The other day I was reading Joy The Baker, and she posted a recipe for Rocky Road brownies. When I first saw the picture, I thought it was some kind of smores brownies. Instantly I wondered why this thought hadn’t occurred to me ever before. A thick graham cracker crust, a layer of rich brownies, and toasted marshmallows on top? Sounds good to me.

So I whipped up the brownies she mentioned there in her Rocky Road recipe (sans nuts, though), baked them on top of a pretty solid layer of graham cracker crust in a square baking pan, and then broiled up a nice helping of marshmallows on top. Delicious? Yes. In need of some tweaking? Yes, probably. The crust burned a little bit because the brownies needed to bake for so long. And I think next time I won’t use my usual whole wheat graham crackers, because, as much as I love them, they really do taste weird in this. The brownie part itself is delicious though; I might whip up a pan of just plain brownies using this recipe sometime.

The whole process here is a little fussy. You have to crush graham crackers in a food processor. You have to slowly melt butter and cocoa powder together in a double boiler while simultaneously mixing the dry ingredients, and you have to make sure the butter/cocoa powder mixture doesn’t burn while doing this. It’s a bit trying for someone who’s a bad multitasker such as myself. But it’s certainly not impossible, and it’s worth it once in a while for something special: birthdays, Fourth of July picnics, or, you know, Thursdays.

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After a really awesome quarter at school, I have rediscovered my love for reading. Term just ended for me last week (and I kicked ass on my finals, thankyouverymuch) and I’m actually a little sad to see it go. What I’m not sad about, however, is all this glorious free time on my hands — I’ve actually got entire days to myself for three full weeks! Tomorrow I’m thinking of hitting up Eljay’s Used Books on my way to the farmers market to stock up on some summer reading.

We were reading The Birth of Tragedy in one of my classes, and as such we discussed a lot of Greek tragic plays, many of which piqued my interest. My reading list includes The Odyssey, Prometheus Bound, One Thousand and One Nights, Hamlet (which I read in high school but would love to read again now that I am older and might appreciate it a bit more), Ulysses (if Jason ever finishes it so I can borrow it!), The Oedipus Plays, Hume’s Treatise (which I’ve already started), Kant’s first Critique, and Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Clearly, I’ll be reading (and studying, in some cases) these for a long time to come, but I feel like I’ve really found my “niche”, so to speak. I love this kind of stuff. And I need something to do to get me off the computer; I sometimes spend entire days looking at the same handful of websites if I have nothing else planned for the day. That’s just unhealthy. Not to mention that the weather here in the evenings has been blissfully cool and just slightly muggy (my favorite kind of weather), so I’d love nothing more than to cozy up on the patio after dinner with a book and a big mug of tea.

I think first I’ll tackle The Odyssey, because I’ve wanted to read that for years, and I finally have the motivation to do so. I read the beginning of the translation I want to get on Amazon’s “Look Inside This Book” feature, and the language is incredible. Not to mention that we were forced many times in grade school to watch the awful made-for-TV miniseries (that one with Vanessa Williams, yes) and I’d love to get the actual story and get that miniseries out of my head.

Anyone else got some good things to read this summer?

There are two things I want to talk to you about today.

One is jalapeños and how much they apparently hate me, and the other is chardonnay and how much I apparently love it.

First, jalapeños.

I was innocently putting together a pizza last night, topped with a rainbow of peppers. The four colors of bell peppers went off without a hitch. Then came the jalapeño. I cut one up and removed the seeds with my hands, as I always do. I placed the slices on the pizza and then rinsed my hands off immediately afterwards, as I always do. But apparently this wasn’t enough this time, because right after I rinsed and dried my hands I needed to rub my eye, and oh #@%$! there was still jalapeño oil on my hands. I can not even tell you how much it burned! I immediately said to Jason, “Oh god oh god oh god, I got jalapeño in my eye, help help I am dying what do I do??!” He told me to put milk in it, which I thought would only make it feel weirder. So after some deliberating I eventually ended up putting a big glob of yogurt over my closed eye, and let me tell you, the relief was immediate. I left it there for a few minutes, standing in front of the sink with my head tilted back, yogurt slowly sliding down my face. I was quite the sight. When I wiped it off my face was still burning, but at least I could open my eye again. Phew. Crisis averted.

