Merry Merry

I was sitting on Douglas, left-over wedding wine in one hand, Kate Shugak on the Kindle in the other, my big boy to my right, listening Soft Rock: Holiday Hits on Comcast's music channel. My nearly kindling tree looked  beautiful, CTG's angel front and center, Mei-Mei's monogrammed bird house right above it.  The sun was setting and peaceful was the relevant adjective.

We looked up and saw that the factoid on the screen was revealing the rather alarming fact that a two-headed Buddhist god gave children Christmas presents.  There were so many, many, many questions, but first and foremost the two of us were wondering why a Buddhist god was sending gifts for Christmas. Then, Big Cuter smiled.

"It's like the fork, Mom.  Once you've seen it, you realize that it's great!"

On that theory, I wish you all, each and every Buddhist and Zoroastrian and Jew and Muslim the happiest of happy holidays on this, a day that celebrates a baby's birth.  We can all be happy when a baby is welcomed to the world, can't we?
*****
As a Christmas gift to those who've asked, here's the brownie recipe I use for the Brownie List.  You can try it with fancier chocolate and serious extracts.  I have, and I always come back to the generics.  Just be sure the extracts are pure and not imitation, the chocolate is Bakers, and the butter is unsalted.  You can leave out the nuts if you'd like; reduce the cooking time if you do.

• Melt 2 squares of Bakers unsweetened chocolate and 1/3 cup unsalted butter.
• Beat together 2 large eggs, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract and a dash of pure almond extract.
• Add the melted chocolate and butter.  Mix together.
• Add 2/3 cup King Arthur Flour and 1 teaspoon each of salt and baking powder.
• If you like, add chopped walnuts.
• Bake in an 8x8x2 ungreased pan at 350 for approximately 20 minutes.  My crew likes them slightly undercooked (17 minutes) and gooey, but you may prefer them with a drier texture.  You know your oven better than I do.