originally we were going to enjoy the red sox' return to oakland via our old 27" non-flat screen tv, but when we heard rich harden would be starting on friday, well, that changed things. the downside, though, to matchups like the red sox or yankees vs. the a's is that these are the types of games where the new englanders pop out of the woodwork; put on their khakis, bright red or navy clothing, and puffer vests; attend a series of games; and boo the home team. sigh. but how about kudos to my correct use of semi-colons? friday's seats featured lots of red, but luckily no one got tasered like at retro jersey day (really, maybe concessions needs to rethink selling alcohol so early on promo days?). i like to think of that as progress.

friday night's game featured 1) rich harden throwing a bunch of quickie innings and 2) alan embree, who had just celebrated his 800th career game. with that, i made rich, rich alan M&Mbree brownies. perhaps too many puns, but it could have been worse (like rich, rich alan M&Mbree andrew or emil brown-ies??? gee. no.). thankfully, i know my limits!

i halved this AMAZING brownie recipe from the barefoot contessa, topping it with milk and dark chocolate M&Ms at the 15-min halfway mark (and i didn't include the nuts). they turned out a little gooey, but after an hour's worth of refrigeration, my coworkers scarfed the extras down in about 30 minutes flat friday morning, which i took to be a good sign. the coffee combined with the two chocolates give these brownies a round and deep cocoa flavor, and a little brownie slice goes a long way. optional: a glass of (soy) milk.

with security and police flocking about like hawks, my closest bullpen experience came via the handover to the ball boy at the end of the red sox' warmups. i assume that the guys devoured the brownies while gawking at rich's smooth delivery, but who knows. they could've been braiding dallas' hair. or taking cat naps. meow.

and lastly, after watching saturday night's exciting game via the couch, we were psyched for sunday, where we cleaned the apartment from head to toe in the AM, appropriately prepping for the afternoon's swiffer. er, sweep. go A's!

after last night's 13 innings of cheering before adding another "L" to our column, i soaked in about 6 hours of sleep. now i'm at work, ready to be semi to almost productive (if the right opportunity presents itself; namely, an iced chai with soy). or at least, i can be partially productive once i've posted about last night's delivery. no, not on the mound. although most of our pitchers delivered and more--namely, huston, who downed red bull instead of vitamin water before, get this, dallas braden began warming him up. kurt (aka zuki, KSu, and/or moped) ran out to finish the job, but it was nice to see dallas (and his semi de-fro-ed mane) back in the bullpen. or half-squatting to catch a slider.

the coliseum itself was rocking about 11,000 fans, and because of the low monday turnout, a good majority of the concessions were closed. thankfully, i had stopped at whole foods to pick up some vegetarian dinner snacks, including pineapple chunks, heirloom tomato salad, spinach dip, blue potato chips, and iced tea. yes, it was girly, but no, after 13 innings, todd and i weren't starving. and that's what matters. now on to the baking!

since we were playing the tampa bay devil rays, i figured something florida-esque would fit the bill. luckily, i grew up in florida, so i know a little thing or two about the state. like there are alligators that will sunbathe at the edge of the swamp, and come aknockin' on your kitchen door when they're hungry. hurricanes aren't just a weather system gone wonky, but also the university of miami's sports teams' moniker. and that everyone really does love gloria estefan. no matter what, the rhythm is gonna get chu.

with this first-hand knowledge brewing in my frontal lobe, i went out on a limb and made orange sour cream pound cake, more appropriately titled "orange ya glad to be an A" cake. todd helped me with this one, measuring out the flour and zesting the orange, and the cake turned out very moist and tasty. it'd make a fine breakfast bread.

before the game last night, i made the pass off to security, and the bullpen barely moved for the first four innings. my only assumption is that they ate some cake and took a nap before their sunflower seed shell spitting contest started around the 7th.

Recipe

1/2 cup butter
3 eggs (whites)
1/2 dairy sour cream (light)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons orange zest
1/2 teaspoon almond extract


Bring butter, eggs & sour cream to room temperature. Grease and lightly flour a loaf pan or bundt pan. In a bowl stir together flour, baking powder and soda; set aside. In a large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed about 30 seconds or till softened. Gradually add sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating on medium to high speed about 6 minutes total or till very light and fluffy. Add vanilla and almond extract. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low to medium speed for 1 minute after each; scrape bowl often. Alternately add flour mixture and sour cream, beating on low speed just till combined. Gently fold in orange zest into the batter.

