apartment charm / Rawesome Brownies

Hy husband and I (and Dragon and Toast and Frodo and all of the unicorns...) live in an apartment. Let's just say it's cozy (translation: pet hair is part of my daily protein intake). Actually, I read somewhere that there are crazy cat ladies and dog people who collect their pet's fur and--yes, literally knit themselves sweaters and other clothing out of it. Umm...I already think it's freaky how much pet owners look like their furry companions without dressing and smelling like them too. Zolts). Anyway, our apartment is on the first floor of an old house. Yup, it's old in that charming New England way, complete with rusted sideboard heaters, rotting wood in the bathroom, and closets from the 1800's. What I want to know is, how can a person actually fit all of their clothing in one of these tissue-box sized closets? My husband can't even have his clothing in our bedroom because there's no place to put it, so his stuff is in the "guest room" (translation: office / ironing board / dog crate / musical instrument room, and yes, we have an inflatable mattress for guests...).
The rotting piece of wood in the bathroom drives me crazy. I asked our landlord to fix it about a hundred times, but he suffers from the "sweet but dumb" syndrome and somehow I always end up feeling guilty when I ask him to do something. He looks at me with that friendly, deer-in-headlights stare that says "I don't know what you're asking, but I like cookies". Needless to say, there is a piece of wood that falls out of the bathroom wall and onto the floor, revealing the lovely mold and paint chips and other niceties that one ought to have in a bathroom. I push the stupid piece of wood back into place again and again and again, but every time I return to the bathroom, it's fallen out again (not to mention Dragon plays with the paint chips...hopefully she doesn't eat them, although that would explain a lot).
We also have neighbors. The house is zoned for 2 apartments, but when we moved in there were 4; a wacko living in the garage, a perpetually drunk "carpenter" and his girlfriend in the basement, and an eccentric but friendly loner on the second floor (who gave us a card with a sailboat on it saying "welcome to the neighborhood"). The sailboat guy and the drunk have since moved out, but lucky for us, there's still the wacko in the garage. The landlord is in the middle of a lawsuit with this guy because he hasn't paid rent for over a year. He's got a mullet that would make Michael Bolton jealous, and he's got one of those bouncy walks...you know the ones where people never put weight on their heels? Yup, he's pretty awesome. Does he work? Well, apparently some old lady gives him $500 a week to "help her out" (translation: stealing an old lady's money is not cool). Every time I leave the apartment I check to make sure he's not outside (the problem? He's always at home...one of those annoying habits of the unemployed), because he always smiles and gives me one of those small talk one-liners like "beautiful day, isn't it?" or upon petting Toast, smiles at me with glistening eyes and says, "We rescue them, they rescue us, right?". I force a smile but all I really want to say is, "hey mullet man, why don't you get a job already and stop ripping that old lady off!"
For a while, I worried that we would get new neighbors of the same variety, but then a nice man from Greenwich Town Hall came to my door and asked how many apartments there were. I said "Four" and he said "Really?" and I said "Why?" and he said "It's only zoned for two".
Needless to say, we haven't seen anybody new since...


So I never eat dessert (yup, I'm perfect). It's partially due to my eternal hatred / fear of sugar, but also because of the way sweet things make me feel after I've eaten them: crazy, bug-eyed wildcat followed by something along the lines of a sluggish Eeyore. Solution? A kick-ass dessert without sugar, without wheat, and without baking?!? Yes, I'm giving you the recipe to RAW brownies, and let me tell you...they are so freaking good that you'll want to make them every day. And the best part? This recipe takes about 10 minutes to make. Go ahead and thank me for making your life better. 

Rawesome Brownies with Chocolate Frosting

2 cups raw pecans

2 cups fresh dates, seeds removed

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Equal Exchange)

1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut (I use Let’s Do Organic)

3 T raw agave

1 tsp sea salt

for frosting:

1 cup fresh dates

¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder 

¼ cup virgin coconut oil

¾ cup water

For brownies, pulse pecans in a food processor until crumbled. Add dates and process until incorporated, then add the rest of the ingredients and process until mixed. Pour mixture into dish of choice and press down firmly. Top with frosting and refrigerate a little before serving. For the frosting, place all ingredients in a blender (I use a VitaMix and so should you). Blend on a slow speed and then increase, allowing mixture to blend until velvety and smooth. Top on brownies. Serves 12 unicorns in need of a sweet pick-me-up after another boring day of eating hay.