A brownie a day keeps the doctor away. That’s how it goes, doesn’t it?
Extra-Dark Brownies
2/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup sifted flour
1 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 375 F. Chop the chocolate and butter and place in a very small saucepan over very low heat to melt. (I use a metal measuring cup.) Stir occasionally and remove from heat when melted, stirring in vanilla. Beat eggs, salt and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer at high speed for about ten minutes or until pale and thickened. Add chocolate mixture and combine thoroughly. Beat in flour just until combined. Pour into a 9-inch round baking pan with a removable bottom and sprinkle with pecans. Bake at 375 F for 50 minutes. The brownies will be very soft and dense.
Not exactly. I’m almost done with physical therapy. I have virtually all of my range of motion back but I still have shoulder and back pain. One of the techniques I’m beginning to really focus on is hand warming. That’s a type of biofeedback that the PT felt would increase circulation and thus speed healing in my shoulder. As a side benefit it can also be helpful for headache and many other things. I found this little thermometer over on Amazon as well as some sticky dots that serve a similar purpose.
We haven't really had any hot weather to speak of but over the past week Jason noticed the a/c wasn't blowing very cool air so he put in a call to the repair guy. We might have skipped getting it serviced in the spring a time or two. It wasn't long at all after the repair guy's arrival that he reported a mousikin nest inside the unit. They'd chewed through the wire. Sound familiar? As in exactly the same report we got on the car a/c earlier this year? Ayep. Well, the mice have been evicted and the a/c is hunky dory again. Repair guy was even so kind as to show Jason how to turn off the breaker in the winter so that there's no warm spot to attract said mice again. I think the catnip for neighbor cats campaign has just gained even more momentum.
I also worked up one more experimental batch of soap. Jason asked for something with sea salt in. I'm not ordering new supplies until the fall so I had to go with what essential oils I had on hand and since I've just done sandalwood and lavender I went for mint this time for a change of pace. The sea salt is in rather large crystals and those don't seem to have behaved very nicely. It looks like those candles we made as kids with ice cubes to make holes when they melted. I'll give it a few days and then try it out to be sure it's okay. It does look like the soap set properly so I suspect the salt is just drawing out extra moisture.
Yesterday was my birthday and Jason cooked a fantastic dinner of grilled steak with fresh horseradish sour cream, artichokes sauteed with garlic and grilled bread and broccolini. We have been mostly abstaining from alcohol but for this dinner he got a wee bit carried away and we had one of my favorite red wines (Stag's Leap Cabernet) and my favorite champage (Moet White Star). I baked the cake- an angel food cake (btw, do not use Emeril's angel food recipe, it's flat) with some delish lemon curd and fresh strawberries. I got some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Argyle off my Loopy Ewe wishlist (yay!), the new Estonian lace book by Nancy Bush, Martha Stewart's Cooking School book (a fantastic how-to reference), some amazing chocolate, and some cash which I've used to order the Sata Mitten book (I think those charts would make great socks!) and the Three-cornered and Long Shawls lace books (you have to scroll down to find it). Jason got me the sock and sweater classes at the Elegant Ewe with Beth Brown Reinsel (I'd specifically requested them a few months ago, okay maybe insisted) and then he cheated and also got me an iTouch so I can listen to audio books when I go walking.
Class starts Friday and my yarn and needles are ready. Sadly the PT decided I have also got some carpal tunnel issues going on in the right wrist as well so nearly all crafting has come to a halt. I will still go to class, it's prepaid and it's with big yarn and needles- we'll only be doing swatches. I've got a whole 'nother sheaf of exercises to do and she's still quite optimistic that I'll be better in a few months. I bought wrist guards this weekend and am making use of them, especially on the right side.
The kitties are blissed out with the warm sunny weather and it must have gotten under my skin too. We drove out to Reading today to visit REI whereupon I acquired a pair of shoes suitable for light hiking. All those big treks to the library last summer left my feet in terrible shape and I suspected poor footwear was too blame. The fellow's eyes did bug out a bit when he saw what I'd been wearing and he diligently pulled at least 10 pairs in assorted sizes until we found something that was comfortable and a good fit. I can't wait to give these new guys a try tomorrow afternoon!
Remember that tooth I cracked just before Christmas? The saga is still not over. I think my last update was just after I had the root canal which was only the first unpleasant surprise (though really that went well and it was fine, not as scary as expected). The tooth has no nerve anymore so it really should theoretically be pain free but it continued to be sore when biting down. I went in about a week and a half later for a temporary crown and to get molds done for the permanent crown. Doc was concerned that it was difficult to numb the tooth still and things really flared up over the weekend when my gum turned bright red and puffy and became terribly painful. We did a round of penicillin which improved things but by week's end it was still quite painful. He said he'd never seen anything like it and his only guess was that maybe I was allergic to the temporary crown material (different stuff than the quick fix before xmas). He's never seen a reaction to it but the took that temporary crown off and you could literally see improvement within hours. Apparently I'm his first patient to have a reaction to that material which is admittedly somewhat new. We decided just to leave it off and proceed cautiously with the new crown when it arrived. He'd planned to use a temporary glue and see if I reacted to that before affixing it permanently. That was meant to happen yesterday but sadly there is still pain in this tooth so I was sent packing right back to the endodontist. She says perhaps there's an infection but if not that will mean the tooth is cracked and must be yanked and replaced with an implant. I begin to fear I will never be done with this dental saga but a friend did reassure me that she's had some implants done and I shouldn't worry.
All that running about meant only a little progress on the embroidery but it does continue to enthrall. It's moves along at a gratifyingly quick pace.
The best flowers are the ones that show up completely unexpected as these beauties did Friday night. Daniel was up and about early yesterday morning trolling the kitchen for something to eat. I have all sorts of lovely summer fruit down in the freezer so I broke out some blueberries to make this lovely lemon blueberry bread. The only change I made to the recipe was to add some baking spice. Once that was sorted I made a quick batch of sandalwood soap. I wanted to check my numbers and be sure the 5 pound batches I’ve been making are really five pounds when they’re done.
