ericbobg

by Shawn Tucker:


Those who have done missionary work in the South (and perhaps other places) may be able to relate to this experience: you have a nice conversation with someone, and when you return for the follow-up appointment that person's pastor or minister is there. It is hard to know if the local leader was invited or invited herself/himself, but usually that pastor seems to view the conversation as a chance to "defend the flock." I had that experience with the missionaries working here in North Carolina. I think the local pastor already had his Bible open as we walked in the door. And I was very proud of how the missionaries responded. Usually an exchange like this is the battle of the prooftexters, or, as I like to call it in the South, "Dueling Bibles." The missionaries here addressed the questions that were raised with humility and sincerity, and refused to quibble over scriptures.

The conversation did not last very long, but before we left we spoke with them about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration. And this is how we did it: we talked about the disciples on the road to Emmaus. We talked about how Christ's crucifixion was very surprising. Many anticipated that Jesus was a Savior who would throw off Roman political rule and restore David's kingdom. When the Man that they believe would save them politically was brutally and shamefully killed, many experienced painful disappointment and confusion. Amidst this confusion, those disciples encountered a Stranger who seemed oblivious to what had transpired. The Stranger soon explained via the scriptures why all that seemed so shockingly unexpected had to happen. The disciples eventually persuaded the Stranger to dine with them, and over the course of the meal discovered Him to be the resurrected Savior.

Continue reading the post »»

 

Five of my fingernails are hot pink right now. 

Look. SEE? I’m girly! I’m so put together!

Well. At least halfway girly. I still haven’t painted my other hand. Wanna know why? Diapers. That’s why.

Every time I think “I should paint my fingernails” my inner-black-girl chimes in: ain’t NOBODY got time for that! I’ve got faces to wipe, pigtails to comb, and pins to pin toilets to scrub. 

But guess what you guys. Something’s going on with this little bloggy-thing of mine. This month I’ve gotten 30x the amount of traffic that I got last January. And 3x the amount of traffic I got even just last month.

With traffic comes feedback, which I LOVE. Listen to this: “I just found your site today and have spent over two hours here so far.” This is from Linda. Linda, I love you. Come to my house. I will make you these blondies. You think I’m joking.

But along with all the stars-and-rainbow-comments come the reality checks. The other day someone called me out on the photos of my atrocious chipped nails. Alright, ALRIGHT, I’m super tacky, I KNOW! Try not to hate me.

So here’s me making an effort. Valentine’s Day is coming up, so I thought pink. (False. I only have 5 shades, one of them is clear, and the others are getting kinda crusty, so choice was limited.)

I’m surprised there is not pink nail polish on these Blondies. I literally stopped in the middle of my shoot, slapped some paint on my nails, blow-dried them for about 30 seconds, then came back. Don’t lick chocolate and caramel off your fingers 3 minutes after you paint them. Thank you, Captain Obvious.

So are you guys ready to Super Bowl it up? (Probably now is a bad time to mention that I found out on Friday that the Super Bowl wasn’t this last weekend. Yes, really.)

But the good news is that there is still time for you to make these Blondies! Now, if you have been reading my blog recently you’ve probably heard me gush about these Brown Butter Sea Salt Butterscotch Cookies. And with good reason. They are my favorite cookie, ever. But…the recipe’s a bit labor intensive. 2 separate rounds of refrigeration makes for about 6 hours between “I want cookies” and “Kill me now, these are amazing.” These Blondies are the answer. You can have these in your mouth in 35 minutes flat. No frilly refrigeration required. Just git ‘er done.

If you live within 5 hours 3 hours 1 hour <— that’s my final answer) of a Trader Joe’s, you need these in your life:

Seriously. I could go on all day, but I’ll just tell you that I’ve made many, many trips to the store for no other purpose than buying these little butterscotch caramels.

These are my regular Browned Butter Blondies (which are anything but ordinary) with the butterscotch caramels added instead of chocolate chips. The result is a chewy, tender, soft, and rich blondie filled with little nuggets of butterscotch-y caramel goodness. I discovered this recipe last summer and have probably made it 7 or 8 times. I made it 3 times with these caramels. The first time I tried cutting each caramel in half like I do for the cookies, but I actually prefer them when they are added whole. And it’s faster. Like I said. Git ‘er done.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway guys!

Do you guys give up? Or are you thirsty for more?
Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram | Twitter

Source: adapted from these Browned Butter Blondies

Mmmmmm browned butter. Make sure your butter has those little brown bits in it, otherwise cook it a little longer.

They’re just so beautiful. I love you, sea salt butterscotch caramels.

It’s a lot easier to get them out of the pan it you line it with foil or parchment paper.

The post Browned Butter Blondies with Sea Salt Butterscotch Caramels appeared first on The Food Charlatan.

College access and affordability were the focus of a special event on Monday, hosted by the University of California, Davis; Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.); Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.); and Deputy Under Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education Jamie Studley. The Department of Education has already held several public forums across the country to gather feedback on President Barack Obama’s plan to create a college ratings system. The proposal would rate colleges based on a variety of factors that could ultimately determine the distribution of federal financial aid dollars. The UC Davis event provided a roundtable…