Those of you who follow me in other places on the internet know I'm bisexual, so you get why I'm excited. It’s all too often that those of us who are bisexual are erased by the gender of our partners—or our lack of one. People assume being bi means that you’re constantly craving the company of two sets of genitals, instead of understanding that it means that we can find our perfect partner amongst people of more than one gender.
So let’s talk about how to make some mouthwatering peanut butter brownies!
Ingredients:
Brownie Batter -
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
⅓ cup unsalted butter (plus a little greasing the pan)
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp coarse sea salt
⅔ cup all-purpose flour
(Store bought is also fine if this sounds like too much work)
Peanut Butter Batter -
¾ cups peanut butter
⅔ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
¼ tsp vanilla extract
A few pinches of salt
Before you begin, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. You’ll want to dig out an 8’’ square baking pan as well, and line it with parchment paper and then coat that with nonstick cooking spray or butter.
Once you’re done with that, we can start in on the respective batters. To make the brownie batter, melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a gently simmering pot of water. Turn off the heat when they’re mostly melted, and stir them together until they’re fully melted and smooth. If you don’t have a heatproof bowl, you can melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave using thirty second bursts. Be careful not to microwave for too long, though, because you could burn your chocolate or cause it to separate.
Next, whisk in your sugar. Then your eggs (one at a time). Then your vanilla and salt. After your whisking is done, stir in your flour with a spoon or spatula.
The peanut butter batter is much simpler than the brownie. Just throw all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk/stir until completely combined. I find whisking works best when using smooth peanut butter, but can be tricky when using crunchy.
Once both batters are ready, spread a thin layer of brownie batter across the bottom of the pan. Then toss alternating spoonfuls down in rows to fill the pan. Use a butter knife to swirl the batters together in pretty wavy fashion. This works best for me if I think of drawing figure eights or infinity signs. Now the brownies are ready to go in the oven! Bake for thirty to thirty five minutes, and check with a toothpick to make sure the brownies are cooked all the way through.
There’s a very special book I want to talk about this month. I only just got my hands on a copy a few weeks ago at Rose City Comic Con in Portland, and the artist (Irene Koh) was sweet enough to even autograph it for me.
That’s right, you guessed it. The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars Part 1!
“But what’s so exciting about this book?”, those of you who didn’t guess what I was talking about might ask. What’s exciting about this book is that it’s a fantasy story about a young woman named Korra, who is tasked with keeping her world in balance. She is the Avatar, capable of manipulating all four elements and communing with spirits. And she just happens to be in a relationship with Asami Sato—another woman, who also previously dated Korra’s ex-boyfriend.
That’s right. You heard me. There’s an A-list title out there that features two bisexually behaving women in a relationship with each other THAT ISN’T FOCUSED SOLELY ON THEIR RELATIONSHIP.
That doesn’t mean the relationship between them isn’t a large part of the story, though. And what’s even more exciting about it is how realistically Korra and Asami’s love story is handled. While the previous iteration of The Legend of Korra that ran as a cartoon on Nickelodeon refused to even acknowledge the same-sex relationship Korra and Asami canonically started during the events of the cartoon, the Turf Wars Part 1 gives Korra and Asami room to talk about what it was like when they were still questioning their feelings for each other.
These two pages made me cry because they were so spot on about what it’s like when you first discover you might have feelings for someone of the same sex as you. You’re scared they might push you away, you’re not sure what you’re feeling is real—and yet ultimately you come to the conclusion that you want to take the leap.
The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars Part 1 doesn’t fall prey to the trope of letting Korra and Asami exist as the only queer characters in a non-queer vacuum, either. Almost as soon as Korra and Asami return to Republic City from their vacation, one of the previous Avatar’s children Kya notices their relationship—in part because she’s in a same-sex relationship herself.
The book then goes even further to retcon how same-sex relations were handled by the different cultures in the entire Avatar franchises continuity.
Normalizing same-sex relationships, giving them a place in the historical narrative even when they weren’t accepted… These are new, exciting things for an A-list title to do. Korra and Asami meet with different reactions as they navigate their new relationship. Korra’s parents are worried she and Asami will be mistreated if they don’t keep it private. Due to their reaction, Korra and Asami are nervous about telling their friends, and their mutual ex/friend, Mako. The truth comes out after a battle when Korra rushed to the side of a possibly wounded Asami.
Everyone reacts well, except for Mako. But Mako doesn’t react poorly! What’s exciting about Mako’s reaction is that it hints at further discussion about how friends can support their friends who come out. Sometimes people feel that someone else’s sexual preference reflects on them. In particular, sometimes men who have ex-girlfriends that come out as bisexual or gay will feel emasculated and respond poorly, taking their misplaced hurt out on others. Mako isn’t the sort of character to take those feelings out on Korra and Asami—but he is the sort of character that might be confused about his feelings after hearing that two of his exes got together. Should something come of that and a conversation is had between Mako, Korra, and Asami, it will serve as a positive example for how other people in Mako’s position can respond.
All in all, The Legend of Korra: Turf Wars Part 1 is exactly the sort of representation I’ve been craving all these years. It couldn’t have come at a better time—and we finally got that kiss Nickelodeon refused to give us at the end of Season 4.
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