But the fun doesn’t stop there. Upon taking the first bite of pizza, I got two huge slices of jalapeño in one mouthful. Not good. I like spice, but only in small doses. I guess I didn’t spread the jalapeño slices out enough, because two was way too many for me. I coughed and spluttered and apparently hadn’t removed all the seeds because I bit into one of those and ugh, it tasted awful. I ended up picking all the rest of the jalapeños off the pizza (which is delicious otherwise, by the way) just in case there were any more out to get me.

On a happier note, I was gifted recently with a 2007 chardonnay and broke it open to taste last night. WOW. My first impression on the nose (oh no, when did I start using pretentious wine speak?) was olives. No, more like OLIVES!!! because it was that strong. Then some olive oil/butter (y’all), then…citrus? That was a little surprising after all the heavy buttery-ness. I’m no wine pro so these notes could be totally off, but that’s what it smelled like to me. Taste-wise it is very buttery and rich with a slightly sweet finish, like good hearty bread with sweet butter. Of all the wines I’ve tried so far (i.e. about 4) this is by far my favorite. And it has a slightly lower alcohol content than the other wines in my fridge, so I feel comfortable drinking it for lunch (as I am right now). And it happens to pair wonderfully with my pepper pizza (sans jalapeños, of course). For other pairings, I’m thinking pasta with clam sauce or a rice risotto. Anyone care to recommend something?

If you want to make the pepper pizza, here’s what you do:

INGREDIENTS
-1 pkg refrigerated whole wheat pizza dough
-1 each of red, yellow, orange, and green bell peppers, chopped into bite-size chunks
-1 jalapeño pepper, sliced and seeds removed
-About 1/2 cup marinara sauce (use more or less to taste)
-Parmigiano cheese, freshly grated, to taste (I used about 1.5 cups)

1. Prepare pizza dough according to package directions. Optionally, drizzle lightly with olive oil before topping.
2. Top with sauce, then distribute pepper chunks and jalapeño slices evenly over surface.
3. Top with freshly grated parmigiano cheese.
4. Bake at 400° for 18-22 minutes, until cheese is bubbling and crust has browned around edges. Cool slightly before serving.

I’ve been into oven-roasting things lately. It’s too easy for me not to love. Especially with my housemates’ oven-safe plates and bowls, which make oven-roasting pretty much a one-dish operation. It can be a little time-consuming depending on what you’re roasting, because some veggies take a little longer to cook through than others. But oven-roasting is sort of a “set it and forget it” type deal…put your stuff in the oven, set a timer, and go do something else while your food cooks. Your timer will do the thinking for you.

I decided to oven-roast these baby heirloom tomatoes because I bought them without any plan for them. They just looked kinda pretty and they were on sale, so I figured I’d find something to do with them. And I’m glad I did this because it made just about the easiest, tastiest lunch salad I’ve had in a while. Eat these alongside a small bowl of pasta with olive oil and cheese, or hell, even on top of that pasta.

To make them, preheat your oven to 400°F. Cut in half as many baby heirloom tomatoes as you want, and place them face-up on an oven-safe plate or baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season to taste with salt, pepper, fresh garlic, fresh basil, and/or fresh oregano. Cook in oven for 20-30 minutes until the skins look wrinkly and the seedy bits have swollen slightly. If you want, broil them on high for a few minutes after that. Remove from oven and cool for a few minutes before eating.

That’s seriously it. I told you, this oven-roasting business is too easy to not love. Next up is potatoes, then maybe some broccolini, and maybe some eggplant. But I might also make eggplant parmigiana, or maybe even lasagne. I haven’t decided yet.

I have absolutely no responsibilities this morning.

No buses to catch, no work to get to, no classes to study for…absolutely nothing.

I made my coffee in my travel mug today out of habit, but then I realized…I’m not going anywhere! I can actually sit in one place and drink my coffee. I don’t even know what to do with myself! This is the first day in I don’t know how long that I didn’t have to wake up with an alarm (I still woke up at 7:40 by the way…but I forced myself to stay in bed until 9:00, just out of principle).

So I painted my nails and read a little bit and listened to my favorite radio show, and soon I’m off to shop for a new skirt for the symphony tonight, because my old black pencil skirt doesn’t fit me anymore, and that’s what I want to wear.

Oddly enough, I’m kind of bored now, not having anything to rush off to. I’ve lost the ability to relax in the mornings. I need to work on that. My three-week summer break starts in a couple weeks, so maybe I’ll make it my goal to just R-E-L-A-X every day. Read a book. I’ve got a hefty recommendations list from one of my professors, so I think I’ll bury my nose in my books for three weeks straight. Sounds like a good break to me.