Blender Blunder Won't Stop Me!

I just realized it has been quite awhile since my last post. Various events (and laziness) are the culprits, but I finally gathered myself together and took some photos of an edible gift I shall present to my friend as her belated birthday gift.

When you don't own much disposable income, cooking/making something is the best birthday gift alternative. I wish I could treat my friend to a 5 stars restaurant meal or buy her brand name items on Fifth Avenue (hmm...these words are sounding more like a blues lyrics...), but then again, wouldn't spending time to create something from scratch be more genuine, meaningful, and thoughtful? Well, that is if my edible gift is, well, edible. But I think I got it down.

The other day, I bought two pounds of flour because they were on sales. Then at Trader Joe's, I discovered some cocoa powder. So the combination would yield...ta da! Chocolate brownies! Yes! I made my first trial two days ago (my mother as my guinea pig). Unfortunately, that try busted my hand blender. Oh no! But I shall not be so easily discouraged. Since a brownie batter asks for melted butter (not cold butter like for pastry), thus it's easier to mix by hand than let's say a cake batter. Also, I find that using a hand blender might toughen the batter, whereas you can control the strength of the mixing if you're doing it by hand. So the second attempt came out quite well! And I also added two secret ingredients...hopefully, my friend would be able to taste the slight difference.