I'm sitting at McCarran Airport, waiting for my Southwest flight to Austin for the BlogHer Food '13 conference. It will be my first time attending this annual event, so I'm feeling a mixture of excitement and nerves (in a first day at a new school sort of way.) Although I have been blogging for quite some time, I still feel like I have only scratched the surface as far as things that I need to learn, so I am looking forward to the seminars on subjects like food photography (really need help here!), video and social media. I'm eager to catch up with friends like Camilla from Power Hungry and Kathy from Panini Happy and finally meet other bloggers in person (whose posts I have been reading for years, so I feel as though I know them, but we've never actually met.)
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Whenever I used to go out of town, I would prepare recipes in advance so that Eric wouldn't live on Cheerios while I was away, things like lasagna, turkey chili or pesto chicken salad. Nine times out of ten, I would return from my trip and find these made-from-scratch dishes relatively untouched in the refrigerator, passed over for delicacies like IN-N-OUT Burger, Grimaldi's pizza or Capriotti's. Hey, I get it. Heating stuff up is a lot of work. This really didn't bother me--I tend to eat in when Eric is out of town, where he is more like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone, running around town free of his wife's judgmental opinions about "not needing to go to the barbecue place for lunch when we have stuff for sandwiches at home."
Now when I go out of town, I'll just make a batch of something sweet instead, which I wrap up for Eric to take into work and leave in the break room. The treats are appreciatively eaten, Eric looks kind of awesome for bringing them in and I have new material for my blog. Win-win-win.
I don't say this often, but this recipe is going into my file as one to make over and over and over and over.......and then make again. I would strongly suggest that you try it, especially if you have an affinity for nutty rich brown butter sweets. I knew that these bars were winners when I kept taking a little slice here and a little slice there, just to even out the edges. The sprinkle of flake salt was a bit of an afterthought, but it worked.
Wish me luck at my first BlogHer Food conference--see you on the other side!
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Laura Dembowski
How cool that you went to Blog Her - it sounded like a lot of fun! These blondies look amazing, especially with that ganache.
Julie @ Peanut Butter and Julie
Thank you, Laura!! Yes, I finished baking the blondies and then thought, "they need something else...." That's how the ganache came about!
Kristin @ Dizzy Busy and Hungry!
Yum. Yum. Yum. These look so delicious! And I think your food photography is pretty darn good! But new tips are always helpful I am sure. Hope you had a good trip!
Julie @ Peanut Butter and Julie
Thank you, Kristin!! Yes, it was a fun trip--very busy and I did learn quite a bit. Now, the practicing begins 🙂
Pat
Mmmmm......these sound divine, Julie.
Julie @ Peanut Butter and Julie
Thank you so much, Pat!
patsy
These bars look too good to pass up! Not sure my husband would want to share them!
Julie @ Peanut Butter and Julie
Thanks so much, Patsy! He doesn't have a huge sweet tooth (wish I could say the same.)