Yesterday's summer heat came rolling through the open window, I'd been out in it all day cycling and generally making sure my English pallor of skin retained some sort of "healthy" appearance in the small window of opportunity our British summers allow. As darkness settled over the sleepy and peaceful cul-de-sac my parents live on the heat hardly changed. Windows were thrown open down the street yet there was barely a sound other than infrequent screeching owl. Come midnight - the time I finally began to settle in my bed - there was a deadly silence.
Then I heard it.
A faint but definite sound drifting along on the faint breeze. Notes being played on a piano, four or five notes, in a row played over and over. They weren't easy to hear at first, but once you heard it it was impossible to ignore. A haunting collection of notes drifting through the dark night's air.
It was obvious which side it was coming from, it was definitely my immediate neighbour, they are the only people in the area with a piano plus, their house is certainly the only one I could hear from my bedroom window. But my obvious question was, "Who is playing that piano?"
At this time of night it would be inconsiderate of anyone to be playing any sort of musical instrument on a Sunday night, let alone on a quiet summer's evening when windows are sure to be open. Also, the neighbours with the piano happen to have two young children, why would they wake said children up with the piano? They sound demonic when they're screaming at playtime, who knows what they'd be like if suddenly woken up at just after the witching hour.
Of course, I didn't know that the neighbours were away. Had I known I might never have gotten to sleep, but for half an hour - at the very least - I strained my ears to hear this basic tune. It wasn't any kind of tune I recognised, though it sounded as if it could easily have been the music to a long forgotten nursery rhyme, and it was played over and over. The notes weren't clear or sharp in any way which surprised me considering the neighbour is a piano teacher. In fact I'd say they were catching other keys as well as the intended one, as if it was played by someone - or something - with large hulking fingers...
Of course I have no idea what to make of any of this, it doesn't make any sense at all whichever way I look at it. And to top things off, just before lunchtime today, my wonderful girlfriend and lovely mother looked into the garden after hearing a strange humming noise. There was a dark black cloud of Wasps buzzing over the neighbour in question's garden, making a sound so vicious it could be heard ten metres away. The swarm covered their garden and yet there was no one there to disturb it in anyway, not even a solitary cat. Spooky...
Anyway, enough of my odd goings-ons, this baking blog won't write itself! Today's challenge was to bake Rocky Road Brownies, including nuts, cherries and tiny marshmallows for the top. Really it was very simple, other than a little of chopping this that and the other there's nothing very complicated to see here or even to recommend in terms of tips. Though I have one minor quibble, having divided the recipe in half again to save on ingredients I realised I should have made sure I had a tin which could comfortably bake a half size brownie mixture... but at the same thickness. I had to settle with a cake tin in the end but I wasn't happy with it still. Also halving the recipe is a bit of a danger because of cooking time. It certainly doesn't halve the cooking time and so you're left with the dubious mission of checking it frequently and ensuring it is fully done, really I'd always recommend going for the full recipe unless you're very familiar with how the end result should be, it's a bit of a risk ending up with a half-done or overcooked treat.
The Result:
 |
| Mmmm, Marshmallow-ey |
In the end, the brownies were always going to come out good, they just have an excellent mix of ingredients. Glace cherries work perfectly with chocolate and marshmallows add such a lovely texture to the top. Though unfortunately the consistency of the brownie was closer to that of a chocolate cake (so didn't have the lovely crunchy top and then gooey middle) it's hardly a big issue when the end product is so tasty! I think having the full recipe is important for brownies; though it is easy to to split, I think the thickness of the end product is so essential to making them good brownies so that quantity is very important!
No comments:
Post a Comment