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Recipe: rocky road brownies

No – not the way Cartman refers to… I’m talking about literally making brownies.

Never really satisfied with that earlier experiment of fudgy versus chewy brownies, I was flipping through some old issues of Chocolatier the other day and found brownie recipes worthy of a kitchen test. In my youth (back in 1994) I subscribed to Chocolatier because I liked baking with chocolate. I found I was mostly in over my head with that magazine. I tried again in 2000 and the same thing happened. Mind you, their other publication is Pastry Art and Design, if that’s any hint. I’m glad I hung on to those issues though, because now that I have perused the recipes, the three truffle (most difficult) ratings look to be on par with the more advanced stuff I did in pastry class. I mean to say – they are now within my ability level, and that feels pretty good!

Finally, finally I went into town today to buy groceries. It’s not as if we’re ever in dire need of food for fear of starvation. *snort* I mean, we have enough food to live off of for months. Lately I have moved into the mode of “what can we scrape together here?” from the mode of “I have this meal in mind and I need the following ingredients…” Planning is good and I love it and I do it a lot, but mastering spontaneity in the kitchen is bringing my creative cooking juices to a nice simmer. Shocking, I know! Next I’ll be sleeping in past sunrise…

Tonight was a twist on the old steak and potatoes. Something beautiful and delicious in all its simplicity of preparation and flavors. Took less than 30 minutes to prep it all and serve. I tend to eat less when things are chopped up. Does that make any sense?

**Jump for more butter**

It was overcast and rainy for much of the day yesterday. Didn’t look good for eclipse viewing that evening/next morning. When we went to bed around 11:30 pm it was raining. The total lunar eclipse was to start at 2:51 am. I checked satellite imagery which revealed a lot of clouds, and then I set my alarm for 2:40 am. But I never heard the alarm.

I got up at 2:00, the way you do when you anticipate something like getting up to catch a flight or getting up to see… a lunar eclipse! I padded out to the perch and peered out our picture windows – the moon! The blanket of clouds that pissed on us all night had moved on and instead we had mostly clear skies with a few menacing blobs of cloud here and there. I went back to bed to try and get some more sleep.

But by 2:30 I got my camera gear together and threw on my trusted capilene and fleece and set myself up outside. Jeremy had an exhausting day before, so he asked me to wake him when it was approaching totality. Sure thing.

**Jump for more butter**