Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Although it does involve treats, but only of the sweet variety.  (I’ve always thought of the Super Bowl as a salty sort of day.)  Last night I tried a recipe for Caramel Apple Blondies; I often bring treats when we do Sunday dinner at my in-laws’ house, and I’ve been eyeing this recipe for quite a while.  The verdict?

I don’t know.

They tasted good, they absolutely did, but boy, mine sure looked darker on top than the ones on the blog!  The texture was also kind of funky…they were similar in a lot of ways to a Betty Crocker Cookbook recipe we made a lot when I was growing up–for butterscotch brownies–but the pieces of apple and weirdly not-gooey Kraft caramel bits made for an odd mouth feel.  (Which sounds stuck-up and Food Network-y.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the Food Network, but to be honest, I only said mouth feel because it felt like such bad writing to say “texture” again so soon.)  They were also really, really sweet.  And rich (one and a half sticks of butter for a 9 by 13 pan).  I think the bottom line is that they were no hardship to eat, but I’m probably not going to bother making them again.

Luckily, I was not so ambivalent about the book I finished while I was sneaking a few bites of the aforementioned blondies.  I picked up Serafina’s Promise on a whim at the library–it just happened to catch my eye–and it turned out to be a lovely, sometimes heartbreaking, ultimately hopeful glimpse into a Haitian girl’s life before (and during) the recent earthquake.  (My definition of “recent” tends to be what feels “not that long ago” to me, by the way.  This does not always correspond to actual chronology of events.)  It’s a verse novel, which is always a plus for me; I love being able to fall into a world so quickly, and while I love other styles of writing as well, less can certainly be more.  I was near tears for quite a bit of the last third of the novel, but it ended on a realistically hopeful note (I was relieved.)  I know I was going to review old Newberys this past week, but I’ll get to that; this book was worth spending time on (in every way).  Check it out!  (Unless, that is, you’re pregnant or have a newborn baby.  Parts of it are going to be too hard to read in that particular emotional state.  Put it on your list instead.)