Today we (meaning just the two of us) are headed out again to search for houses. I’ve never traveled alone with Indy before (I mean, I know it’s just the MetroNorth, but still: with a 3 1/2-month-old, this counts as travel)…and I have to say: a little nervous. I have so many diapers with me. So many socks.

Luck, please!

Also, come hang out with me on Twitter – I’ll Tweet some pix!

x

J

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Remember how I said to be cautious when reprinting chef’s recipes and changing things up, because chefs tend to be prickly about specifics? Well, when it’s a family member’s recipe you’re reprinting, you can take a few more liberties con permiso. My Aunt Debbie calls these “Chocolate Chubbies” (admittedly also a cute name); I think they taste like brownies that have been transformed into adorable little crunchy cookie-cakes, and so here, on Ramshackle Glam, BrownieCakes they shall be.

Aaaaaand shoot. I just realized that the recipe I was given is adapted from a Serious Eats recipe for…something called Chocolate Chubbies. So…sigh. Fine.

CHOCOLATE CHUBBIES (adapted by my aunt from Serious Eats)

What you need:

1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces

9 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, about 62 percent cocoa butter (use Valrhona), finely chopped

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups (12 ounces) semi sweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups pecans, coarsely chopped

1 1/4 cups walnuts, coarsely chopped

What you do:

1. Position racks in the middle and upper third of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce the heat to low. Place a bowl on top and add the butter. Melt, stirring occasionally. Add the chopped chocolates to the butter and cook, stirring, until melted and smooth. Remove the bowl from the heat and let cool about 5 minutes.

3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.

4. In the large bowl of an electric mixer using the whisk attachment, whip the eggs until foamy, about 30 seconds. Increase the speed to high and gradually add the sugar and the vanilla, whipping until the eggs are pale and very thick, about 3 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and beat in the slightly warm chocolate.

5. Switch to the paddle attachment and reduce the speed to low. Gradually add the flour mixture until blended.

6. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the chocolate chips, pecans, and walnuts.

7. Using a 1/4 cup (2-inch) diameter ice cream scoop, portion the dough onto the prepared sheets, spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart, making 24 cookies.

8. Bake the cookies immediately or they will not be shiny. Bake them for 17 to 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheets after about 7 minutes, just until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with the batter clinging and moist. The centers may not look set. Cool completely on the sheets on wire racks.

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Sunshine-yellow flowers from Mom and Dad…

A candy-colored compact (that bounces, to boot)…

An all-seasons scarf in orange, black, and tons of tassels…

A collection of colors from The Capitol*…

And a rainbow cuff to color up the greyest of days.

*For the Hunger Games fans among you, that’s a preview of the China Glaze Capitol Colours Collection that launches in March to coincide with the release of the film. From left, you have Fast Track, Mahogany Magic, Foie Gras, and Dress Me Up (my favorite).

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From left: Collective Concepts ($74), Mara Hoffman ($242), Keepsake ($143).

And having nothing to do with spring dresses that you can wear now (because this is too summery, and you shouldn’t wear it now at all), but just because I can’t believe that I’m saying this…

I rawther enjoy this Kardashian Kollection dress in an obvious-but-still-fun nautical kind of way, for those days when you feel like wearing things like gold hoops and big sunglasses and drinking, I don’t know, mojitos.

Oh, and if I had anywhere fancy to go these days?

I would wear this.

End: dress ramble.

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Last night I stopped into the Accessories Council (how fancy does that sound?) to check out their top Valentine’s Day gift picks. After the jump, my favorite choices of their choices, so you have more choices.

Clockwise from far left: Bauble Bar Aqua Boho Drop Earrings ($28), Fresh Brown Sugar Lip Polish ($22.50), Eberjey Lady Godiva chemise ($66), Stella and Dot Zodiac Charms ($19-$49), chicBuds Fauvette Gold Edition earbuds ($29.99).

Oh, and this? Is really delicious. (Get the banana.)

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(Speaking of this meeting, I have some fantastic news coming up shortly. I am SO FREAKING EXCITED. I’ll tell you soon.)

Anyway, today I feel slightly less tired. I think I’ll be able to manage opening doors without assistance, at the very least.

Also:

Internet friendships are great.

Our nanny, Ella, is great.

My kid? Great. Cute. So’s his dad.

Last night I won a very, very spectacular bag in a raffle. I’ve never won a raffle before. Great!

Oh, and it’s almost the weekend. That’s great, too.

Happy Thursday! You? Are great.

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So yesterday we put an offer in on a house we loved (the one I took these photos outside of), and this morning I found out that we didn’t get it. You know how it’s supposedly this Terrible Horrible Housing Market right now? Well, despite that fact we somehow managed to find ourselves in the midst of a bidding war, and ended up dramatically outbid – like, we couldn’t even begin to compete with how far above the asking price the couple who won the home went.

I’m sort of surprised by how sad I am. I mean, I didn’t even know that this property existed a month ago…but now I’ve spent a few weeks thinking about it, and filling the rooms with our things, and imagining a whole life for us between those walls. It’s less that I’m mourning the loss of the house than it is that I’m mourning the loss of the memories that I had imagined us making – memories that haven’t even happened yet, so of course the fact is that what I’m mourning is a fantasy, and nothing that should really be mourned at all. But still.

I know that our perfect home is out there, and that when we find it I’ll be fine with the fact that we didn’t end up moving into this one – maybe even relieved. I also know that as things go this is nothing to cry over, because this is an exciting adventure regardless of how you slice it…but even so: today, I’m kinda bummed out.

In other news, did you know that Yo Gabba Gabba is Baby Magic? My three-month-old son is sitting next to me right now staring at the TV screen (yes, bad, I know: I’m keeping it to 20 minutes a day) and kicking his legs and laughing like a lunatic. It’s making me feel better just looking at him. He couldn’t care less about having a backyard so long as Foofa (or whatever her name is – the pink one) keeps on keepin’ on.

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