Poetry on Thursday

The Red Wheelbarrow

William Carlos Williams

---

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

The Holy Grail Of Brownies

 

   As you have probably gathered by now, I have been on a baking odyssey of sorts.  Beginning with my interest in pie baking, then moving onto bread baking, and now I have done it... I have found the perfect brownie.  

   It happened quite by accident.  I am sometimes plagued by a sweet tooth.  And this sweet tooth commands sweets, usually sweets that are paired with chocolate.  On this particular day I am remembering, I was in urgent need of sweets.  It was late in the evening.  I dreaded going to the grocery store. I had to find a recipe that did not require sweetened chocolate as I had none in the house.  I did, however, have some fine unsweetened chocolate.  I had, by chance, purchased some E. Guittard chocolate from Williams-Sonoma the day before.  So I had chocolate. I had sugar. I had flour. I had eggs. I had butter. I had vanilla.  I needed a recipe.

   What was I to do now?  Well, I did what ever modern baker does when in need.  I consulted the internet.  And even better than that, I used the Epicurious app on my iphone to find this startlingly simple recipe.  The recipe I found required all of the ingredients that I had in my kitchen. Check. The recipe I found had great reviews. Check.  The recipe I found was super simple. Check.  The recipe I found was Katherine Hepburn's family recipe. Really??  

   Yes indeed. And the only thing to do was to mix up the brownies, in one bowl by the way, bake them and see just how awesome they really were.  Were they everything I expected.  Oh my... these brownies were thin and gooey, but with a crunchy layer on top. These are perfect brownies.  If you are looking for an easy, basic brownie recipe, this is the only one you will ever use!  Katherine Hepburn's family had it so right. 

Katherine Hepburn's Brownies

Ingredients

1 stick of butter (8 tablespoons)

1/4 unsweetened chocolate ( 2 squares)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla (although I added 1 teaspoon)

1/4 cup all purpose flour

Preparation

1. Melt together butter and chocolate.

2. Stir in 1 cup sugar, add 2 eggs and vanilla, and beat the mixture well.

3. Stir in 1/4 cup flour and salt. (If you like nuts 1 cup of chopped walnuts can be added here)

4. Bake brownies in a buttered and floured 8 inch square pan at 325 F for 40 minutes.

  These brownies are the bomb!! They surpass all others that have come before.  For a little variation try adding 1 teaspoon on cinnamon.  Yummy, yummy, yumminess!!!

   Try em' you'll love em'!

For the moment, Princess Doom and Gloom lets go

   The weather is incredible this morning.  It's 76 degrees. The sun is out. There is a little breeze.  And as I sit here writing this post, I am enjoying a berry smoothie and homemade honey-wheat toast with butter and honey on top.  I began my morning by reading in bed for a bit - the best book I have read in a while, and speaking to my mother briefly on the phone.  You know how every now and then everything just seems to be right.  This is one of those every now and thens.
   Last night, I spent the evening under a full moon, listening to some great music.  The last band, CAKE (which is one of my many favorites) was awesome. But then I have never seen them not be awesome. At one point, the lead singer John McCrea made a comment about being in the moment.  He commanded that all electronic devices be put away and that everyone be in the moment.
   And this morning, as I write and contemplate what baked good I should make for Sunday Supper Club, I consider how important it is to be in the moment. For some of us ( I don't know... me), it's a difficult assignment.  I mean, there is all of that endless amount of stuff to think and worry about.  Things that have happened.  Things that are going to happen. How it's gonna happen.  How you reacted when it happened. How you are going to react when it happens.  What it all means when it happens.
   This reminds me of an Absolutely Fabulous quote: "...so cheer up world, it may never bloody happen". 
    And on a day like today, I can do that.  A day to spend outside in the yard. A day to plan a Supper Club. A day to go listen to music under the moon.  It is a good day.

    My life is good... in the moment.

Remembering Martin's Ferry

A Blessing
by James Wright
Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota, Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass. And the eyes of those two Indian ponies Darken with kindness. They have come gladly out of the willows To welcome my friend and me. We step over the barbed wire into the pasture Where they have been grazing all day, alone. They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness That we have come. They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other. There is no loneliness like theirs. At home once more, They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness. I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms, For she has walked over to me And nuzzled my left hand. She is black and white, Her mane falls wild on her forehead, And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear That is delicate as the skin over a girl's wrist. Suddenly I realize That if I stepped out of my body I would break Into blossom.

Poetry is for Everyday

The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.