Friday, January 1, 2021

Optimism, Pounds, and Fools

 
It's New Year's Day. 

Perhaps you already know that. 
 
As I contemplated what I might want to publish today, I thought that it should be something that in some way speaks to turning the page on this past devastating year. Most people do (and I always had) looked to each new year with hope. For me, though, it's so much harder now. We will, but don't yet, have a changing of the guard here, so I should be hopeful. But I've learned some very hard truths about us as a country these past 4 years so, I'm indisputably jaded at this point.


However, a depressing post isn't exactly what I had in mind here either.
 
So I went to my go-to inspiration destination, Google. Surely I can find some New Year's words of wisdom there. And, of course, I could. I did. New Year's quotes, that was the place to start. Given the whole "new year, new start" attitude we tend to have on New Year's day, it's not surprising that I had to wade through a large number of sappy uplifting drivel sentiments. 

Too cliche. Too not now. There has to be something someone has said at some point since the dawn of time that speaks to me. Right?
 
The first quote I ran across that I thought was not only meaningful, but timely was one from an American writer named Bill Vaughn. He said: 

"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves." 
 
Which makes me a former optimist, but this year a staunch pessimist. And which also makes me wonder if Bill, who died in the 1970s, may have seen trump coming even back then.

Moving on . . .

The second quote, which really made me laugh, though given the age of Covid, I have to admit it was more of a painful cry/laugh, was from Nia Vardalos, a Canadian actress and screenwriter. She said:
 
"My New Year's resolution list usually starts with the desire to lose between 10 and 3,000 pounds." 
 
Since they use the (Canadian) dollar in Canada, it's pretty clear which "pounds" she's referring to. Logically, of course, who makes a resolution hoping to lose money? But on the off chance that there's anyone who does, send them my way.

OK, got off on a tangent there. I'm back . . .

I'm thinking though, that Nia's quote, which we've now confirmed is about weight loss, isn't really conducive to my blog posts in general, but today's specifically, where I . . . you know . . .  share a not so diet friendly recipe.

But then I stumbled on the best quote yet. From James Agate, a British writer in the early 1900s. He said:

New Year's Resolution: To tolerate foods more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time."

Tolerate foods more gladly, hell yeah, that's the quote for me! 
 
And as far as time goes, I completely understand what he's getting at. While many of us are spending quite a bit of time at home, fulfilling our ingredient list can get a little sketchy, and figuring out substitutions can be a time suck. But in the end, the amount of time that it takes to create foods is completely up to you, just choose a recipe that meets your time constraints. Perfect.
 
Everything Brownies: start with a dense chocolate brownie, then take it up a notch with mix-ins and sprinkles on top. | Recipe developed by www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe #chocolate

Everything Brownies

Everything Brownies: start with a dense chocolate brownie, then take it up a notch with mix-ins and sprinkles on top. | Recipe developed by www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe #chocolate
 
Oh, wait!
 
Just put my glasses on (note to self, put in contacts before writing any future blog posts) and it seems that Bill's quote was actually to tolerate fools more gladly. Not foods, fools.
 
Oops. 
 
Never mind. 

Baking In A Tornado signature | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics





Everything Brownies        

                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients: 
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 stick butter
1/2 stick margarine
3/4 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 cup flour
1 TBSP baking cocoa
2 TBSP caramel bits
2 TBSP toffee baking bits
2 TBSP mini M&Ms
2 TBSP mini chocolate chips
3 TBSP espresso baking chips
3 TBSP butterscotch baking chips
1/4 cup multicolored sprinkles
 
Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 X 13 pan.
*Melt the butter and margarine with the unsweetened chocolate in the microwave at 20 second intervals until completely smooth when stirred.
*Stir in the vanilla, then the sugar, brown sugar, and eggs, followed by the flour and baking cocoa. 
*Mix together the caramel bits, toffee bits, mini M&Ms, mini chocolate chips, espresso baking chips and butterscotch baking chips, then mix into the batter.
*Pour batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes, sprinkle with the multicolored sprinkles and return to the oven for another 15 minutes.
*Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before cutting.

 

20 comments:

  1. I feel every bit of this! Thanks, Karen!

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  2. Oh, these look fun. And I say toss the glasses and read quotes in a way that works for you! These last few years have been maddening, that I'm allowing myself to get a little zaftig and a little mad. Thanks for your tireless work sharing great recipes! Happy New Year, other Karen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like your attitude when it comes to those quotes, good advice.

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  3. Hahahahahaha! I like your interpretation better!
    Personally, I'd much rather tolerate foods than fools...

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  4. I'm much better at tolerating foods rather than fools. I am a big brownie lover. This really has everything you would want to see in a brownie. Except, maybe, various flavored M&Ms but then you wouldn't be using mini M&Ms...I'll be quiet now. Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com

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    Replies
    1. LOL, you put in those full sized M&Ms if that's what you want!

      Delete
  5. I could DEFINITELY tolerate these brownies!!!!

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  6. I tolerate a bloody lot from a bloody lot of people but that is me

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  7. I’d rather tolerate foods, much easier to dump if I can’t.

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  8. Isn't that what tolerance means, to tolerate fools more gladly?

    Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I saw the funniest post on Tik Tok that said, “Listen when 2021 gets here we’re going to walk in quietly AND DONT TOUCH ANYTHING”! It was hilariously true!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I like the quote about the New Year. I stayed up this year, and have stayed up for the subsequent days and experienced a lot of joy.Great post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You do know it's best if you sleep at some point, right?

      Delete

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