sometimes you just need...

brownies from a box. there, i said it. i know you think i'm a stuck-up foodie. don't call me a foodie; i'm just a regular girl who happens to like food. "foodie" is a term for people who aren't me: who don't like fast food, who don't harbor secret cravings for wendy's, cakes from boxes, and brownies from boxes. i confess: a little bit of the foodie creeps back in when i qualify my tawdry love for "fake" food with the opinion that i don't consider it to be "real" food, and this is why i can enjoy it as much as i do. anyone who doesn't like brownies from a mix hasn't tasted them when you eat them, slightly undercooked, 15 minutes after they've exited your oven.

because after going for over a year without having encountered this forbidden pleasure (i'm afraid people will see them in my trash - five years ago i was once yelled at for making cookies from a mix), i had one. and then i had another one. and let me tell you: it was gorgeous. i think i died from my hellish week and went to heaven, a heaven filled with brownies and peach cake that's currently baking in the oven.

so these brownies were essentially an appetizer for dinner, which was chicken stuffed with ricotta, apricots, and craisins, and wrapped with bacon and baked; and a risotto (which was actually risotto and barley mixed together) with bacon, onions, peas, yellow bell peppers, and a little bit of sherry. but the brownies ruled the day. i'm going to the kitchen to eat another one.