Almond Topped Brownies

Soft, moist brownies topped with a light almond crunch.

One of my favorite past times is baking sweet treats for others, especially those I love and respect.
Brownies are yummy, scrumptious, and addicting-- chocoholics beware.
I had to create a special batch of brownies. This incredible vegan brownie recipe comes from Gimme Some Oven with slight alteration. First of all, fair trade organic cocoa butter on eBay-- primarily a beauty ingredient-- is incorporated in place of olive oil. Cocoa butter brings most alluring scent and creamier texture to chocolate desserts-- almost authenticating decadent experience.
Raw crushed almonds on top counteract sweet chocolate bite. That satisfying nutty crunch providing balance and texture to dessert.
My next step is concocting a cocoa butter frosting for next brownie batch. That'll perhaps be even more splendid.

Almond Topped Brownies Ingredients and Preparation

1/4 cup pumpkin puree (apple sauce or avocado would sub fine)
1/4 cup cocoa butter, melted (olive oil or coconut oil)
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water
1 cup raw almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8" x 8" inch baking dish. 
Mix pumpkin puree and melted cocoa butter together. Warning: it will smell divine.
Sift flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together.
Combine pumpkin puree and melted cocoa butter with dry mixture. Add water.
Pour into prepared baking dish.
Crush almonds into a blender or food processor. Put over top of brownie batter.
Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Hot and fresh from the oven, ready to be carved. Let sit 20 minutes.

Dense, irresistible, pretty brownies. 

To give out chocolate is hard, but remember sharing is caring.

Black Girl Magic Lit Up Colored Girl Museum's First Festival

Colored Girl Museum was beyond lit. Beyond fire. Set us all ablaze.

We needed the healing a special Saturday afternoon granted.
Underneath this spiritual umbrella, providing shield from the violence thundercloud of our country, the audience were raptly attentive to the woman gracing the stage.
Radiance shone bright. And yes, my eyes teared up, remembering not just Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile. Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Tanisha Anderson, Mariam Carey, Rekia Boyd and Sandra Bland, and countless other sistas we can never ever forget.
Now the Colored Girls Museum uniquely houses stories, experiences, and objects of the colored girl.

The Colored Girls Museum distinguishes herself by exclusively collecting, preserving, honoring, and decoding artifacts pertaining to the experience and herstory of colored girls. This museum shall serve as a clearinghouse of multidimensional arty-facts, objects and information about Colored Girls: equal parts research facility, exhibition space, gathering place and think tank. This Colored Girls Museum is the first institution of its kind, which considers memoir, in any form, as well as objects of personal and historic significance, as evidence with empirical value.

I have always wanted to visit. The Colored Girls Museum is opened on Sundays only.
And I work every Sunday.
Someday I'll go.
For now, I reminisce on the Colored Girls Festival at Fringe Arts and its magical medicinal properties.

Commendable hostess Ariadne DuBois wearing the Colored Girls Museum t-shirt in between introductions.

I missed Nikki Powerhouse. Her name alone resonates uplifting vibe to dwindled spirit. I wish I had seen her live. I did, however, find this to be wonderful-- The Art of I Am. Still, she's a local actress. Hopefully, a next time will arise.
M'Balia Singley strummed acoustic guitar, serenading with a combination of charming humor and sweet affection.
Jasmine Combs, an eloquent, brave poet threw out frustration with honesty and love in her barbs.
Maritri sang and struck her guitar, her voice like melodic honey dripping sap.
Blakbushe instructed through soulful song and cymbals to challenge patriarchy, to have sound mind, to love ourselves. With a touching tribute to Prince, taking her spin on "The Beautiful Ones," eyes mystified and it remained hard to hide how touched whole experience gave.
Poignant images flashed on the widescreen projection. These were women admired late in life. Eartha Kitt, Ruby Dee, Angela Davis, even a whole Serena Williams tennis match.
We were clapping and shouting bravo to our talented entertainers and women flashing on the screen.
That was all power, all strength.  
After last performance, DJ Ian Friday got the global soul dance party started. Maya Angelou's majestic timbre recited her impressive, always relevant poem "Phenomenal Woman" mixed with Chaka Khan/Whitney Houston's "I'm Every Woman." Perfection. She was alive again. Alive in soul, alive in spirit.
I captured several moments and compiled them together here: Colored Girls Museum Festival.
Please watch and share with others. These ladies will bring fire in your heart and joy in your steps.
I will be eternally thankful to them and the Colored Girls Museum. This was remarkable. And needed.
So very, very needed.

Treasure trove of dangling beads among African sculpture hummed diaspora melodies.

Fancy stylized earrings and vibrant patterned bib necklaces appear to be straight out of a glamorous African Vogue magazine.

Fabulous abstract designed, bold colored prints on tote bag purses.

Most epic way to showcase handcrafted jewelry.

Little girls seeing dolls in their skin tones? Beautiful moment.

