Of must-win games, memories made and melty ganache

It has been an amazing few months with so many small battles won and at last I am guided by my own sense of belief in what I can do and the kind of life I want to lead. A big part of this has been as a result of the people around me. Looking at my Mom and sisters, I see women of incredible integrity, intelligence, beauty and kindness. In my better half I find unwaivering calmness and a sense of commitment to self, work, other and life that continually makes me reach higher...and laugh harder at the difficult times in life. I revel in the youthful energy and camraderie of my teammates, all of whom posess a tapestry of qualities that make them all superb people and diligent athletes. My friends have shown me that the best path to walk is one that is laced with love, laughter and comfortable silences and that I am worthy of all 3 of those things; none of which should ever conditional or dependent upon my grades, sports or any other "stuff."

Today we played McGill and were finally able to execute! We won 2-0 and the score does not even reflect the quality of the game we played. Yes, there is much to be worked on, but we were so hungry for the win and it felt amazing to finish on such a high. I was very proud of how everyone played! Myself, I could have done a few things better:
1) Recovered a bit faster when I got beat defensively.
2) Shot the ball from INSIDE the circle (duh!)
3) Taken more shots! I don't know why I always assume that I should leave that to someone else and take the assist :/
4) Transferred the ball laterally to build the width/depth of the game

All in all, not a bad game for me. I hit the post (conk!) on a penalty corner shot and had 2 shots go in but they were both taken from outside the circle. Bahhhhh... oh well. I've done my mental training log and jotted down some stuff to work on this week and I'm ready to look ahead to next weekend when we play York, UofT and Western in Toronto.

One of my teammates (who is basically a long lost sister of mine) was celebrating a birthday today, so I whipped up these rather sassy little peppermint brownies for her and they turned out pretty darn excellent! Im the interest of keeping my post-game nutrition high quality, I opted not to have one, but I had a taste beforehand and definitely think they were enjoyed by all. :) My sister has obviously left her magic touch in the oven :) Yes, smiles squared!

Here we go!

Peppermint Chocolate Brownies with Confused Jaya Minty Ganache (Brownie recipe from Epicurious)
I believe there are brownies under all of that chocolate!

For Brownies:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped (I accidentally used semi-sweet, so I tossed in a bunch of cocoa. Phew!)
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup all purpose flour (I used 1/4c AP and actually tossed in 1/4c of the 6-grain healthy stuff and no one was the wiser!)
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

For Minty Ganache (sorry, this was very amateur in its conception)
-Lots of table cream (about 1/2c)
-3 oz chocolate
-1/4c carob chips
-1/2 tsp each: pure vanilla and peppermint essence

Make brownies:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly butter 8x8x2-inch metal baking pan. Stir butter and chocolate in small saucepan over low heat until smooth. Set aside. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add chocolate mixture, flour, peppermint and vanilla extracts and salt; stir until just blended. Mix in nuts.
Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 25 minutes. Cool slightly.

Make Ganache:
-Melt chocolate and cream, toss in the carob chips just because you can and should.
-Add extract
-Glaze those brownies good!

I made WAY too much ganache and now have about 1/3c in the fridge.
Pardon my terrible photography in this whole post - the blog entry was almost an afterthought! Also thanks to Cathy for stirring the ganache with attitude and picking the best ever retro high school hockey songs while we were a-glazing.

I want to wish you all a very wonderful weekend and encourage you to think hard about the everyday people who make your life and days just that much better.