Spread batter in the prepared pan. Bake in a 325F oven for 60-70 minutes or till cake tests done with a knife or toothpick. Cool cake in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cake from pan and cool completely. Makes 10 to 12 servings.

From the Better Homes & Gardens Old Fashioned Home Baking Cookbook. 
Italicized items are my addition.

on thursday, we decided to hit up the a's/rangers series over the weekend. saturday was out, but we had a 2-for-1 to use and also couldn't pass up the $4 plaza seats on sunday. that meant two a's games in three days. this might be fine and dandy for the casual fan, but for a girl who needs to meticulously plan recipes and their respective titles, grocery shop at at least two different markets, and bake ahead of time, 72 hours is a short window for baking two sets of treats, at least when you consider work, extracurriculars (like going to the ballet!!!), and my minute 4'x4' kitchen space. 

a side note: after much contemplation, i've given up on martha stewart recipes; they just never seem to bake quite right. most of the time, the salt content is off, but sometimes there's just a sheer lack of excitement and quality. if i spend  2 hours making chocolate chip cookies, darn it, i want them to be amazing enough that bud selig would try one and shout his praises to the heavens! well, maybe not that good, but i like my cookies to taste amazing. or special. or high falootin' tootin' good. or at least memorable. in my apartment, safeway baking recipes need not apply.

this weekend i hit up cook's illustrated for what should be the best of the best. run by america's test kitchen, these chefs and bakers put their recipes through a rigorous testing process before going to print, and foodies rave wonders about CI and ATK.

the chronicle inspired me to bake "andrew brown sugar cookies." made with browned butter and brown sugar, these cookies taste like chewy caramel.

on friday, i ended up down by the bullpen before the game, but technically i was ticketed for the plaza level. shawn with security--he's like my dhl guy: dependable and ready at a moment's notice, but no loud yellow clothing unless it's raining--assisted me with delivery, gently placing the box down on the bench prior to the team taking the field.

anyway, we had to leave the section once the national anthem was sung, but i got to see dallas braden scurry up to andrew brown and tell andrew ecstatically that he got cookies named after him. by that point, i was 15 rows away, yet i could hear the jealousy confusion taunting awe in dallas' voice. which brings me to sunday's game...

unfortunately, there's no braden sugar out there or dallas chips, and i felt at a loss for how to honor dallas. after a long saturday night of iron man, finding a parking place for dinner, and veggie chinese, i had compiled a short list of potential names for my chocolate and nut blondies (i used semi-sweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, macadamia nuts, marcona almonds, and walnuts-- no coconut or pecans, but the base is the same as the recipe):

• black and white mod-style blondies (referencing turn-back-the-clock day on sunday)
• the best bullpen, bar-none (blondie bars...)
• james blonde (only there's no james in the bullpen)
• a's wives in a box (as most of them are blonde, either naturally or via a bottle)
  
• blondies does dallas (not really pg-oriented...)
• six relief pitchers walk into a bar...

in the end, my moist and just-about-perfect blondies were christened "six relief pitchers walk into a bar," but i felt inclined to recognize dallas for his bullpen baker supportive efforts. i mean, how many guys, with their hair frizzing everywhere, runs up to another psyched that his buddy has his own cookie (though not mass produced like a wheaties box, but still...)? keeping this close to my heart, i added a note at the bottom of the box about the bars alternative name, "blondies does dallas." sure, it's not appropriate for a disney movie, but this is baseball. let's share the love, people. or at least the pg-rated version.

thanks to tonight's 20 hits versus the angels, tickets for the plaza level are just $4 this sunday. it's almost like two $2 wednesdays combined, only no dollar dogs. veggie dogs still cost an arm and a leg, though...

but maybe, just maybe, you don't like the 2nd deck. perhaps you're myopic or have an aversion to young children continuously getting sour apple cotton candy stuck in their hair inning after inning or become increasingly dizzy from the smell of the all-you-can-eat 3rd deck crew munching on handfuls of nachos and licorice ropes in quick succession. well, lucky for you, there are two ways to get cheapo tickets for this sunday's game!

go here and use the code "hits" for $4 plaza level or go here and use "jersey" for $10 off field level outfield tickets. yes, you still have to pay the surcharges/fees. the first 10,000 fans inside the gates will receive an A's 60s retro jersey. gooooo a's! and kudos to emil brown and jack cust, who contributed 4 hits each to the 20-hit grand total.