Color Me Blue

(dress - J. Crew, sweater - NY&Co, belt - thrifted, heels - Target, necklace - gift)

It has been unbearably hot in the south this summer. With 100 degree days the norm, it has taken a lot of creativity and layers to be able to dress comfortably for my internship. This light, airy dress is perfect for the summer heat and the sweater makes it work appropriate (for certain offices that is). I also found everything but the shoes in a thrift store by my house this summer. Just more proof that you never know what treasurers you find unless you take the time to look!

I also got to experience the trials of taking my own pictures this morning. There was the wobbly camera propped up because I don't have a tripod. There was the 10 seconds I had to press the button and run into position. There was the unbearable heat even though it was early in the morning. This resulted in many pictures like this.

This combined with many blurry pictures or even a lovely picture of the tree. I'm going to be happy when my internship ends, I return to school, and my period of living alone in a strange city is over if only so that I can get a better photographer than a picnic table.

Brownies

For my first blog post I am going to keep things simple with a good, old fashioned brownie recipe. These are not only chocolaty and delicious, but also so easy to make, that you will never go back to a box mix again. No fancy equipment needed. Just a saucepan, bowl, baking pan and viola! 40 minutes later you are done.



Brownies
Based on a recipe from Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons water
24 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (about 2 packages)
4 whole eggs


Start by preheating the oven to 325 degrees. In the saucepan, heat the butter until just melted and then add the sugar and water. Bring this mixture to a boil and then remove immediately from the heat. If it gets too hot, it will scald the chocolate which does not make good brownies!

Stir in the packages of chocolate chips until they are all melted. Then, whisk the eggs into the mixture one at a time, making sure each is well incorporated. If you add them all at once its much harder to reach the consistency you want.

Mix the remaining dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. No need to sift the mixture, just make sure to stir all the ingredients together before slowly adding it to the chocolate mixture.

Once everything is mixed, pour the mixture into your greased 9'x13' baking pan and put in the oven for 30 minutes. You know the mixture is done with you insert a tooth pick (or a fork in my case) and it comes out clean.



It's best to let the finished brownies cool for an hour or two before eating, but I can never wait more than five minutes before digging in. But then again, I love eating that ooey gooey warm brownie consistency. If that's not your thing, just put in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to help speed up the process. You aren't going to want to wait to dig into these delicious treats!