A stranger takes over my kitchen :: by mama

Does anyone recall the brownies that I made for Chris's birthday? No? Chris and I remember them, oh so fondly. They were among the best desserts I have ever had, brownie and cheesecake in one. We had half the tray on his birthday and froze the other half, and then we had them nightly soon after Kiran and I returned to Dhaka in January. Personally, I think every new mother should be given a tray of those brownies, at some point, by somebody. They would be the best baby gift ever.

Anyway, I recently re-visited the website where I found that brownie recipe and realized that, lo and behold, this is a really good website! With really yummy-sounding recipes! I think I may be the last person on the Internet who was not aware of this website. Clearly, I had some catching up to do. And so it began.

First I made the arroz con leche. I remembered to take photos during the prep phase, but then something happened and all of a sudden the whole pot was gone. Oops. Chris and I ate it in the dark of night. We had one bowl each for four nights in a row, late, after both boys were finally asleep. When it finished, I was sad.

Then I made these brownies, which were so good that I already wrote a whole post about them, and I was no longer sad.

I did also make the espinacas con garbanzos.  I made it twice, once with the tomatoes [average, and too much like every other chickpea + vegetable recipe around] and once without [lovely, because it allows the breadcrumb sauce to stand out, and what is better than fried breadcrumbs on vegetables?].  I will definitely make it the second way from now on.

Back to the brownies. From the brownie recipe, there is a link to a recipe for rigatoni with eggplant puree, so then I made that. This is a really good recipe for us, because our oven has no temperature controls, so it is either at 0F or 400F, the latter being the perfect temperature for either burning your dessert or for perfectly roasting your vegetables. So I roasted the vegetables and put them in the food processor to puree. Kaya, or rather Scuba Superman, helped with this step. (Ignore the messy kitchen, please, and just focus on the fabulousness of his outfit.)

The result was delicious.

Moving on, then I tried the baked kale chips. This attempt was hampered by the fact that we do not have kale in Bangladesh. I tried some green amaranth leaves instead (surely a close relation to kale... or not) and found that it didn't really work as promised. They were crisp, yes, and salty, and Chris happily ate the whole bowl, but I think I need to keep experimenting with that one, perhaps by finding something more similar to kale.

Next. Wait, have I mentioned that I am obsessed with this website? I am. So, next, I made the thick, chewy granola bars. My mix had almonds, raisins, peanuts, cashews, dried apricots and chocolate chips (brought from Bangkok, oh, beloved Bangkok). 

These were a serious hit, especially with Chris. In his world, it seems that being a phyical education teacher + training for a marathon + generally being a guy = constant hunger. These are filling and, more importantly, really good, worlds better than anything you have ever eaten out of a package. I was actually amazed at how much better they were. Really good.

Finally, I just had to make one more thing. The post about the st. louis gooey butter cake was so effusive, the praise so abundant -- "showstopping," she calls this cake -- that I thought I really had to make it. I made the cake the first time a couple of weeks ago and was, shall we say, underwhelmed.  It was fine, but certainly not showstopping.  However, I kept thinking about it and how it just did not live up to the description, and so I decided to try it again.  This time, I took the cake out of the oven just a little earlier, and it made all the difference.  The topping was soft, gooey, and just the right amount of sweet.  Chris had four pieces in one evening.  Yet another hit.

All of this deliciousness makes me wonder, what else have I been missing all this time?  Does anyone have suggestions for more cooking websites that I would enjoy?  I think I might be hooked.