Year Three, Fourth Friday of October
My Culture Is Not Your Costume
My culture is not a Halloween costume
With high-pigmented face paint
Symbols drawn on pale faces
Red dots on their foreheads
As they call themselves “aliens”
Tongues sticking out with silly screams
Mocking the language we spoke
Only to be another joke to them
My skin color is not a confection
Not coffee
nor mocha
nor caramel
Not “cappuccino skin”
nor “chocolate eyes”
Not another drink order to be used as a flirt
Not meant to be chewed up and spat out
With the brightly colored wrapper licked clean
From the same tongue spouting racial slurs
To every brown girl dressed as a “white” princess
My body is not a toy to be played with
Not “belly dance for us”
Not mud smeared on white faces to go viral
Not a hashtag
nor a dance trend
Not a tropical fruit
Not a jungle in need of “taming”
Not the same nonsense again
My culture is…
Always me and my people.
Triple Layer Brownies
Equipment:
9in by 9in baking pan
Metal saucepan
Electric mixer
Ingredients
Bottom layer: Cookie Dough
½ cup room temperature unsalted butter
¼ cup brown sugar
¾ cup white sugar
1 egg
1 ¼ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup of any mix-ins you want (chocolate chips, cookie pieces, sprinkles, etc)
Cream together the butter and sugars with an electric mixer. Add the egg and vanilla, and be sure to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl before adding the dry ingredients. Add the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder and mix on low until everything is incorporated. Fold in your choice of mix-ins and set aside while you make the top brownie layer.
Middle layer: Oreos of your choice
(for halloween, I love to use the spooky orange ones)
Top Layer: Brownie
10 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 ¼ cups white sugar
¾ cup cocoa powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
½ cup flour
Preparation:
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium high heat. Add the sugar and cocoa powder in the melted butter. Whisk to combine and take the pan off of the heat. Add the salt, vanilla and eggs and whisk until the eggs are combined. Add the flour and mix to combine. Set batter aside as you wait for the oven to preheat.
Ingredients…assemble!
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line the bottom of a 9x9 baking pan with parchment paper and then spray the paper with a non-stick baking spray.
Layer the cookie dough on the bottom of a 9x9 baking pan, pressing down to form the bottom layer. Make an even single of your Oreos of choice that will t on top of the cookie dough. Pour the brownie batter on top of the Oreo layer and make sure it's evenly layered on top.
Bake for 35-40 minutes. Test with a knife to see if the center is done. If the knife comes out clean, let the brownies rest for at least 2 hours before serving. If the knife comes out with batter still on it, allow the brownies to bake about 5 minutes more.
Once out of the oven, allow your creation to cool. In the meantime, if you want to, melt some chocolate or marshmallow fluff. Once the brownies are cooled, you can drizzle the toppings on and even add some spooky sprinkles if you desire.
Slice evenly to make sure each slice has one Oreo in the and devour!
Feel free to add any toppings, mix-ins, and use any Oreo flavor you enjoy!
Ice Queen Interviews S. Kavi
Ice Queen: What made you submit to this Trick-or-treat issue?
S. Kavi: I love Halloween and I loved the opportunity to write about Halloween, especially on a topic that means a lot to me as a person of color.
Ice Queen: Tell me about "My Culture Is Not Your Costume." What made you want to showcase that?
S. Kavi: My piece is called "My Culture is Not a Costume" and this comes from a revised poem from a collection I am working on. As a person of Indian descent, I often see my culture made to be a joke, especially around Halloween, where the cultural aesthetic is especially poked at. I feel like this is a topic that needs to be discussed more especially from the side of the culture that is being exploited and what it means to us. I feel like that perspective needs to be explored more.
Ice Queen: Tell me about the recipe you chose. What made you want to showcase that?
S. Kavi: This is actually a recipe I learned when I first started baking. I love Oreos, especially when they are used as an ingredient in a dessert and this recipe combines three of my favorite sweets together. It is a recipe that encourages a lot of creativity from the baker and allows for a lot of customization, which I love to see in recipes. I love when anyone can take a recipe and make it their own.
Ice Queen: Favorite family/personal recipe?
S. Kavi: Recently, my favorite personal recipe has to be my sausage and kale tortellini stew. It is a twist on a zuppa toscana that I learned to make when I was out-of-state for school and I have brought it with me throughout various journeys in my life since. It has become a comfort food for me, especially in cooler months.
Ice Queen: What is your relationship to food in your writing?
S. Kavi: Food often represents memories or comfort during difficult times in my creative work. It is something that can be returned to in times of need and is always reliable, especially when my work surrounds a more cultural topic.
Ice Queen: What do you love about food in writing?
S. Kavi: I love how it can evoke various images whether it is comfort or trying something new. We can almost always put a very vivid image of food in writing.
Ice Queen: Do you bake or cook a lot, and how/when did you get into it?
S. Kavi: I love cooking and baking and I found that I have gotten into it more recently as well. I have always enjoyed doing it from a young age and it is something I especially enjoy doing when I have more time nowadays.
Ice Queen: What are some of your favorite literary magazines?
S. Kavi: Apart from Ice Queen Magazine, I love antonym and The Bitchin' Kitsch. I always feel heard and seen with them and they always publish amazing work.
S. Kavi is fire-breathing dragon disguised as a poet and artist. When she is not fighting off pesky knights from her tower, she enjoys baking, writing poems, making art, and reading books where she is the so-called baddie.