AfricanKelli

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Dear Fin,

Okay, I have a big dirty secret to admit: there are times when I am so sick of sewing, I don’t look at my machine for months. When I left for Cancun December 15th, I tucked my machine and supplies away. They didn’t re-emerge until last night. I needed a break. You could tell in my work that I was bored and frankly, it gave me time to fall in love again with knitting. (Not to mention, this craft is much easier to take with you on said beach vacations.)

Yesterday when I pulled out my shiny new copy of “One Yard Wonders” for our sew-along this year I was utterly dismayed to find tissue paper patterns. Am I the only one who finds these insanely difficult to work with and store? Perhaps I don’t have the patience required. When I finally found the pieces, cut them out and refolded all the other giant sheets of tissue patterns, I realized there was absolutely no getting them back in the book’s tiny front pocket from which they had emerged.

The good news is — I’ve got the patterns cut and some super cute fabric to work with for this Folklore Bag. Isn’t this elephant print delightful? It is actually a giant pillow sham I received as a gift from a friend. I’ve been waiting to use it for just the right project. It’s folksy and fun and has elephants! Perfect.

Rant over. Hope you have the patience I’m missing!

xo,

Donk

Paired with some greens for dinner last night. The new farmer’s market at ASU started yesterday and I spent way too much money on way too little — but the flavors were wonderful. Plus, I’m learning that it is often not cost/time effective to do the best thing for your community (farmer’s markets, carpooling, low energy use electronics) but it is still the better option. And so, we very much enjoyed the $5 tomato — sliced with a bit of salt and savored before scallops and greens.

Today starts lent, and those who’ve been around for a while know that traditionally means the kickoff to Calculated Acts of Kindness (CAOK). I’ve done this for 4 years. This year, with a variety of new challenges in hand, I cannot. I fully believe CAOK is something you do regardless of the season and I hope my excessive efforts of the past have encouraged others. My one hiccup was the jaded feedback I’d misplaced humility to seek praise for good deeds. Noted. This year, my lenten journey will be private.

If you are participating in CAOK, I’m happy to praise you. Keep me posted on what you are doing!

~K

Purple mountains majesty.

~k

The latest issue of Cook’s Illustrated featured a three-page spread on the author’s love of chewy brownies. She admitted boxed mix brownies are chewy and delicious and she didn’t see the point in making them from scratch. But, this being Cook’s Illustrated, getting it just right with your own ingredients was a challenge she couldn’t overlook.

With a weekend dance card full, I knew a brownie challenge was in order. I bought 2 boxed mixes – Ghirardelli is my favorite and made them exactly as the box says. (I am not always one to follow directions, but this time I put on my best scientist hat and tried to minimize my own touches.) Then I made two batches of the recipe listed – “Cracking the Code to Chewy Brownies.”

In a nudge to get more people to appreciate this magazine, I am intentionally NOT listing the recipe. If you love to cook and you aren’t reading CI, you should be. And if you want desperately to make these brownies, find this one issue. March/April 2010. Again, it will be worth your couple of dollars.

The results?

Matty, freshly home from Africa, helped me wrap up each set. Red were out of the box. Pink were homemade. I put them in gift bags with a few other goodies and over the weekend began receiving returned surveys. Which did they like more? Why? I had about 20 people play and 10 or so provided feedback more than the crumbly, “Brownies?! YUM!”

(Always appreciated, but not exactly helpful for this project.)

For the most part, it was a 50/50 split in who liked homemade vs. boxed. There was one significant problem in my experiment — I accidentally added too much salt to the homemade version. Some folks liked this, others thought it was gross.

I like the fact the $2 box mix is cost effective and takes 45 minutes total. I also like the cakey, beautiful shine and robust flavor to the homemade brownies, although they cost $6 a pan or so. For special occasions, I’ll stick with homemade. For the bulk of baking brownies, I remain a fan of the exceptional Ghirardelli box mix.

Your thoughts?

~K

With sincerest apologies to all of my friends east of the Mississippi who are currently buried, this is the only white we are seeing in Tempe at the moment:

As a friend recently said, “I’m in Arizona because you don’t have to shovel sunshine.”*

~K

*Feel free to remind my smug ass of this post come August.