Disaster in the Kitchen

Over the past few years I have become a decent cook.  Right out of college I didn't do much in the kitchen besides boil water, mix drinks, and wash dishes.

But now I can make almost anything.  I can bake bread, roast duck, whip butter, even make cheese.  Anything.  Almost.

Today, my attempt to make brownies was a disaster.  However, it was the fault of physics, not my own.  This is what the brownies looked like after 20 minutes in the oven (the recipe called for 40 minutes).

The brownies had exploded (not the best photo, I know, but it was all I could get at the time).  Even though I used the 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder that the recipe called for, I obviously used too much for the altitude or creamed the eggs and sugar too much because all those tiny air bubbles became enormous and hurl the brownie batter in every possible direction.

Here is the brownies after I removed them from the oven and tried to clean it up a bit (i.e. taste the rough stuff around the edges).

They actually taste amazing despite not looking so good.  I've had the recipe for ages and used to make these brownies quite often until I misplaced the recipe.  I would have used the word "lost" except last week I found it among some piles of paper.  Will someone at sea level try this recipe and confirm that I am not delusional and that these brownies really are easy and tasty?

Brownies

1 cup butter

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup cocoa

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

Grease 9x13 pan (I had made a half recipe).

Melt butter.

Mix in sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

Beat in cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder.

Bake 40 minutes @350F

It's Amazing What a Coat of Paint Can Do

Sometimes it seems that Carlos and I can not agree on anything.  He prefers coffee, I prefer tea.  He wants to watch a movie, I want to read a book.  He's a PC, I'm a mac.

Anyway, as I mentioned before, on his parents property there is a little playhouse that we thought would be a nice background for wedding photos once it was cleaned up.  Here it is before...

Boring Blackouts

Last night we had our first blackout at our house.  It lasted about 10 minutes.  A very dark and boring 10 minutes.

Today we had our second blackout.  It lasted for four hours, from 3PM to 7PM.  I read during the first hour or so, napped during the part of second and a bit of a the third, but I woke up just as it was getting dark and there is really not much to do at home alone in the dark.

The Rolling Blackouts...

...seem not to be affecting our neighborhood.  Actually, just our block.  Across the street it's dark (and not just the cemetery).

Apparently we are in the worst drought in 45 years and the country, maybe even the region, runs on hydroelectric power.  So every night a board decides what hours to cut power the next day.  But until yesterday, the proclamations are only made public in the morning so there isn't much time to plan.   And sometimes their maps are not the most accurate.

Climate Change Strikes Again

Yesterday smelled like popcorn.  Well, more like burning corn stalks.  There was a haze over the entire city.

Last night there were power outages.  Different neighborhoods for an hour or so each.

This morning Carlos tells me that the water might be cut today, so he fills pots before he leaves for work. 

Now he tells me that there was no power in his office this morning, and that this afternoon our neighborhood probably won't have any.

WTF?

Apparently there is a bit of a drought here in Cuenca, in our river basin, in our region.  The major energy supplier for the country is a hydroelectric plant, downstream from us.  Thus no rain means no flow which means no electricity.  Maybe I haven't been reading the paper or watching the news enough, but nothing about this problem was mentioned until yesterday.

Let the conservation begin.

I Understand That Something Is Wrong with My Blog

And I'm trying to fix it.  But the first and last programming class I took was C, and that was in 1997.  I know that my photo is now near the bottom of the page instead of at the top. 

Hopefully the problem will take care of itself.

If not, I'll call the experts.

English Exam

Quick Quiz...

1. Which of the following sentences is correct?  And why?
a) We were going to paint the house, but Carlos was sick.
b) We would have painted the house, but Carlos was sick.
c) Both
d) Neither

2. Please explain why different tenses (present perfect versus present perfect continuous) are used in the bolded sections of the following sentences:
a) Since 2000, I have been traveling on my own.
b) Since they met, they have become better friends.

My iPod is Possessed

I have an iPod Touch.  The problem seems to be that the screen moves before I even touch it, when my finger is hovering a few millimeters away.  Maybe I will bring it with me to get exorcized the next time I go to the curandera.

Kilimanjaro

McHale and I climbed our first mountain. It was very difficult. Kilimanjaro is 5896m, it took us five days to climb up and a day and a half to get down. The air is so thin at the top that it almost hurt to breathe (but in my case that may have been due to the constant bouts of bronchitis in college).

In Arusha we found a reputable tour company and booked a 6 day/5 night trip up Kili. Our group consisted of the two of us and a Frenchman named Georges, who was traveling alone for a month, plus a guide, asst guide, cook, and six porters. The first few days were relaxing, about 6 hours of hiking per day, we made friends with other tour groups, including some German journalists and a boxer. One afternoon we walked through a hail storm. When hitting the rocks it made a sound like the clinking of glasses, quite eerily. And it hurt when it pelted against our skin. And it leaked into our tent.

Close Only Counts in Horseshoes and Hand Grenades

On Sunday, like most, we spent the day in Challuabamba.  However, our plan was not to relax, but to work.  Since our wedding will be held there in less than two months, some beautifying needs to be done.  Nothing major, but a coat of paint here and a bunch of flowers there.  I was under the impression that Sunday was going to be just a flower day.  It wasn't.

After telling me that we would not be painting, Carlos decided that he wanted to paint.  There is a small house on the property for the kids to play in that was a bit faded.  We thought it would be a perfect background for photos.  So the first challenge was to choose the paint color.  We must have spent almost an hour in the paint shop because every time we came to a decision, we were told something like, "oh, those colors are for the interior, not exterior," or "sorry, we only sell these by the gallon, not the pint, " or " well, the oil based paints cost three times what the water based paints cost."