in pursuit of the perfect brownie

My brownie baking has reached a new level! I am trying to solve the problem I have with baking to perfection, or not. I am plagued by brownies that seem to be done but turn out to be crusty hard around the edge of the pan and gooey mess in the middle. Now, I don't mind this if it is just me and the brownies at home alone, but it bothers me when serving up my brownies for others. So I found one of those brownie edge pans and tried it out, with somewhat better results. I was going to show you what they looked like, but when I took out my camera this morning and uncovered the pan, this is what I found:

I forgot that Bob was taking them to work today and left home before I hit the deck. But you can still see the pan and the crumbs he left for me! And here's a look at the 1/2 pound of melted bittersweet chocolate in the double boiler, I wish I had smell-o-vision for you!

After all this talk of brownie goodness, I have to show you that I found a new pair of boots for hiking around in Rocky Mt. National Park in a couple weeks. Trying to walk off a few brownies! Seriously, the last time I was there I had a bad ankle sprain and don't want to repeat that mishap. The shoes I was wearing then weren't "high tops" so that is what I am going to wear this time.

Today I have been working on a quilt made of some great fun retro holiday fabrics. It is called the 12 Joys of Christmas by Sheri Berry Designs for Lyndhurst Studio. The pattern is Lady Fingers by Cozy Quilt Designs. It needed to be done in a hurry, so I used a pantogram that I rely on for this type of circumstance because it goes quickly and looks good on a lot of fabrics.

This will be hanging at the store in a couple days and will be a class this fall. It was a fun quilt to work on.

Varying between sunshine and rain today after the second night this week with thunderstorms and heavy rain (~2" so far). I'm thinking about Ben and Brita at the MN State Fair today, hope they are staying dry. Ben had not attended this fair before, so Brita was adamant that she would take him as part of his MN citizenship test. I wonder if they will get to the animal barns to see the giant hog? He weighs 1450 pounds! That's a lot of bacon!