When all else fails, there's always chocolate.

Let's see:

1. Three kids cooped up in a house for a week while we wait for the snow to melt.
2. Finally reaching the point where you need a daily afternoon nap but heck if that's going to happen. See #1.
3. The sewing room is trashed because you thought it would be a good idea to have the little girl mess around while you worked on something. So sewing is out.
4. I finally gave up my coca cola/caffeine habit but for purely selfish reasons. Wheee, it's been loads of fun.

At least I have chocolate. That and what I consider my vital pantry ingredients - sugar, flour, butter and eggs. Yeah, I get a little panicky when I realize I don't have the ingredients to make something delicious on a whim but then I remember - in a pinch, there's always Amazon cake.




This week I had the ingredients to make Alton Brown's Cocoa Brownies and add my own little spin. Oh man, there is nothing like that first bite of fudgy, chewy, chocolately brownie. I think the massage last year for my birthday came close but for the brownie I didn't have to leave my house. Not that I'd turn down another massage, hint hint. I sigh, close my eyes and my shoulders slump down from their near-my-ears position. It's definitely a moment and a good one at that. I'll have a little step by step this week because fortunately for you, the kids and I scarfed down the first batch so quickly that I felt guilty when Mr. Maricucu didn't even get a taste. Of course, we had to make a second batch.