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Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Say What?

It happened on a dark stormy afternoon. Hubs was at work and the boys and I were stuck in the house. There was the possibility of severe weather, including hail. My younger sons’ beloved BMW had already been pummeled in the last storm. Lesson learned, all the cars currently at home were staying in the garage.

In retrospect I should have known. Honestly, when the boys have all the freedom in the world, PurDude will often spend hours on his gigantic computer with the 3 (not a typo, he has 3) screens. Yes, the kid who always walked into walls and fell down stairs is quite a multi-tasker when it comes to computers. College Boy has a turntable, old records, a laptop and all kinds of recording and mixing thing-a-ma-jiggies and he will play with music for hours.

But all that is when they CAN leave, when they’re able to make a choice. But if boxed in, unable to leave and left to their own devices, the boys were bound to amuse themselves by doing what they do best; thinking up devious ways to torture me.

I know I tend to be wordy. I’m the one who always makes a short story long. I got to wondering if the challenge was just their way of saying “shut up” without actually saying the words. Either way, challenge issued, challenge grudgingly (very grudgingly) accepted: could I last the day without saying a word?


Say What | graphic designed by and property of www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics




Sure I could.
I know some sign language.
I can write notes.
I can work on my blog and my recipes and my graphics.
Easy Peasy.


White Chocolate Pistachio Brownies | www.BakingInATornado.com
 White Chocolate Pistachio Brownies



Not so much.

There were times during the day when they deliberately bated me. I swear I don’t know how I raised such sadistic devious kids. They’d ask me questions and then stand there and smile evilly as I opened my mouth, closed my mouth and stood there blinking rapidly.

They’d play music so loud my ears were almost bleeding and smile evilly as I opened my mouth, closed my mouth and stood there blinking rapidly.

I couldn’t answer any phones. Of course, as usual, neither did anyone else. When their dad called and I held up the phone gesturing manically at the called ID, they smiled evilly as I opened my mouth, closed my mouth and stood there blinking rapidly.

There may have been a little gesturing of another kind going on as well. And some foot stomping and door banging.

No, I’m not talking about the boys. That was me.

But don’t worry about me. I always get even.

True story: The young boys next door once pulled a prank on us. We had mowed our lawn and put the grass clippings into the woods. The neighbors took the grass clippings out of the woods and spread them back over our lawn. Their mom actually found out and brought them over to apologize and clean it up. No harm done but, as you can tell from the whole silence thing, I can’t pass up a challenge. And that grass prank seemed like a challenge to me.

Somehow that night, in the middle of the night, their house ended up on the market. “For Sale” sign with their phone number on it right there in the middle of their front yard. The attached acrylic box even held little professional looking (if I do say so myself) pamphlets with a picture of their house, a description of their property, an absurdly low asking price, agreement by the sellers to continue paying taxes on the property for the next ten years and a special request that all inquiries be made to the home by phone after 2:00 am only.

So I may not have done much (any) talking that stormy afternoon. I have to admit that I didn’t get any baking or blogging or graphics done either. But I sure did have a lot of time to plot my revenge . . .

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White Chocolate Pistachio Brownies
                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com
 
Printable Recipe
 
Ingredients:

1 1/2 sticks margarine
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
2/3 cup unsalted pistachios: shelled, skins removed as much as possible, processed to a fairly fine consistency. 

 
Directions:
*Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray a glass 9 X 13 pan.
*Melt the margarine in the microwave for about 2 minutes. Stir to be sure it's completely melted.
*Add the white chocolate chips. Stir until completely smooth. If the white chocolate chips don't melt completely you may need to return the bowl to the microwave for 20 seconds.
*Whisk in the sugar. Once incorporated, whisk in the eggs and vanilla and finally the flour. Mix in the pistachios.
*Pour into prepared pan. Bake for approximately 35 minutes. Cool before cutting.
*Note: I like my brownies thin and chewy, which is what this one is. It's not a thick cake-like brownie.
 

22 comments:

  1. Holy hell....these sound amazing.

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    1. Well, if their rate of disappearance is any indication . . .

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  2. That dessert combination of ingredients looks...killer! ;-)

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  3. Oh yeah, silence can be scary....and fattening too, if I may say so! (P.S. Are you a Scorpio, Karen? Scorps love plotting revenge, hheheheh.....And I know this cos??.......) ;-)))

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    1. I'm not a Scorpio, although it sounds like one Scorpio in particular has a few stories to tell . . .

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  4. I have also raised evil, rotten boys :). I will not be sharing this post with them because they will get ideas. Did your neighbors get any offers? Pistachios and white chocolate - perfection!

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  5. Nasty, evil children! LOL
    On the opposite end of the spectrum...White chocolate and pistachios? Heck to the yes!

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    1. It's actually a well kept secret that white chocolate and pistachios are a way to survive those children. Shhhh, don't tell.

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  6. What fun-as are these brownies! I just posted white chocolate ones too, except with blueberries! So good, any way you cut it. Which hopefully is big!

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    1. That's so funny, I know someone who posted White Chocolate Brownies too. Hers have mini chocolate chips in them. All these great minds thinking alike.

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  7. Ha! We could become a very devious duo. One of my very best friends played a prank on me and while I won't humiliate myself with the details her payback took weeks of preparation and some little white lies. She has ALWAYS wanted to go on a cruise, one winter while at a Xmas festival we both picked up catalogs and signed a raffle ticket. I knew in that moment what payback was going to be. I wrote her a brilliant letter using a certain cruise ship logo copy and pasted at the top. and telling her to call a certain time like between 4-6 and gave a number for her to call and claim her 7day/6night FREE Carribean Cruise for 4 that she had won. The number given was a new cellphone I bought the day before. I even paid to have the letter sent certified mail. She called me screaming incoherently about winning saying she wanted the 4 of us to go (hubbys). She said she had to call them immediately so we "picked a date". She called the number listed (answered by another friend who played her part to a T. Myself, our other friend and 2 hubbies all knew what the deal was...we didn't break it to her until the night before we were supposed to leave! Cruel yes...depants at an elementary school carnival...VERY WELL DESERVED!

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    1. That story is hysterical, I can just imagine all the time and energy the plotting took, and that build up is definitely a big part of the fun.I have to admit that if we lived near each other we sure would have a lot of fun. Clearly we think alike.

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  8. Your brownies sound delectable!!! There can never be too many white chocolate dessert recipes :) And I loved hearing about the antics at your house!

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    1. Thanks Liz, I agree, never too many white chocolate dessert recipes.

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  9. I don't think I could take on a challenge of no talking for a day. But I know that I could eat one of your white chocolate and pistachio brownies; they look yummy.

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    1. Yeah, I didn't do so well with that challenge either. But the brownies on the other hand . . .

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  10. White chocolate and pistachios...Yes!
    A girl out for revenge. THAT's why we're friends!! I could have used that neighbor prank years ago!
    Cheers to you, though. I never could have kept my mouth closed a whole day ;)

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    1. Yeah, that's a challenge I won't be accepting again any time soon. But I sure will enjoy getting them back.

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