Oh, the brownies.........

 

My eldest son has made it to town!  We got together yesterday, early afternoon ~ hung out, gave the kids sandwiches, played some games and had enchiladas I made for dinner.  But before they came I decided I was going to make one of the recipes in my new Baked from Scratch magazine.  These brownies were one, and Romeo immediately drooled over the photo.  It was really not that difficult, you just had to wait for the brownie layer on the bottom to cool before you poured the caramel layer, and let that cool before pouring on the ganache layer.  Then a nice little sprinkle of sea salt on top.  Oh my.....they are decadent and delicious!  It's hard to stay away.....

Today they asked me to go with them to a museum, but I had to ponder and order the flowers we need at church for our Easter service.  I am given carte blanche to design how the flowers are to be arranged on our kouvouklion/epitaphio.  It's kind of a big deal, even though the flowers are only on it for 8 hours.  Once the service is over, the flowers are removed and each parishioner takes 1, or 2 (or even more if there are lots) flowers home.  I had a budget of $1,500.  Given that flowers have gone up quite a bit from last year, I had to really go over what flowers are available and make sure not to go over.  I did better this year, and only spent $1052.  I also bought more from Costco than in the previous 2 years.  Now I have to hope that the flowers are not delayed in transit, because they are due to arrive 3-4 days before the big day.  

This is my third year chairing this event.  It is both fun and stressful.  I like doing it, but maybe someone else wants to do it for next year.  I'll ask.....but I bet the answer is a resounding NO!  Ha ha

As when any visitors from out of town come, I feel compelled to clean like mad.  One day I did 3/4 of the downstairs, and the other quarter the next day.  I feel so old.  Doing all of that was so exhausting.  I used to be able to clean the entire house in one day.  Hey, I even cleaned the refrigerator!   One of the jobs I really hate. I was even polishing the granite, vacuuming, and putting various little things away the morning before they came over.  

Everyone was tired after they left last night, even the pups have been lazy all day.

Well, I'm going to go chill!  I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Love, 365