serenade
This evening we heard a loud thumping in the house. Jeremy and I looked at one another wondering what had broken. Then we heard it again and realized it was the front door. Brita, Lars, and one of Brita’s friends came over tonight to yodel for us! They’re all too short to reach the bell, so they knock loudly. It was the funniest thing ever. The kids were in such a goofy mood and the yodeling sounded more like high pitched squealing, but everyone was enjoying it.
way better than christmas carolers
What they didn’t know was that upstairs in the kitchen, I was conducting an experiment… The Brownie Experiment. I typically make one recipe of brownies – cream cheese brownies. But up here they tend to do weird things. I did some research over the weekend on this. They are classified as cakey brownies. Cakes and cookies have the most serious issues at elevation. There are two other types of brownies: fudgy and chewy. I decided to make one of each for comparison and to warm the house a bit.
they don’t look all that different except for the surface
Verdict: I like the chewy brownies, Jeremy likes the fudgy brownies. There is a slight texture difference to the discerning taster. The fudgy brownies are somewhat more chocolaty (which is probably why Jeremy likes them) and the chewy brownies are well… more chewy. I like chewy. I’m a huge fan of caramel.
We paid Marcus and kids a visit in kind, except we didn’t sing, we just handed them a load of brownies. Marcus had friends over and one of them asked, “Does this happen every night?!” Marcus asked us to please stay for a glass of wine, but we had more brownies to take to Tom and Kellie, and Jeremy had to observe on the big radio dish this evening. I think we’ll arrange to make dinner and get Tom and Kellie to go over to Marcus’ house one evening and chill out with him and the kids. He’s such a good fellow and he is handling his situation so well.
I finally got a compost bin today after months of hemming and hawing over which model to purchase. We had to take several factors into account like: 1) durability – cheap plastic won’t last two seasons where we live because of the freezing temps in winter 2) weight and profile – high winds 3) ease of use – we’re bums. So once I get the drain holes plugged up with some steel wool and steel mesh (to keep mice out) we’ll be ready to roll.
