all that brownie goodness

i was around 8 or 9 when i had my first bite of this chocolatey goodness. my taste buds remember clearly that those little square bars were sweet and salty. it was a very simple brownie that my mom's friend from church makes everytime there's an event. the brownie itself was sweet but not too sweet and it is topped with ground up salted nuts. i can almost taste it just by thinking about it. it's one of those things that remind my of my childhood.

okay, i know that brownies had been made over and over again in different food blogs all over the internet, and i couldn't really say that mine's better than all of them because , i haven't really made them all. coz seriously, that's gonna be so expensive if i even made 10 percent of it.

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goodie boxes for christmas and shortbread cookies

christmas is said to be the time for giving. but for poor people like me who celebrates it on a very limited budget, giving can be quite hard. i'd rather keep that digital weighing scale i'll be buying for white elephant to myself, or i'll make sure to get it back during the game. as i have said, since we're on a budget, i have decided to just make goodie boxes for christmas. and for goodness sakes, they better like sweets, oh and not allergic to nuts. which reminds me, when i gave away cookies during our speech class, i forgot to tell everyone that the cookies had walnuts. and boy oh boy, one of my classmates was allergic to walnuts. good thing she wasn't anaphylactic.

anyway, since we're in a budget, making my own goodie box would be a lot cheaper and would be more thoughtful because we put put more thought into it and exerted effort. please, they better like it, or even just pretend.

oh, did you see the boxes we used? don't the look great? and the boxes are in my favorite colors. guess where we got 'em. oh my, i hate it when i read that statement, as if i can hear your answers. and i just did it. eek. so let me tell you, me and shawn got it at the 99 cent store. yes! those 5 dollar hallmark boxes are 99 cents. and we needed seven and there were seven left. we were just so lucky. and get this, when we were paying, the cashier was begging us to give her one, but the christmas spirit was telling us not to give her any because we needed seven. i know, but again, we're on a budget and i know for sure that we can't get those purrrty boxes for 99 cents anywhere else.

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salsa fresca bruschetta with balsamic vinegar

what i love about living where i do is the availability of fresh produce all year round. i am so close to a lot of different small produce markets. there's a lot of them within a 10-mile radius of my house. but you know, it's a shame that sometimes, i am too lazy to drive even 5 or 10 minutes to go to those produce places. i would normally end up going to foodmax or raley's. i know, i suck. it's just so hard to make myself drive further when i know that raley's, though their prices are really inflated, is just down the street from me. i just hope that they support local produce *fingers crossed*.

anyway, i made this a week before finals and i thought that it's would be a really great snack, but it ended up being our dinner. at first i was thinking of making something else with the tomatoes but then i had a random craving for salsa. i tried making salsa few years ago, but it failed. it tasted bitter for some reason. i don't know why. oh wait, i think i remember now. i put it in the food processor and didn't stop it until it's almost mush. then i thought, oh maybe it'll be like those store bought salsa like pace. i was wrong. dead wrong. it was so bitter i couldn't make it get past the tip of my tongue. i was traumatized from then on, and thought that fresh salsa was really hard to do.

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pasta with fennel, spinach and mushroom

finals are over! i am so happy. it had been a very stressful week. for the very first time in a very looong time. i had two big finals last tuesday and an extra credit paper due. it was ridiculous and tiring, to say the least. during finals week, what sustained my already overnourished body was potato bread, nutella and gallons of arizona iced tea. i bet all that sugar's responsible for me still not feeling okay until now.

by the way, i started this blog a few months ago and stopped posting for a 2 months. the past few months had been very busy. i am not even sure if people are going here. but i know that sooner or later people will notice this little place i have online. eek. too much drama. but in all honesty, i really need to get on this blog and get with the program. i know that if i just post often and be active in the food blogging community, i can make new friends and who knows martha stewart might just notice me. i know it's a long shot but a gay can dream!

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sunnyside up and scrambled eggs + leftover thanksgiving ham

i love breakfast food, and if you don't you are sooo missing out! i don't normally get the chance to have breakfast these days, either because i am running late or i am just too lazy to make something.

as people who want you to lose weight say, you need to eat breakfast as it is the most important meal of the day. i totally agree with that, and if i can make every meal breakfast, then every meal is important. yum! anyway, after thanksgiving, i have decided to make breakfast for me and shawn. on the menu, leftover ham from shawn's aunt.

i just made a simple omelette with chopped up ham inside and topped it off with cream cheese for shawn and for me, fried egg on top of toasted bread with big chunks of cream cheese.

i love it when the yolk is still runny and i break it, then it runs all over everything on your plate. ah, heaven! so you, yes you, go eat your breakfast, it't the best meal of the day.

blondies

i haven't been on this blog in like... hmmm. uhhhh... forever. i just got caught up with so much many things. the past few months had been very hectic and i am happy that it is about to end.

by the way, there are a few things that i have done in the past few months of inactivity that has something to do with the blog. i bought a new camera for better photos, i got a dotcom, and shawn and randall got me an early christmas gift... a new set of pots and pans. so those things will really be inspiring me to make new things. i have been cooking a little bit here and there, but nothing really major or blog worthy.

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