Wanna earn some brownie points?

These chewy, moist brownies are some of the goodies I bake at home. They're some of MDK's fave goodies. And apparently, they are his friends' as well.

After school, the boys (MDK and his friends) usually hang out at our place. And y'all know what it's like with growing boys. They love to munch.

I love to bake. And I love seeing a clean container after the boys devour what's in there.

It took awhile for me to find a 'perfect' brownie recipe. I used to just buy the premixed ones although it's also a hit-and-miss finding the right mix, aside being a tad expensive.

I'm sharing another recipe I found in the AllRecipe site. I tell you, that website is a treasure trove. And like any recipe I learned, I tweaked it.

So here's the original recipe:

Ingredients

* 2 cups sugar
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/3 cup baking cocoa
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 cup vegetable oil
* 4 eggs
* 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 cup chopped nuts
* confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, combine sugar, flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder.
2. Combine oil, eggs, corn syrup and vanilla.
3. Add to dry ingredients. Fold in nuts if desired.
4. Spread in a greased 13-in.x 9-in.x 2-in. baking pan. 
5.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
6. Dust with confectioners' sugar while warm if desired.

Source: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/chewy-brownies/Detail.aspx

Here are my tweaks:

• I use 1 1/2 cups sugar. I find 2 cups is too much especially if I add some white choco pieces.
• I replace the corn syrup with honey. It's what we have in our pantry.
• I put walnuts. I find it's the perfect nut to go with chocolates.
• If you want to be a bit indulgent (which I usually am), add a cup of chocolate bits. If it eases the guilt, you can use the dark or semi-sweet ones. I used white for this batch as they're more photogenic hahaha.

Our living room in pictures

Here's a collage of our living room.

Tidbits...

• It's adjacent to our dining room.

• It's probably one of the least used spots in the house. We usually entertain friends and hang-out as a family in the family room and in the kitchen.

• Most of the stuff in the room are from our previous home.

• I used to love burgundy thus the sofa and loveseat colour. They're over 10 years old and I actually like the look of aged leather. I can't say the same for the colour. We're thinking of replacing them with grey but we'll probably do that later. We'll see.

• Not sure if the decor style in the living room (and dining) is ethnic-eclectic. I wouldn't know. I didn't take interior design.

Here are the artworks that we used to put above the console in the main hallway.

We didn't bother taking out the Christmas wreath on the door when I took this pic. Sorry I couldn't be bothered.

And here's my most favourite art display. The art piece above was done by MDK during one of his art classes in grade school.

Best Blue Breakfast

Does Monday give you the blues?

Here's something I hope will help chase that dreaded Monday blues away - blue breakfast.

Waffles with fresh blueberries and drizzles of light maple syrup and confectioner's sugar. I skipped the whipped cream.

I always tease MDH that he is such a worry-wart. Example, Friday evening before we go to bed, he starts planning (worrying) what to prepare for our weekend breakfasts. We make extra effort to make weekend breakfasts extra special as our weekday mornings are usually hectic. Meaning, weekday breakfasts usually consist of anything quick to prepare. If we want something but requires longer time to prep, we either have to wake up a tad early or stop wanting it and have it on the weekend instead.

Back when MDK was in grade school, because it was a 30 minute ride from home, we'd eat our breakfast in the car. It was fun, eating breakfast in the car, but not so much the loong drive to school. Coming home, we'd make up all sorts of games to keep all 3 of us entertained.  I missed it when MDK moved to a different school.

So back to my worry-wart. He's getting better lately. He doesn't worry the night before. But the first thing he asks when he wakes up is "what would you want for breakfast." Big improvement, don't you think? :) I love MDH. I always tell him he's a keeper ;)
 
Here's the waffle recipe MDH uses which we got from this site.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups milk
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Directions

1. In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Add milk, eggs and oil; mix well.
2. Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray. Pour mix onto hot waffle iron. Cook until golden brown.

Winter Charm

In the summer I have this friend who I am closest to,

and sometimes, in the winter,

I long to call her up and say,

come here and live with me, in this cold place.

But we are summer friends.

There is a rule it seems,

that summer friends don't get together in the wintertime.

Now, sitting here, waiting for her,

I realize that I have never seen her in a winter coat,

and for some reason that makes me sadder than anything else in the world.

~ Jacqueline Woodson

Purse love never dies

I love to gawk at purses. A certain bag has to have certain characteristics for me to do a second look at it. Or maybe third, fourth, fifth. Then I start to obsess about it. And then I begin to feel like I’ve got to have it. Is that even normal? I don’t know.

If someone were to give me some shopping money and I were to choose between buying a gorgeous pair of shoes or a purse, I’d pick purse in a heartbeat. Not that I don’t love shoes. I do. In fact, if I were to have unlimited moolah and will have the freedom to spend it anyway I like I’d buy all the gorgeous shoes my eyes can feast on hahaha. But the resources are very limited. And I only have one benefactor: MDH ;) .

I usually have a “me purchase” once a year. Yeah, yeah some people have “me time”. Mine is shopping.

I’ve been eying at this messenger bag.

And this tote too.

But I have the strictest rule to just have one purse purchase a year. Both are gorgeous so I have been contemplating for weeks now as to which one is it going to be. Until I saw the movie Letters to Juliet early this week. And I couldn’t help but got distracted by Amanda Seyfried’s messenger/satchel bag every time she’d appear on screen. The movie is so-so but the sight of her toting the bag with the beautiful rustic Italy as the background is more than so-so.

So what's a girl to do when it's love at purse sight? I of course googled it. And lo and behold, it wasn't just me wanting it. The bag's made in Canada, by Roots and is made of Italian leather. I was pleasantly surprised that it is just a fraction of the price of the other messenger bag I was obsessing earlier.

The long and short, I now own the small satchel in Tribe leather by Roots. We picked it up on our way home from work. This will be my picker-upper for tomorrow. I will be doing something I have been postponing for months. Our family doctor has urged me to do it this time. So yeah, it will be a painful day tomorrow but at least I will be carrying my new satchel.

Update after the painful ordeal:

It was excruciatingly painful. I am now fully convinced that I deserve the other purse - the black tote above to be specific :).