sugar, and vanilla. 

Beat in the eggs one at a time, and then add the 1/2 can coconut milk. 


In a separate bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, and salt and mix them together. Then add the curry powder.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the sugar/butter mix, until it's well blended.


In a saucepan, melt the chocolate chips on a low heat.

Stir that into the brownie mix. Once it's all mixed together, pour the mix into a lightly greased 9" x 13" pan. I like smaller, denser/fudgier brownies, so I make it a pretty thin layer in the pan, and thus have enough mix left over to also fill a 9" x 9" pan.

Bake between 30 - 40 minutes, until a toothpick stuck into the middle comes out clean.


To make the icing, just mix together the 1/2 can of coconut milk, with 1/2 cup confectioners sugar, 2 tbsp. melted butter, and a sprinkle of curry powder. You can add more sugar and/or butter until it's the consistency you'd like. I like to drizzle it on the brownies rather than ice them properly, so I tend to use less sugar and butter, and more of the coconut. I also like to make the icing a bit more exciting with food colouring, and then sprinkles. 

that's half of the batch--each brownie is about 2" x 2" (bite size)

I made these for New Year's Eve. The entire batch was annihilated in under an hour. By 7 people.