Finding Betty

Sometimes you just want brownies.

They way they taste when fresh out of the oven slightly under-baked and gooey in the center is almost indescribable.

One would think in a country the size of China it wouldn't be hard to find brownies and they would be right. However, if a brownie that tastes like chalk and sticks to the roof of your mouth sounds appealing to you you would be satisfied by the "brownies" that you can find here. I knew from my multiple attempts that I would have to make my own.

This sounds easy enough, but since most homes here in China only have stovetops you have to buy a toaster oven to make any type of baked good and, lets face it, baked goods are about all I am good at when it comes to cooking. About, two weeks ago Nikolai and I finally broke down and purchased one of these western necessities. I was thrilled at the thought of this purchase putting me one step closer to fresh brownies. Now, all I needed were the ingredients.

There is a supermarket about 5k away that has a bigger selection of western foods than other stores in the area. I knew this would be a perfect place to find all the ingredients that I needed for my brownies. Now, with that said, this store still has one aisle that is completely dedicated to noodles, another that has well over 100 different types of soy sauces and and yet another that is an odd combination of seaweed and chicken feet. Yet, I knew I saw a bag of flour - a key ingredient - there once.

As I searched the shelves for the usual ingredients (sugar, flour, cocoa, etc.) I was stunned when all of a sudden Nikolai (who was nice enough to join me on my little trip) said, " Jen, get over here." So I walked over to see what he had found.

And there they were.

Sitting on the shelf were 3 Betty Crocker brownie boxes. I could have sworn that each one was gift wrapped and had a gold bow on them. I reached down and grabbed 2 of them. "We should leave at least one for someone else.", I told Nikolai as I was trying to contain my excitement. However, that did not last long as I forced him to take a picture of me in the middle of the store. I know there are times where I really need to appreciate how wonderful my husband is, and this was one of them.

It is already 2 days latter and I have yet to open the packages. They are sitting in the top shelf in the pantry waiting for the perfect moment. Plus, I still have yet to find a brownie or cake pan in China.

I suppose if I need to I can just do what I do back home in The States, make the brownie batter and never actually make the brownies.