Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Treadmill worthy Brownies

ok, so its decided. I'm gonna make these really fantastic brownies called Treadmill worthy brownies. For years I've been trying to duplicate what my husband considers the perfect brownie, and this is pretty much as close as I'm gonna get. Now hubby, Glenn, his idea of perfect means it comes from a bakery in Smalltown, NJ.  Not a supermarket with a bakery in it, but an honest-to-goodness bakery. Preferably owned by polish, german, hungarian or, (surprise!) Italian folks. This bakery should be situated in a somewhat older town, with brick buildings and maple trees lining the street. When you walk in the door little bells that hang on the cross bar will jingle, alerting the owner that you've come in. The owner will come out from the back with a white apron on. They will cheerfully and with full hungarian accent, box up your order in a white cardboard box and tie it with red and white string.
These brownies should be made of real coco, be very rich and moist and not cake-like at all. They should contain walnuts NOT pecans. they should have a thin layer of sugar pressed into the bottom and each should be cut rather large, enough to give you a belly ache if you eat it in one sitting with a tall glass of milk. I got the recipe from my favorite cooking site, JustaPinch.com from one of my favorite cooks, Gail Welch. This girl can really cook it up!! http://www.justapinch.com/recipe/gail-welch/treadmill-worthy-brownies/quick-easy-cake?k=treadmill+worthy+brownies&p=1&o=r
 This will be my second go-around. Last time I made one batch, half with walnuts and half with chocolate chip morsals. This time I'll be making 2 full batches, as they are THAT good. Plus, I'm bringing them to tailgate and they will surely make me look good with my bleacher buddies. Go West!!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Those Boys are Corn Fed!

Wow what a great game, and what a great turn-out for our school! I was pretty impressed. Now I am looking at this from a totally unique perspective, as a high school football game in NJ is a chance for a specator to get drunk, punched, robbed or spit on. This whole Texas High School Football phenomena is really something to see. The whole town shows up for a home game. You don't even have to have a kid on the team or even in the school. Its a chance to make friends with your neighbors, tailgate, meet people, and its for the most part a really fun experience.
I had a hard time fitting in.
Nobody did that to me, everyone is really friendly, almost scary friendly to a Jersey girl, which might be a small part of the problem. The bigger part of the problem is I notice how different everyone is from me, which means I'm aware that everyone also notices how different I am from them and it makes me feel weird. Like I wore the wrong color.
Oh well. Other than the innitial scary, first time meeting everyone, I just moved here thing the whole high school football thing is really alot of fun and we've been getting better at it as the years have gone by. Now my youngest is a Junior and we only have this year and next to enjoy it so I want to make the most of it.
I made fried chicken then put it in the fridge to get cold. It came out really good. I made potato salad. I brought my fancy picnic basket with all the spoons and forks and bowls and plates and even a cutting board. I brought a thermos of coffee and home made peanut butter cookies.
And we couldnt find the other band parents.
and so we tailgated alone with our kids but that was fine because we like our kids.
And the game was really awesome, we sat with some of the other band parents in the stands, we finally did find them. We won the game and now our football team will advance to the 2nd stage of playoffs, and thats a first for our school and we're super excited.
and then.
wait for it.
and then...
after our team won and the band played our school song and our fight song. and after the two teams formed lines and shook hands. and after the cheering and the clapping and the saluting.
one of the coaches jumped the rail, and got down on his knee and proposed to his girlfriend. In front of the whole stadium. It was so AWESOME.
Next week we're up against Dayton. Our Bleecher buddies advised us that, "Those boys are corn fed". Means this.. Ranchers who feed their cows grass and straw and stuff they have regular cows but ranchers who feed their cows corn have fat cows, bigger cows, they're corn fed.
so, only in Texas folks, only in Texas will you hear this about the opposing team: Those boys are corn fed. Sounds like, "Those boys er cowern fed."
Love it!
A Jersey Girl in Texas, Peace Out.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Tail Gating and Football

Well, The Magnolia West Mustangs Football Team has made the playoffs for the second year in a row and we're going to tailgate today! I'm bringing potato salad, fried chicken and peanut butter cookies. I hope my chicken is good enough to brag about, I'd hate to be embarassed right there in the parking lot in front of the real Texas woman. Maybe we'll just sort of put our car along the edge.. sort of off to the side. Not quite in the circle of wagons.. just in case.