The Little Wizard

Lil' Gandalf the Grey turned out perfect!

1600 Days In a Row!

Hooray for me!! 1600 days of learning Spanish and now a little Dutch, too!

Mama Rose's 70th!

Today I had the whole day off and spent the day with Mum to celebrate her newest decade. We had pizza and cake and gifts plus a nice visit with Terri who stopped over, followed by Sweet Carolina off the Hallmark Channel. A perfect day!

(I loved the saying on this card from one of Mum's bestest besties.)

The Ann Jillian Story

It's May 11th and that means it's Ann Jillian Day, thirty-four years since I met Ann Jillian at the Academy of Music. Today I celebrated by watching her star as herself in The Ann Jillian Story. Tony Lo Bianco was great as Ann's fab hubby, Andy Murcia, who I also was lucky enough to meet! I hadn't watched it for a handful of years but still remembered every scene. Back in the day, I had watched my old VHS copy dozens and dozens of times. To celebrate, I ordered a new copy online of her album on vinyl as an early bday gift for myself. Woohoo!

(photo kidnapped from made-for-tv-movie.fandom)

Honey Bees Have Landed...

...at Krispy Kreme!! And look how cute!!

Helen's Vegan Brownies

Over the weekend Helen texted me and mentioned going to a party and bringing some vegan brownies she whipped up. They looked divine and so she sent me a link for the recipe, which I am most certainly gonna make this month. See below for the full recipe which I kidnapped from Eat With Clarity.

Wet ingredients:

1 ½ cups very finely ground granulated sugar (the brand Domino is best)

½ cup water

2 tbsp ground flax seed OR 5 tbsp apple sauce

5 tbsp water for the flax, separate from the sugar water

½ cup oil (I used vegetable)

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients:

¾ cup cocoa powder (sifted if clumpy)

1 ½ cups all purpose flour (I used gluten free, but regular works too)

½ tsp salt

½ cup chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a small bowl, whisk together the 2 tbsp ground flax with 5 tbsp water. Set aside to thicken. (Skip this step if using the apple sauce.) Some people notice a flavor when using the flax (I never have this issue) so if that worries you, stick to the applesauce. The texture will be slightly different, but still delicious.

In a medium pot on the stove, add the sugar and water and whisk together. Heat over medium/low heat. Stir occasionally, but after about 5-10 minutes, the sugar should completely dissolve. Be sure you don't add any extra water. The water will look somewhat cloudy, but you shouldn't notice any clumps of sugar. This is key for the shiny crust!

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir together all dry ingredients except for the chocolate chips if using (we'll add these later). Be sure to spoon and level the cocoa and flour into dry measuring cups, don't scoop right from the bag or you will inadvertently end up with more flour than needed.

Once the sugar has completely dissolved, give it a final whisk, then pour it into the dry ingredients.

Add all remaining wet ingredients, including the flax eggs once thickened or the applesauce and mix together with a wooden spoon until a batter forms. Careful not to over mix, stir just until combined.

Fold in the chocolate chips if using. They're optional, but they do help the top get shinier and add a richer chocolate flavor.

Transfer to an 8×8 baking dish lined with parchment paper.

Sprinkle with additional chocolate chips if desired.

Bake for 35-42 minutes. about 38 was perfect in my oven, but check with a toothpick. Bake for longer if you don't like a fudgy inside and shorter if you want them really fudgy.

Remove from the oven, let cool completely, then slice around the edges of the pan and lift out the brownies using the parchment paper. Slice into 16 squares & enjoy! The longer you let cool, the easier/cleaner the cut will be.

Notes

For a lower fat version, you can sub half of the oil with applesauce. I do not recommend subbing all of the oil for applesauce for taste and texture purposes. 

I recommend using Domino granulated sugar for this recipe since it is very fine. Other sugars like the Whole Foods 365 brand are a bit more coarse and don’t dissolve as well. 

You can use another sugar like coconut sugar to make these refined sugar free, but the crust will not get as shiny as what is pictured. 

Serving: 1 brownie / Calories: 204KCAL / Carbohydrates: 34G / Protein: 2G / Fat: 10G / Fiber: 2G / Sugar: 20G

Saving Grace

The evening of July 31st 2000 I picked up Marina, then Xavier, got Donna and then Aunt Berne and we five headed to Bryn Mawr to see and adore Saving Grace at the sneak peek showing. At the time I was working at Pier 1 in Ardmore and if memory serves, someone from the theatre up the street popped in and dropped off three tickets (each good for two people). Not one of us had heard of the movie or knew anything about it. From the cast I had seen Brenda Blethyn in Secrets and Lies and Xave and I knew Craig Ferguson from The Drew Carey Show. Every single one of us loved the film and the Spirit in the Sky scene where Tristan Sturrock's character sees the bright light from Lilac House's greenhouse damn near killed Aunt Berne. I had never seen her laugh that hard and that made everyone else in the theatre howl even louder. Last night, in the hopes of healing myself with humour, I dug out my region 2 copy of the film and tossed it in the player. Oh it is still such a great movie! And Martin Clunes (♥♥) as the doctor was, what else?, adorable.