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Saturday, July 18, 2009

A Hot Time


The thunderstorms were rough last night and the rain continued into the morning. But as noon approached, we found the skies clearing, the sun burning through, the temperature rising into the mid 80s F (30 C) and the humidity remaining fierce. By the time we arrived at Goddard Memorial State Park in Warwick, Rhode Island, there was a more than welcome steady breeze. J.R. had erected a tent and its shade, as well as spots beneath the nearby trees, were very popular attractions! Naturally, the best part of the day was being with family. But a personal highlight was every time I was able to plunge my hand into the bucket of ice water to fish out another can of seltzer! It was heavenly!

By the way, Fiona asked about my triple chocolate brownies. They are a total cheat. I buy the Betty Crocker Original Supreme Brownie Mix, which comes with a pouch of Hershey’s Syrup. (That’s one.) I follow the package directions, but I add two tablespoons of the best cocoa powder I have in the house, like Scharffen Berger. (That’s two.) After all the ingredients are combined, I add a half a bag of Nestle’s Mini Chocolate Chips. (That’s three.) I bake according to the package directions but usually leave them in longer than suggested. Even with the extra time they come out incredibly rich and fudge-y, so I cut them into tiny bite size pieces and place each square into a mini muffin paper. There you have it. The secret is revealed.

5 comments:

Ms Brown Mouse said...

suffering lawn envy, grass just isn't a feature of my town. There's green stuff on the ground but it's not nice, soft, proper grass.

Pink Granite said...

Hi DMM -
Sorry about inducing lawn envy!
The lawn really was quite lush yesterday. Which is somewhat unusual for Rhode Island in July. But the month of June rains, coupled with more rain this past week, had everything green and springy under foot.

The photo makes it look as if we were all alone in the park. But there were parties going on in every direction. The field beyond the tent would have been getting more use but most folks were gravitating toward the shade.

As I stood and looked around at the other picnics, a few people were kicking a soccer ball in the sunshine. But in the shade there was a big group of folks working hula hoops, another group appeared to playing "Red Rover" and still others were rocking out to some music. Quite nice all around!
;o)
- Lee

Wendy said...

looks lovely Lee. I love the tent. brownies sound great. in fact I have just recently tried a betty crocker choc cake mix and I was so very impressed
x
Wendy

barbie2be said...

Mmmmmmm yummy!

Fiona said...

OMG...they sound too delicious. I am not sure if you have Betty Crocker mixes here but I am going to check. Wendy made her choc cake mix for her birthday and it was really delicious. Your picnic set up looks really great - I love picnics. Fiona x