Party with the lights out on Saturday

Earth Hour will be observed from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, March 27, across the globe. Households everywhere are asked to turn off nonessential lights and other electrical appliances to show a commitment to saving energy and slowing global warming.

Obviously, we should be saving energy all of the time, but this World Wide Fund for Nature solidarity event is a good way to show we're serious about the world's future.

The event also is a good excuse for a party! After all, it IS a Saturday night. Whether it's just the family or several friends gathering, gourmet brownies from Fairytale Brownies should be your dessert at the party. In fact, schedule the dessert to be served during the 8:30 p.m. hour and make a game of it.

Purchase a Fairytale Dozen and a smaller gift (a 4-Sprite or 8-Sprite Gift Favor). Using the dozen box gift, cut the brownies into quarters and arrange them on a platter so that the flavors are scattered. Don't let anyone see where you've put the flavors.

At 8:30 p.m., have everyone gather around the kitchen table and turn off the lights. Bring out the tray of fudge brownies and have each person pick a brownie to taste. Have them pick another brownie to taste again. Each person picks another brownie to taste until all of the brownies are gone from the platter. When the lights are turned back on at 9:30 p.m., each person should count the number of brownie flavors they tried. The person who tried the most flavors wins the smaller brownie gift you purchased.

The key to this game is NOT to eat all of the brownies you taste until the game ends and the number of flavor samples have been tallied.

You also can skip the game and just eat brownies during the 60 minutes of energy saving. Best brownies, best planet. Best excuse for a party.