When I was growing up, one of the high points of the very rare snow days we had in our warm climate was the warm brownies Mom would make to greet us tromping in cold and soaked through three pair of pants and knit mittens.   We would skin out of our wet clothes, put on warm, dry ones and then go sit in front of the fireplace for brownies and cocoa with marshmallows. 

There were five of us and we all loved the edges of the brownies best, so warm and chewy with the carmelized sugar.  The problem was, if our friends came over, too, we knew our mother would skin us alive if we didn’t offer the "best" pieces to our friends.   o, we quietly ate the center pieces of the brownies when we had guests and said nothing, not wanting to break over good manners in front of our indulgent but carefully polite Mama.

Recently, I saw the most amazing device - a brownie pan that was all edges!  Now, I’m as strict with my children’s manners as my Mama was with mine, but I remember clearly watching friends enjoy the chewy edge pieces of the brownies and wishing that I could have one, too.  So I got the pan right away and saved it for the next time Nana and a couple of my sisters and their kids came to visit. 

I was the hero of the afternoon as everyone got to have an edge piece when they helped themselves to the brownies (using Nana’s recipe, of course).    I bought pans like it for my sisters-in-law and my sisters, so we all giggle whenever the family gets together and we serve brownies, but we do sometimes wonder if the lost opportunity for a teachable moment in how to treat a guest wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Posted by Noel.