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I had a meeting to go to last evening and I was asked to bring brownies.
I woke up early yesterday morning and after getting dressed and having a cup of tea and an English muffin for breakfast, I hurried through the living room, dining room and office, picking up 'litter' and making a well-intentioned effort at dusting. I ran through the rooms with the vacuum cleaner running; it may or may not have picked up anything, but I was on a mission. I had brownies to bake.
The Frontiersman was getting an early start too. He had already eaten his usual breakfast...leftovers from last night's dinner. It was eight o'clock and he was heading out to the garage to work on a project.
After making the bed and tidying up the bedroom and bathrooms, I was finally able to get out one of my many cookbooks and flip through the pages, looking for my favorite brownie recipe. None of those box brownies for this gal.
I was heading over to the stove to turn the oven on when the phone rang. It was my dentist's office, reminding me of my appointment on Monday.
Back to the brownies. I walked across the kitchen and flipped on the radio. You can't work in the kitchen without having the radio on, can you?
I got my bowl out; measured out the flour, baking powder and salt. I got out another bowl and into that one I measured out the shortening and sugar and mixed it up with my electric mixer. I added in two-ounces of pre-melted, unsweetened chocolate and two eggs. I began to mix it in and the phone rang again. I must have been lost in thought when it rang (its unfamiliar territory so I do tend to get lost); because it startled me and the chocolate mixture went all over the wall and the bottom of the overhead cabinets. GREAT!
I answered the phone. It was a woman from our new health insurance company. She needed to fax a form to me that she forgot to mail with the other hundred-and-fifty forms. The Frontiersman would have to sign it and fax it back to her right away. How come when I ask someone to do something immediately for me, I just get that deer-in-the headlights look?
I waited for the fax, took it out to the garage for The Frontiersman's signature and then faxed it back.
Back to the brownies. I stopped and cleaned the wall and bottom of the cabinets first. This stuff gets like cement if it's left for any length of time. Ok. Back to the brownies.
Let's see; what was I doing? Oh yeh. I had just added the eggs in. Did I get any shells in the bowl? I know its extra calcium, but we're not making health food here. Ok. Now I added in the vanilla and the flour mixture. I decided to mix it by hand at that point so I wouldn't have a snow'-covered kitchen.
I just had to add in the chopped nuts, pour the mixture into the greased baking pan and pop it into the pre-heated oven.
"Hey, Shari. C'mon out and see what I've been working on." The Frontiersman called to me from the front door.
"I'm making brownies".
"Yeh, but just come out for a minute".
Since I didn't have them in the oven yet and since he has a hearing issue, I went out to the garage. He had been making a garden arch for our daughter and son-in-law. Roxanne and Bill would love it.
Back into the house to finish up the brownies. Let me think; where was I? Oh yeh. Add the chopped nuts and stir them in by hand. Pour the brownie mixture into the pan. The pan...where did I put the pan? Oh crap! I never got it out and I still haven't pre-heated the oven. Ok. Turn the oven on; get the pan out, grease the bottom. The phone rang again. I decided not to answer it that time. I'd call them back later. FINALLY the brownies went into the oven and I even remembered to set the timer. I was on a roll. It only took me an hour-and-a-half so far with all the interruptions.
Eleven o'clock; good. I would have time to sort the laundry and start washing it. Who was it that called me a few minutes ago? After checking the caller ID, I discovered it was one of my friends from Virginia. I decided I could call her back and sort laundry at the same time. We talked for about twenty minutes and my laundry was sorted so I took one of the baskets down to the basement and got the laundry started.
I still had two or three minutes so I decided to go outside and sweep the front walk. Our neighbor, Ivella, was walking past the house. I called, 'hello', to her and she stopped to talk.
After about ten or twenty minutes, The Computer Genius opened the front door and asked, "Hey, Mom. How come the oven is smoking?"
"Oh crap! I'll see ya, Ivella".
I blazed a trail to the kitchen, turned off the oven and yanked the oven door open.
"Hey J, get the fire extinguisher!"
After the smoke cleared, I cleaned the oven, washed the kitchen floor, took down the curtains and washed them, washed the walls, then washed the floor again, went to the Ghetto Bodega and bought a dozen brownies. Just before leaving for my meeting, I threw a little flour in my hair for effect. They never knew the difference.
Shari Vaudo moved to Western New York State with her family from Virginia. She and her husband, whom she refers to as 'The Frontiersman', are both retired. Their son, 'The Computer Genius', is in college and lives at home. They also have a married daughter who lives with her husband in a nearby town.
Her interests are gardening, reading and writing. Her favorite things are her family and her pets.
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