mmmmmm....

I found a recipe for flourless peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. I made them last night with Hershey Special Dark chips. YUM nutty and very chocolatey! Too good not to share...the recipe, that is. :) They start to get a bit crumbly the 2nd day.

1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate

preheat oven to 350. Mix first 5 ingredients until well mixed. Stir in chips. Form 1 tbsp balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 12-18 min (it depends on how golden brown you want them). Cool on sheet for 5 min, then put on rack to cool.

Makes somewhere between 1 and 2 dozen, depending on all sorts of factors.

The Special Dark chips were da BOMB!

Edit: I've been tending to use about 1 1/2 cups of peanut butter in these. And actually, the more peanut butter I use, the less *gooey* these cookies are...I like them a bit drier. I think part of the reason they work is the CRUNCHY peanut butter, the original recipe stressed that specific type of pb. The original recipe also talked about rolling the balls with damp hands. I've found that using a one of my large spoons and pressing the mixture against the side and plopping it on the sheet works just fine. In my oven, 15-16 min. seems to be the right amount of cooking time. You'll need see how YOUR oven works.

T- (oh, something...)

The second delivery attempt for the new couch will be tomorrow, 1/11, between 1 and 3pm. They're going to try to get it up the back steps. I hope this works, because otherwise, I have no couch and am back to square one. *sigh*

So, I've been clearing out the landing and the upstairs back hallway in anticipation. As of right now, there is one thing left to move, and it will have to wait until tomorrow when I slide it into the kitchen so as to be out of the way.

I took four metal dining room chairs to Savers today. I'd bought them a couple of years ago at a thrift store. I'd re-covered them, but had never gotten around to putting the backs on, because I realized that the plastic things on the legs which prevented them from gouging the floor were mostly missing and I couldn't figure out how to replace them. So now, after two years, in the spirit of letting go of crap and cleaning out my living space, they have been re-assembled and removed FROM the house. I also have another chair loaded in the car that will be "liberated" tomorrow morning. The progress may be slow, but it IS happening.

I have to pack a few things up and set things up to move tomorrow so there is a clear path to the living room (in the expectation that they WILL be able to get the couch in here).

I'm planning on leaving work early tomorrow, and I'm also gearing up to pack up some stuff in the downstairs hallway if my lovely neighbors aren't able to finish it up tonight. (and no, I'm not being sarcastic. I know they've been busy.)

On a slightly odd and macabre note, while cleaning in the back hallway, I picked up a bucket that's been sitting tucked in the back for a while and discovered a petrified bat (looks barely bigger than a kit). I have no idea when or how it got INTO the bucket or when it died. It may have gotten in sometime this summer when the window in the back hallway was open and then couldn't find its way back out. I'm not quite sure what to DO with it. The ground's too frozen to bury the poor thing...and, well, it's petrified. Very strange.

Ode to a Dead Bat (well, no, not an ode...a haiku)

Pondering frailty...
Life's ephemeral nature.
Dead bat in my hall.

silly weather haiku of the day

Bright and shining sun...
I almost didn't know you,
It's been far too long.