Friday, Friday, it is Friday (that is supposed to be a song-sing it as you will). Today is not a “fond of” Friday without a recipe, since I was absent Tuesday, it is a Friday with a recipe! You’re welcome.
Last day of vacation collages (commence cheering) and I’m just going to lay them out here. This entire week, for any new visitors, was all about a trip home to Indiana for my husband and me.
Read about the other parts of our trip from this week here, here and here.
IU, Indiana University sits in Bloomington, Indiana (about an hour south of Indianapolis). The pretty lady with the red hair is Greg’s sister, Leslie, the youngest and only girl of the siblings. She is studying arts management.
While visiting, the 3 of us played…studied with great vigor, in the 11 story library. That’s us impressed with vast quantities of material-we’re talking floors and floors. People of Purdue, you were wrong. There’s more than one book and they aren’t colored in…at least the books I flipped through that evening.
The fountain depicts the birth of Venus and had some repairs to her…there’s no delicate way to put this and I’m not delicate to begin with, tuchus. Apparently the original bum didn’t fit the piece so a new one was added and she now has two bums. I can’t make the call if it looks better since I don’t recall what it looked like before this “fix.”
Ball State University is in Muncie, Indiana, about 1 1/2 hours south of Fort Wayne, and where Greg’s brother attends school, studying music technology (or something like that). We met his sweetheart on this visit and think they make a good pair. She’s wonderful!
While touring campus, our first stop was the building where Greg’s brother spends most of his time. We were given permission to enter the amazing studios from his professor as long as we “didn’t steal anything.” I snapped a few shots in-between drooling over the very nice equipment. Greg is quite the songbird. Read about the other pictures from yesterday’s post.
Last but not least, our alma mater, Purdue in West Lafayette/Lafayette, Indiana. Walking around campus, being lulled by the traffic’s flow, created an easygoing, welcoming feeling for us. A feeling Greg and I miss. Our drive around the dorms and new buildings was comforting too in the way that forward thinking and university change allow you a calm sense and idea that where you came from is improving and expanding, marking its important place on this earth for future advancements.
Our second day involved a visit to a familiar building, one that both Greg and I spent a good amount of time in-Forest Products. We moved about the lab where our friend is the tech and met up with an old friend and professor. He was happy to see us and while sitting in his office, we told him about our life in Minnesota and Greg’s job, something he is interested in sharing with the other students within that degree, and caught up with him on his life and toddler. His wife, another professor we knew well, was pregnant when we left but sadly, she was not in the building that day. They are kind, fun and highly involved with the students. We went to Costa Rica with his wife and they held cookouts at their home for the Forest Products Club.
Before we left town, we stopped by the Brew Co (read here about that) and caught up with an old friend that is both manager and bartender there. She now has 2 boys. When we left, she was expecting her first child. Time marches on. Our time there was pleasant and somewhat bittersweet now that we are not a part of that scene.
The last collage contains shots of what we did quite a bit of, driving. I thought I’d share some of the playlist that I created (I do that often) especially for our trip with many of our favorite songs for summer and fall.
Our Playlist: you can hear all of these full length songs legally here
“Wait So Long” by Trampled by Turtles
“Beg Steal or Borrow” by Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs
“Turpentine” by Brandi Carlile
“Home” by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
“Borino Oro” by Mucca Pazza
“Bloodbuzz Ohio” by The National
“Trouble” by Ray LaMontagne
“Cave” by Mumford & Sons
“Head Full of Doubt / Road Full of Promise” by The Avett Brothers
“January Wedding” by The Avett Brothers
“Follow” by Brandi Carlile
“Baby” by Devendra Banhart
“Winter Winds” by Mumford & Sons
“Play Delicate, Desire Quiet” by Grace Cathedral Park
No explaining how delicious and rich these chocolate cherry brownies are, inspired by Heidi at 101 Cookbooks. Make and enjoy is all the “discussion” they need. Mmmm
Chocolate Cherry Brownies
Ingredients:
2 cups dried cherries, chopped
1 cup port wine
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt
2 tsp baking powder
10.5 oz. dark chocolate chips/chunks
5 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter (plus more for dish)
2 cups sifted white sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 cup crème fraiche or sour cream (I used sour cream)
1 cup chocolate chips/ chunks
Place the cherries in a bowl and cover them with the port. Set aside for a day, stir twice during this time.
Preheat the oven to 325F. Butter a rectangular dish and line with parchment paper. This will help get them out. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder into a bowl and set aside.
Place a bowl over a pan of simmering water (making a double boiler) –don’t let the bottom of the bowl touch the water. Place the 10.5 oz of chocolate into this bowl with the butter and sugar. Stir just until the chocolate has melted and the ingredients come together. Transfer to a mixer and allow to cool (so that the eggs won’t cook when you add them). Mix on slow and add the eggs, one at a time. Scrape the sides of the bowl a few times. Add the flour mixture and stir until combined, then add the crème fraiche or sour cream, remaining chocolate chips, and the cherries with the port. Stir until just combined.
Place in the pan and bake for about an hour, or until set. Cool completely in the pan. You can cover the pan with plastic wrap at this point and they will keep for a few days or serve.
What could be better than a brownie that looks like that, and a playlist as good as yours? Not much.
I’m smiling from ear to ear with that one.