It pays to work with a bunch of foodies...

One of the many perks of my job is that I'm surrounded by people who are really passionate about food and cooking.  Whenever people ask me what my job is like, for the most part I'll always describe how much fun it is to go to work and help people better equip their kitchens, talk customers through the latest cooking techniques and in general feel like you are making some sort of impact on one's food and cooking life.  Don't get me wrong, you work really hard at times, you put in long retail hours, and when it's the height of holiday you feel like you're in the middle of an endless, chaotic circus but all in all it's fun.  I have friends who have very serious careers whether they are saving lives through their medical professions or balancing budgets in corporate America and then when you get to sell pots and talk turkey all day, you embrace the non-seriousness of it all. And while the goal is to expand upon your customer's culinary knowledge as they shop with us, it's inevitable that you are going to learn a thing or two throughout the day that will make it's way into your own kitchen.  

Last week I happened to stumble upon these delicious little sweet gems that I'm lucky that there were even any left from the night before.  They looked like brownies but after further investigation I found out they were little brownie caramel sea salt bites who were made by Nadine, one of my colleagues who is a serious baker.  They were like popping potato chips into your mouth and all I could think about for the past few days was when I would have the opportunity to make them myself at home.  It finally happened Monday night and honestly they were so super easy to put together that you can do it in no time at all but just as satisfying as last week.  Here is the run down:
-Prepare your favorite brownie mix according to recipe (If you want to be an over-achiever and make brownies from scratch, I'm envious of your efforts.  I was more then ok to open up a box of Dunkin Hines knowing what was going to go on top.)  Line the wells of a mini muffin pan with papers and fill the wells half way up with brownie batter.
-Using a small spoon, top each one with about a half a teaspoon of dulce de leche caramel sauce.  I use the brand that we sell at WS which is to die for but I've been told that the Nestle version from the supermarket is just as good.  
-Sprinkle the tops with Maldon Sea Salt.  (Another item that we sell at WS which can also be bought at Whole Foods.  Any other flaky french sea salt can stand in as well). 
-Bake according to package directions for about 15-20 minutes until the brownie bites are generally set.

Today brought another welcome foodie surprise from one of my colleagues who has a home in Upstate New York where she has a very serious farming habit.  Kelly grows tons of fruits and vegetables, does lots of canning and has a whole flock of chickens that she tends to.  I'm always in total amazement of what shes up to on the farm and we've talked veggies all summer because Kelly has tons of ideas of what to do with them and always assures you how easy a project will be.  I know people cringe on Mondays and Wednesdays but I'm one of these people that have a hard time getting into Tuesdays.  You're still trying to jump start your week and last winter and spring I would get up and take spin classes at un-godly hours on Tuesday mornings that would carry me through a good part of the day on this happy, sweaty euphoria but since the summer I've been running outside on other days so the spin habit had to take a hiatus and now you look to other things to get you at that happy place. Today it came to me in the form of 1 dozen of the most beautiful farm fresh eggs that were waiting for me on my desk when I came into work this morning.  I had nothing planned for dinner tonight so I knew that this would be the perfect opportunity to use them and they made it carefully through a metro north train ride for us to consume tonight.  I made up simple omelets for Andrew and I filled with caramelized onions, leeks and mushrooms along with a dusting of cheese and they were AMAZING!!!!  I honestly didn't think I even really liked omelets beforehand but the color of the egg yolks was this golden hue of yellow and as we ate them all we kept remarking about was how fresh the eggs tastes.  Those eggs can get me through a Tuesday anyday and I'm already thinking about when I can have another one of those delicious omelets.

how cute are these labels????  happy hens make happy eaters!

The pics don't do the beauties justice but the lightest colored ones are a pale robin blue hue

embracing breakfast for dinner...something that doesn't happen that much in this house.