Tag: spam

Vultures & Brownies

It seems like there are machines out there, waiting for blogs to post new posts!  I received oodles of spam in the past 24 hours, as comments on my previous post.  Hmm.  The vultures are circling . . .

That aside, we had friends over for dinner – homemade pork chili verde and chocolate brownies for dessert.  The chili verde is a wonderful dish for cold nights as it is filled with pork, pasillas, jalapenos, tomatillos, cilantro, onions, garlic, cumin and crushed coriander. The brownies are plain old comfort food, easy to make, and very tasty, chocolatey, and filled with pecans.

– – – Brownies! – – –

Brownies

Preheat oven to 350 F.

  • 4 squares unsweetened Baker’s chocolate
  • 1 stick butter
  • 4 eggs
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 c. sugar
  • 1 c. flour
  • 1 c. pecans, with some set aside to sprinkle on top

Bring eggs out to warm to room temperature. Melt chocolate and butter together over low heat on stove. Cool to room temperature. Beat eggs, salt, and sugar together until thick and lemony. Beat the eggs very well, to incorporate a lot of air, as this is the only leavening used in this recipe.

After eggs are properly beaten, using a spoon (not an electric mixer), stir in melted chocolate and butter until not quite completely mixed in. Add flour, continue to mix until incorporated and mixture is evenly colored. Add pecans. Pour batter into 9×13 inch pan, bake at 350 F for 30-35 minutes. Bake less for gooey-er brownies.

My opinion is that a metal pan is best for this recipe. If you use a glass pan or convection oven, drop the temperature by 25 degrees.

Save some batter to lick – it’s awfully good!  But if you worry about salmonella, avoid this step in the clean-up.

A Commentary on Leeching and Spam, with Other Stuff

A few months ago, someone came across this blog and posted the patterns page elsewhere online. That site seems to be a spam target – since then I have been inundated with everything from groupon ads to pornography, and in about as many languages as flavors of spam.

Since that site posting, I have a lot of hits from people coming to download and leech the patterns – and no one, absolutely not a single person, has said “thank you” – just a wham-bam, take ’em all.  However, the person who posted the pattern page got a thank-you!

So, this brings me to give some thought about even writing a blog.  In reality, it is for me.  It is my collection of thoughts and links – my own encyclopedia and directory to people and places I enjoy.  I don’t expect to have followers – and those who do, I really am flattered! – but I also think that we all should remember we are connecting with people over the internet, anonymous as that world is.

Into the Trees

In the meanwhile, I keep trying out different photography software.  Currently, I am testing out Nik’s Silver Efex 2.  I really like the controls it has, and how it moves seamlessly out of Photoshop and Lightroom.  I am probably overdoing the B&W on a number of pictures, but that is something I expect I will learn to temper.

In painting, drawing, design, it seems so easy to balance compositional elements!  Photography, though, is another story altogether.  What you see is what you get.  Then you have to choose – through judicious use of software (as well as hours spent learning it!) – what to keep, what to discard, what to tone down, what focus upon, how to draw the eye.

I have another 13 days of the free trial of Silver Efex.  I like what I see so far.  And, with a week off from work for Thanksgiving (furlough days, such fun!), I think I should be able to do a few things besides eat.