"I've got to learn to leave the table when love's no longer being served."- Nina Simone

Co-worker/friend and I exiting the festival, spirits alive and joyous. What a gift!

Frida Kahlo Through the Lens of Eyes of Nickolas Muray

"Frida With Picture Frame (on Self Portrait Remembrance of an Open Wound)," Coyoacán, 1938.

Happy 109th birthday to one of the most profound artist women of this century-- Frida Kahlo. An inspiration for as long as I can remember, she holds a resonate place in my heart. Despite some believing she has become kitschy, too famous beyond paintings and lithographs, I stay true to my ardent adoration.
Everyone knows her name. Everyone knows her pained history, her vivid personal work, her cultural fashion, her unique beauty.
Today is the best day to revisit Toronto's special exhibit on beautiful portraits of Frida by one of her lovers-- Nickolas Muray.

Last summer, Textile Museum of Canada spilled details of an illustrious affair between artists-- photographer Nickolas Muray and painter/diarist Frida Kahlo.

On the walls, Muray's prints were adhered to walls alongside fragments of their clandestine letters to one another. The romance was a short lived one, but the ghosts flew out of sacred catacombs, resting in the space, confessing raw, fervent language.

Brightly lit digital presentation feature inventive design and vivacious provocation that comes in regards to having remarkable Frida Kahlo as focal protagonist. Part of Frida's charm is that she is not demanding or overpowering the space she reigns. Instead her quiet force of nature-- stark, vulnerable yet mysterious-- bursts through two-dimensional orientations, taking the viewer on wondrous journey to arresting genius. Whether embodying love for Diego Rivera, her sister Cristina, or pleasure meant for the photographer's discernible gaze alone, fierce tenderness and wild spirit dally between pieces, showcasing facets of Frida's personality-- naughty mischief, intelligent intrigue, and scandalous come-hitherance. Enchanted spectator has no choice to fall under the spell of such a softened predator.
Muray's staged quite sophisticated play in his concise attention to detail, making glittery-eyed sitter a star of high contrasting compositions. His color play is like fresh, ripened fruit, lusciously tantalizing and sweetly forbidden. Spectator has no choice but to succumb to temptation-- to the earthly capture of a phenomenal woman, a talent still utterly missed by the world.

"Frida With Hand at Her Throat," Mexico City, 1940.

"Frida With Granizo," Coyoacán, 1940.

"Frida With Blue Satin Blouse (final portrait)," New York in Nickolas Muray's Studio, 1939.

"Frida," Mexico City, 1940.

"Cristina and Frida," New York, 1946.

"Self-Portrait With Frida Kahlo in Her Studio and on Her Easel Her Self-Portrait Me and My Parrots," Coyoacán, 1945.

"Frida," Coyoacán, 1938.

From the "Frida in Her Wheelchair" series, Coyoacán, 1945.

Posing with "Frida on a White Bench (Carbro),"  New York, Nickolas Muray's Studio, 1939.

Cherry Chocolate Cherry Chunk Ice Cream

Always screaming for ice cream!

Hot weather always calls for ice cream. Plus let's not forget that July is National Ice Cream Month.
I love making ice creams. They're so easy to make-- ice cream maker machine or not. A trusty blender is enough for me to make interesting concoctions.
In the mood for chocolate cherry, Trader Joe's signature vegan favorite on the Food Empowerment List, I created my own version with delicious fair trade Theo Chocolate. After all, it's one of my favorite brands and the chocolate cherry & almond bar (often sold out) is the best. I kept the bar refrigerated before using it in the ice cream-- to give coldness and similar stiffness to frozen dark sweet cherries.
The ice cream came out well. Bite sized cherries to chew on and chocolate cherry chunks to devour with a light crunch of almond. This is one I'll definitely make a lot over the course of summer. Try it out if you're a cherry chocolate fanatic!

Cherry Chocolate Cherry Chunk Ice Cream Ingredients and Preparation

2 1/2 cup frozen dark sweet cherries
1 15 oz. can full fat coconut milk
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 3 oz. Theo Organic Dark Chocolate 70% Cacao Cherry & Almond Bar

In a blender, pulse all ingredients together-- try not to liquify. Chunks are important!
Pour ice cream into a steel bowl or baking pan. Wrap tightly with cellophane.
Freeze for about 5-6 hours or overnight. I froze mine overnight.

Excited scoops of sweet cherry delight with chocolate pieces in every bite.

Tantalizing view.

Swooning.

If desiring more almonds, please feel free to add more as a topping. That's an idea for next time.

Saturday Interlude at Blackbird & Govinda's

A friend and I made plans to eat an early dinner at Blackbird Pizzeria. The experience wasn't regretful by any means. Plus twosome became a foursome when two familiar faces joined the pizza fray. We split French fries with Blackbird's excellent housemade cheese whiz style sauce on the side-- waters and Maine Root's fair trade Black Cherry soda to drink. 

