A few months ago, I ran the Eugene 1/2 Marathon. Due to my laziness, I failed to secure a hotel room before they were all booked up. Fortunately for me my friend Annie lives in Eugene and is always kind enough to put me up for the night.
She did so once before prior to a long-distance swim last August at Dorena Lake — the swim was a total let-down, for reasons other than the recent algae bloom. On that occasion, I made her watch the epic Twilight. She wasn’t exactly into Vampire Movies, but I was making my way through the series which I liken to junk food. You start it, you know it’s terrible for you, but you just can’t stop until the entire bag of doritos/oreos/jelly beans is gone.
To make amends or maybe to supplant that previous bad memory, I decided to cook dinner for us (her husband was away that weekend with some ultimate frisbee tournament — is it called a potlach?).
For dinner, I did my usual — some kind of whole wheat/wholesome pasta with a marinara sauce enhanced with more onions, garlic, spinach, and tofurkey sausages (seriously — they are good!). But for dessert, I was a little creative. I made oatmeal cookies, per the instructions on my Quaker Oats package and instead of the raisins, I add one bag of butterscotch chips and 1/2 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I’ve found in the past that the chocolate oatmeal combo is a little overpowering and the saltiness of the butterscotch balances everything out.
Now the ala mode part. I made a hot fudge sauce, I combined 3 Tbsp of cocoa powder, 1/2 c of sugar, 1/3 cup of milk, 1 Tbsp of butter, and 1 tsp of vanilla in a sauce pan, over low heat. I brought the mixture to a boil and then let it simmer till in thickened.
Okay, maybe I was a little impatient for the 1st helping because it was a little think when I drizzled it over the ice cream and cookie, but for my 2nd helping it was deliciously thick and not surprisingly decadent.
As for my run, I had a great race, so that’s cause enough to repeat the dessert right?
Three Clever Sisters 