misplaced mama

I began writing a piece as soon as I got back from NY about my experiences while back East. It became much bigger than what I anticipated and will be a work in progress for a while. It comes straight from the rawest part of my heart. Writing about my childhood home and my father specifically is a challange but I am working it all out and it prooves to be rather interesting. So much healing and understanding and peace took place on my trip that words need to be spread across screen and I am trying to find just the right ones. Look for Colors, Compassion and Constipation soon.

But now let’s talk about the most decadant chocolate treat I made last night. Espresso Fudge Brownies with a Mint Chocolate Frosting served under organic vanilla ice cream. The recipe is a variation from Moosewood Fudge Brownies out of The Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts. I took there base and made my own twist.

1 cup organic butter 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate 2 cups dark brown molasses sugar 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract 4 organic eggs lightly beaten 1 cup organic pastry flour a little less than 1 /4 cup coarsley ground organic espresso beans

melt butter and chocolate in a big pot. remove from heat. add brown sugar and vanilla and beat. add eggs and beat. stir in the flour and espresso and mix until smooth. (this recipe is bowless, as well, just do it all in your melting pot)

pour into a 9x9 square pan that has been buttered. pop it in an oven that has been preheated to 350. bake for like 25 minutes.

then melt a couple of bars dark chocolate mint bars (Endangered Species brand is perfect) with a tablespoon of butter or alternative like Earth Balance (if you wanna stay light on the dairy) and a drop of milk (i used soy creamer because it was that or goat milk that was in my fridge.)

When brownies are not hot anymore, spread the thick frosting across. wait an hour or so because these actually taste better when they are cooled off. Serve with some creamy ice cream to balance the crazy rich choco-coffee-mint flavor.

We actually got the girls to be by 7:30pm lat night so Bill and I could enjoy this treat alone. We popped in a wonderfully directed documentary called Boys of Baraka. A handful of 12/13 year old boys from a seriously low economic bracket in Baltimore, MD were chosen to attend The Baraka School in New Kenya, Africa. It takes you on their journey from living on the stoops in Balitmore, dealing with drug infestation, severe poverty, illiteracy, un-tested learning disabilities, and cracked-out parents in prisons to a total culture shock: a chill little school in rural Africa where the atmosphere is sprinkled with giraffes and elephants, poor yet happy and extremely non-violent and self-sufficient African children, and most importantly people (their teachers and counselors) who are paying close attention to them and who use careful yet firm guidance through each day and experience). We get to see a year of their life at The Baraka School which was just so entertaining. Imagine these spirited little guys full of hip-hop and break-beats, angst and defeat, oppression yet hope and strength getting used to life in Africa. It’s a riot and totally touching. At the end of the year they go back home for summer break. They are suppose to return to Africa in the fall for their second year of junior high. But because of terrorist ‘issues’ and a war in Kenya, the US Embassy closed in the area where the school was located. The Baraka School was forced to shut down as it was deemed too dangerous of a place to be with the absence of the Embassy. The boys, after having a completely life-changing experience in Africa have to go back to the bowels of city life and resume being ‘ghetto youth’ in inadequate public schools. They are devastated as are their parents. The movie ends just as that: they have no where to turn and their lives are now just the way they were when they left. We can only hope that the temptations and reality of inner-city living are just a faint whisper compared to the loud drumming of a life they experienced in Africa for that year. I know I just told the whole story of the movie, but the story is not really the most amazing thing: the boys make the show. We laughed and cried at how innocent and hysterical these kids were on this really incredible journey.

So after the movie Bill and I relived an old dream we had. Not only was our ‘community’ plans to live self-sufficiently on shared land with others, but to use the land to build an alternative school for kids not far from those in the Boys of Baraka. We envisioned our school to be music, arts/crafts (fine arts as well as sustainable building skills), and agriculturally (as in a lot of garden work) based. It’s good to be reminded of dreams. The now is so perfect that the future can only be the same.