whirlwind + peanut butter cup brownies

four more days til the conference, then i'll be back to a regular blogging schedule after that. promise.

until then, i came across this recipe for peanut butter cup brownies and think it sounds absolutely fantastic. it might be the first thing i do after the conference is finished on the 15th.

or maybe it'll be the second thing, after having a big long nap.

Ingredients

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 4 large eggs
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• kosher salt
• 8 large peanut butter cups, cut into pieces

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400° F.
2. Melt the butter and chocolate in a pan over low heat.
3. Using a mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until pale yellow and fluffy. Lower speed and pour in the melted chocolate and vanilla. Mix in the flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Fold in the peanut butter cups.
4. Scrape into a buttered 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Bake until the tip of a knife comes out clean, about 35 minutes.

enjoy. and please, if it's before sunday, eat an extra one for me.

ps - i managed to do a little 25-minute belly photoshoot with jess this weekend. it felt a little bit rushed, so i'm going to see how they look after a bit of photoshopping. will keep you posted.

recipe and image from here

sneaky peeky

here's a preview of what no internet connection and no cable can get accomplished. (taken from my iPhone, so please excuse the darkness and the pixellation.)

bonus: i think i figured out what the issue was. only problem is, if i'm right, it's gonna cost me a new router. crapola.

hello, operator?

so my wireless router is down. again. we had a power-out a few days ago and it hasn't been working since. I've reset both the router and the modem but to no avail - I'm officially disconnected and am left to blog from my phone. does anyone else have this problem?

tonight, am going to work on my Christmas cards since, for all intents and purposes, I'm Amish. maybe I'll start a quilt or raise a barn with all of the spare time I now have.

any recommendations on ways to either fix my router or spend my evenings?

in the meanwhile, I'll be tweeting up a storm. not quite Amish, I know, but it provides a little entertainment on the bus ride home at least.

for all those who had to bundle up..

i think everyone had to deal with the characteristic snowsuit-under-halloween costume deal, unless you lived somewhere warm. this, however, is one of the best accounts of a first halloween that i've seen in a long time.

"... I knew what costumes were. I loved costumes. They wore costumes in the Wizard of Oz. Glenda the Good Witch - now that broad had a costume! I was a reasonable, rational child, mind you. I didn't get my hopes up that high. I knew four year olds were supporting cast, not feature players. I would be satisfied with pretty much anything the chorus girls wore in any of the musicals my mother used to watch on Sunday afternoons. That's along the lines of what I figured a novice Halloweener would be outfitted in. Surely you didn't get feature dancer quality costumes until you were at least five. Fine with me. Anything would be an improvement on the big, brown, uncomfortable snow suit I usually had to wear when we went out ..."

to read more, check out tattytiara's blog.

wading in possibility

'nuff said.

have an awesome weekend, all. xo

image via i can read, which i found on perfect sentiment.