. . . ME!

I won a new job.

Or earned it. Whatever.

I’ll be the new curriculum standards reviewer for Independent Study. A nice step up from my previous job. I applied last week and got the official word on Wednesday. Technically, I’ve already started, payroll-wise, although they still need to find a replacement for my job and I need to train him or her. (Any takers? My job’s posted on yjobs.byu.edu.)

On Saturday John and I ate an official celebratory lunch at Ruby River Steakhouse in Provo. It was nice because the place wasn’t busy at all, so we got fast service, and we ordered anything we wanted. One plus of eating there for lunch is that prices are cheaper than dinner prices. Even so, our meal amounted to $45. But how often do you get to celebrate a new job? We had steak for each of us (him a New York strip and me bacon-wrapped filet mignon), a salad, sourdough bread with butter, and a piece of cheesecake and scoop of ice cream that we split.

Yum. It was good.

Yum. A new job is good.

I had a freak accident the other day where I tried to make up my own recipe and it worked. It started when I discovered that a bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Baking Pieces that I had bought at Reams (on sale–saved $1.50!) had fallen out of the plastic grocery bag and had been in the front seat of my car for two hot and sunny days before I found it.

At first I was dismayed. I paid two good, hard-earned dollars for those baking pieces and now they were a molten mess inside the bag.

Then I had an idea. Maybe I could use them to make brownies. Admittedly, brownies aren’t my first choice when I think of dessert. But you’ve met my husband, right? Then you know that the order of important things in his life are

1) me
2) God
3) work
4) hockey
5) chocolate, especially dark

The subcategories of that last item are as follows:

a. brownies
b. chocolate cake
c. chocolate chip cookies
d. chocolate covered nuts
e. anything else chocolate

So I tried my hand at making up a recipe that involved eight ounces of melted Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Baking Pieces.

And guess what? It was a smash success. The brownies turned into the most moist, delectable brownies I think we’ve had in a long time. They’re more milk-chocolatey than dark, but no complaints from either of us. I thought you might like to have the recipe, straight from the test kitchen of Chef Shannon. (The recipe, by the way, is based off of a recipe I got from Ghirardelli. I just adjusted it to inclue the melted PB cups.)

Perfect Brownies
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup real butter, melted
1 (8 oz) pkg Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Baking Pieces, melted
3/4 cup cocoa
2/3 cup flour (do not sift)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 cup chocolate chips

Bake at 350 degrees in a greased 9 x 9 pan for 20 to 30 minutes.

Yum.