TWD: chewy chunky blondies

I LOVE blondies!  When I was a kid I didn't really like chocolate (shocking!) but was thrilled at bake sales & lunch time when the school would have blondies for dessert.  yum!

I went to make these last night and was asking hubs if he likes blondies so I would know whether to adapt the recipe to his (picky) tastes or just leave it as is.  Well...silly boy just pouted and asked why I couldn't make brownies or cookies instead.  No blondies for him!

I must say that I was excited to make this recipe as written because I adore walnuts & coconut, and also had some butterscotch chips that needed to be used up.  I used some toasted coconut that I had left over, and though I thought that it didn't impart much coconut flavor, the chewiness that it added was lovely!  The only change I made was to halve the recipe and bake it in a 8x8 pan.

The recipe came together very quickly, but I don't think mine were quite done at the recommended baking time of 40 minutes--the toothpick still came out wet.  However, since I love gooey cookies & brownies, I decided to go ahead and take them out anyway (a little underdone blondie never hurt me!). 

These are amazing!  I love the chewiness from all the mix-ins, the caramelly flavor, and the richness (one is definitely enough!).  I think that some of these will also be individually wrapped and frozen for treats later :).  Thanks so much to Nicole of Cookies on Friday for this pick (found on p. 108-109 of Baking From My Home to Yours) and check out the leave-your-link post from the TWD website to see who baked along this week.

Book review: Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster

Almost a year ago I used some of my Zoompanel points to get a memoir that immediately caught my eye based on the title and cover art (yes, I judged a book by it's cover...so sue me).  This lovely and hilarious book is Such a Pretty Fat by my new favorite author--Jen Lancaster.  And of course, it's another memoir, b/c that is what I'm all about these days, and I figured that it would be a perfect airplane/beach read on my vacation.

I love the "alternate" title: "Why Pie Is Not the Answer"--Hilarious!  Should be my motto!

One thing that I hate is reading books with characters who are obsessed with their weight and always complaining about being fat when they aren't even in the "normal" BMI range.  I just want to punch skinny girls who fuss about needing to lose weight--especially around those of us who are honestly struggling to get healthy and feel good about ourselves.  But it's also no fun to read sob stories about how depressed overweight girls are--yes, it's a hard struggle, and definitely something that I relate to, but sometimes people are just so down on themselves that it brings you down to hear about it.  

Well, this is not the case at all with Such a Pretty Fat.  Mrs. Lancaster is admittedly overweight, but actually has very high self esteem which I find extremely refreshing.  The title is a play on the two-faced compliment "you have such a pretty face" which of course is never said about overall pretty or friendly people...there is always a but, even if it's unspoken (which is hilariously discussed on pp. 145-147).  This memoir details her realization that her weight was becoming a problem for her health, the decision to write about it, and her experiences with some of the popular weight-loss corporations.

I absolutely adored this book! I read all but about the last 50 pages on the planes & in the airport--a super fast and enjoyable read (even at almost 400 pages).  I had to put it down a few times b/c I was laughing so hard the I was afraid I would disturb the person next to me on the plane! (see p. 54-55 "Two Fat People Admit Defeat": an actual ad that she placed in the wanted ads in order to sell their exercise bike).  I love her writing style, I love her honesty, I love her health success, I lover her pop-culture references, and I love that she wears pink crocs ;).  Seriously, I have now ordered all her other books, and am subscribing to her blog & twitter.  I know, I'm a dork; but she's hilarious!  I definitely recommend this to anyone who has ever struggled with weight loss and self esteem--it is nice to read about it in a light-hearted manner.  (disclaimer, she uses *colorful* language, if that kind of thing offends you).

And if you like the Twilight series you absolutely must read her hilarious blog posts where she acts out/parodies New Moon & Eclipse with dolls.  Love it!

So yeah, definitely buy/borrow/check out this book, and I will be posting soon with reviews of her others.

Fab 5 Friday

Hello everyone!  I have to say that this has been a refreshing, and in many ways uplifting week for me.  I am going through major transitions: next week will be my final week at my office, and this past week I worked 2 partial days of training my replacement, but it was odd to be at the office and not be working my normal routine.  I have also been confused each and every day about which day of the week it is...gonna have to do something about that if I'm going to be staying home!

Once again, I'm going to join in with Emily to post about 5 things that made my life fabulous this week:

1.  My bedroom.

Last week I had the good but also weird experience of taking a week-long vacation with my parents & sister.  We all stayed in a one-room suite with 2 beds & a pull-out couch and it was...interesting.  I really did enjoy the time with the family, but I must say that it is a bit odd to be 26 years old and married with my own home, and to spend a week away from my husband sharing a room with my family.  There was snoring. There was sleep-talking (but thankfully not sleep-walking).  There were different sleep schedules and habits.  And there were lights on when it was time to sleep.  Though I had a queen-sized bed to myself during that week, I cannot tell you how relieved and relaxed I was to come home to my own bed (even though I found--to my horror--a spider in the bed when I turned down the sheets--how did that happen?  hubs had been sleeping in that bed all week!  eep! we immediately stripped the bed and washed all the covers) and my own husband and my own bulldog ;)  And the room was almost pitch-black, and we had our fan on so I couldn't hear any other noises.  Ahhh...bliss!  The only negative (other than the spider) is that a week in a room with maid service will show you how messy your house is!

2.  White Noise App for Ipod touch and Iphone.

so many settings--and it's free!  I chose "airplane" and this is what got me to sleep in the above mentioned situation.  Thank you Apple!

3.  My DVR

We are friends.  It was super nice and recorded all my favorite shows while I was in Florida!  Sadly, a few were deleted b/c I used over 99% of the memory.  My name is Sarah and I am a TV junkie.

4.  Club Bing

My bestest sent me a link for this while I was away.  You know how much I love websites where you can earn points for free stuff (like zoom panel & swag bucks).  This is another one!  Only instead of surveys or searching, you win points for playing computer games!!!!  eep!!  This may become a problem for me.  When I was in college, I had a severe addiction to addictinggames.com.  Whenever it was time to write a paper or study I would have to win "just one more game" and would inevitably end up awake until 3 am b/c I wasted so much time.  So I'm excited about this, and have been playing ;)

5.  Facebook/blogs

Since announcing my decision to leave my job I have also had the freedom to blog about whatever I am feeling without worrying about co-workers finding out that I was leaving before time.  In that, I have touched on some things that have been hard on me including recent posts on parenthood & guilt.  For me, writing has always been cathartic and I am the kind of person who will really put almost anything out there (the only off-limit subjects are honestly personal things b/tw me & hubs which I don't write about out of respect of his privacy).  In writing about these issues, I have not only been able to really evaluate my own feelings (some have since shifted...more on that another day) but have also been overwhelmed by encouragement and support from online friends.  And I do mean friends.  There are several people who I have reconnected with from my past, and several who I have never met in person, but it has meant the world to me.  Today alone I was brought to tears by some of the messages I have received.  So thank you.  For listening even when I over-share, for offering perspective & encouragement, and just for caring enough to read my thoughts and let me know that you understand, that you feel the same, that you will be praying for me, or just that you are here.

So those are the things that made my week fabulous--what about you?