The cauliflower pizza is excellent. Square pan pizza is topped with roasted cauliflower, melted Daiya cheeses, surprising pinch of lemon zest, and sparsely applied parsley-- a unique blend of flavors like a pleasant medley on taste buds.

Brunchbird slice-- tofu scramble, Daiya, bacon, and spinach topping this popular pie. Yum. Em and I chatted a lot about random things. She happens to be from NYC and knows several good vegan pizza restaurants in Brooklyn. Another pal of mine is having his first solo show on Thursday and I'm coming out to support him as well as take in other art happenings. Yet I wouldn't mind testing out pizza along the way. Vinnie's sounds good. They have specialty vegan toppings such as Teese, breaded eggplant, and Mediterranean Feta and specialty vegan pies to boot. Whereas Blackbird is my Philly pizza relationship, Vinnie's can most certainly become my NYC pizza love (or bae in this age).

For dessert, we walked the eight blocks (working off the pizza ardor) down to Broad and South for dessert. There were cakes galore plus Dottie's Donuts, brownies, ice cream ala cart, and chocolate drizzled cookies. Anything to replenish sweet tooth was fare game. I settled on the exceptional white chocolate raspberry cheesecake from the great place Vegan Treats. It was the much needed happy ending from an otherwise gray clouded day. My eating outs are often lonely and having a planned friend outing plus unexpected affable company proved to be quite fun.

Thin Crust Pepperoni & Benevolent Ba'con Pizza

Delicious vegan pizza topped with popular vegan favorites.

I'm always, always late for Vegan Pizza Day.
Well, here is something pleasing to make up for being tardy to the party-- five days late and on the first of a new month to be exact. Happy July!
This is my usual recipe for homemade pizza dough with the exception of substituting all purpose flour for whole wheat flour. I'll never get tired of making pizza dough. Since, I've yet returned to store bought. It's incredibly joyous relaxation process-- massaging the dough and working the ball in floured hands. Definitely a stress reliever. To make for a thinner crust, I cut the dough in half after rise and saved portion for a later recipe-- calzones or miniature pizza pockets. It's probably good for less than a week.
On top of the crust, Sweet Earth Foods Hickory Smoked Benevolent Ba'con adds a rich, charred flavor to traditional vegan pepperoni pizza and Daiya melts just right on tangy sweet tomato sauce.

Thin Crust Pepperoni & Benevolent Ba'con Pizza Ingredients and Preparation

Dough

1 cup warm water
2 teaspoon sugar
2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoon nutritional yeast
2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
pizza sauce (I used Newton's Own Marinara Sauce and yes, it's for spaghetti, but it was super good)
2 cup Daiya Mozzarella Style Shreds
Yves Vegan Veggie Pepperoni
4 strips Sweet Earth Foods Benevolent Bacon, cooked and chopped

Activate yeast in warm water and sugar. Let sit for five minutes.
Add salt.
Stir in flour one cup at a time.
Massage dough with olive oil, nutritional yeast, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and black pepper. This should take ten to fifteen minutes.
In an oiled bowl (or just add oil to the bottom of your current bowl), add dough and seal with plastic. Leave it sitting, at room temperature, for an hour.

Ingredient prep. I love when the dough rises. Makes me smile.

Risen dough. Punch down and cut in half. Roll out thinly with rolling pin onto greased baking sheet.

Layer with pizza sauce, Daiya, veggie pepperoni, and benevolent ba'con. Top with extra cheese and bake for 15 minutes.

Straight out of the oven: hot melted cheese.

Slice of "meaty" heaven.

Three slices. Honest.

The crust was amazing.

Blueberry Pancakes

A simple recipe oozing with blueberry joy.

Pliant, sodden blueberries are on the brunch menu-- packing golden ochre brown pancakes with a pop of dark intense color and tart flavor. Silver fork cuts into bursting berry madness, its hot, simmered juices staining plate, and upward the maple syrup drenching slice greets happily smiling mouth.
Blueberries may be small as can be, but they deliver a most tantalizing, unforgettable presence. 
Welcome to Blueberry Pancake Heaven.
The plot twist-- happening more often than not-- is that almond milk runs out.
This little panic upstarts an inner debate.
Yet salvation is only a few steps away. 
Water can be a substitute. It can provide rich, creamy properties that almond, soy, and other alternative dairy free milk bring to pancake batter, especially if the proportions are right. For today's blueberry pancakes, a light airiness, a touch of pleasant sweetness, and crisp texture tasted amazing. I found no great lacking. Sure, I will go on to the store to get that dairy free milk, but rest assured water is not a bad thing.

Blueberry Pancakes Ingredients and Preparation

olive oil
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup water
2 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice 

An ingredient sneak peek.

Set a skillet on medium low temperature and pour in olive oil.
Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together.
Add in water, coconut oil, and vanilla.

Stir in blueberries and lemon juice. Will fizz a bit. Use 1/4 batter at a time.

Makes eight light, crispy blueberry pancakes.

Maple syrup is the nectar of goddesses.

Lemon ginger tea was the nice accompaniment to brunch.