Olio, etc.: When Life Hands You A Lemon, Bake Brownies

Life handed me a lemon yesterday and I wanted to tell you all the events of the morning. For your trouble, I will include a sweet recipe at the end of this entry. Everybody wins!

I left home and took my usual route to work. That route includes a daily stop at my local convenience store. I could say they have the best coffee in the city, but it's actually their sinfully delicious French Vanilla creamer that keeps me coming back. Anyway, as I pulled in to their parking lot, I was forced to park along the far side of the lot as many others were also at the store getting their RDA of the coffee creamers and cappuccini at the store. While returning to my car I looked up and noticed that my right rear tire was almost flat! Had I not parked where I did, I would not have seen that side of my car thus returning to the street headed for the highway and possible disaster. Luckily, the store also sells gasoline and has a free air pump available. I filled the tire and drove straight to my local tire store/mechanic. As my tire was not covered under the Road Hazard Warranty, I would be required to pay the cost of repair. After quickly repairing my tire, the gentleman at the store told me I wouldn't be charged. I am a longtime customer there and he was doing me a favor.

Now, luckily, I did have the extra $20 it would have cost me to pay for the tire repair. I think we can all agree that, unless we are having a tough time financially, $20 is not a big deal to most people. And yesterday it was not a big deal to me. The fact that the gentleman at the store considered me a good customer and did me a favor.....well that was a big deal to me!

So, long story short, I decided to repay the kindness of the tire store employee and bake a batch of brownies to take to his crew this morning.

Recipe courtesy Taste of Home website. I added some chopped pecans and used milk chocolate chips to make them extra special.

Speedy Brownies

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
5 eggs
1 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

In a large bowl, beat the first seven ingredients. Pour into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips.
Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Yield: about 3 dozen.

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