Sunday Visitor

Don and I were watching the end of the golf tournament, and were startled by the crashing and ringing of our wind chimes that hang right outside the kitchen window. I said, "Must be a squirrel hanging on my chimes." They kept swinging and crashing, so Don got up to look. As soon as he got to the window, he saw the bear paw come down from the roof and swipe at the chimes again. He said, "Nope, it's a bear." I didn't believe him, and got up to look just as the bear jumped from the roof to the tree next to the house. As it clambered down the tree, we heard our neighbors yelling at us to come outside and look. They'd followed it down the street as it must have smelled the brownies I was baking. Since there were 5 of us outside at the front of the house, the bear tried to jump over the back fence - and as soon as he was on the other side, a dog chased him back over into our yard. Here he is slowly making his way towards me.






As he got closer, and saw several people in his way (yeah, we should have left him alone), he climbed up the big tree to the roof again and wandered around on our roof for a while.





Don went inside and closed the windows, fearing that the bear wanted the brownies I'd just pulled from the oven. After about 5 minutes of wandering around on the roof, the bear climbed down our chimney to the deck, then jumped off the deck and ran down the street.

Just yesterday, the Forest Service re-opened the picnic area and trailhead that are about a half mile from our house - they'd been closed since the 7th of July because people were feeding a bear there (probably this one). Don blames today's visit on Melanie's brownies.


And here they are - full of sugar and fat and evil gooey-ness. We are going to do our best to eat these sssslllloooowwwwwllllyyyy.

Deep Dark Chocolate Brownies
from Melanie of My Kitchen Cafe

2 sticks (8 oz) butter
8 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolate
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 large eggs
⅓ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
½ teaspoon salt
⅔ cup all-purpose flour
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13×9 inch metal pan with foil and spray foil with cooking spray. Alternatively, you may use parchment. These are pretty sticky at first!

Melt butter and chocolate in a 3-qt heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring, until smooth. Add 1 cup of the sugar to the hot chocolate mixture. Remove from heat and let cool to lukewarm.

Whisk in remaining 1 cup sugar and vanilla. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time until mixture is glossy and smooth. Whisk in salt and cocoa powder, then add flour and stir until it disappears (do not overbeat).

Spread in pan and bake until a pick inserted in center comes out with crumbs, 25 to 35 minutes. Cool to room temperature then chill for an hour or more. Lift from pan, place on a cutting board, cut into squares.

Makes 1 13×9 inch pan (yield depends on how big you cut your brownies, but they are rich, so small is fine.