Ship Full o' Pirates

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OK, it’s 9:30 a.m., 64°F, very cloudy.  Sounds crazy, but the solar oven is supposed to work anyway.  It’s all about uv rays and infra-red light.  

So, this morning I am considering making brownies.  

I put my solar oven on a big table out in my yard, now we will refer to that part of the yard as my outdoor kitchen.  I had to explain this to my 3 littles since the solar oven had hardly been outside for 5 minutes before it felt the assault of a soccer ball.

So, anyway, I put the drip pan in postition and set my brownie pan on it and had Hank set a stick of butter in the pan.  Then we put the lid on and positioned the reflector and snapped a pic and came indoors to read that I had forgotten the bit about the black covering being influential in convincing the uv light to stick around as infra-red.

So back out we go to put a cookie tray over top of the brownie pan (still only containing a stick of butter) and wrap the whole tray/pan apparatus in an old black t-shirt.

Assuming the butter melts in the next  hour or so I will be adding the rest of the ingredients and making brownies, and then we will all grin real hard!

Solar Oven Brownies

• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, unbeaten
• 2/3 cup unbleached flour
• ½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• ½ tsp vanilla
• ¼ tsp sea salt

1. Melt butter in a black pan in the solar oven for 30 minutes.
2. Stir in the remaining ingredients.
3. Grease your 8 inch square brownie pan and spread the batter in the pan.
4. Put the brownie pan in the solar oven and prop the lid very slightly to let the steam escape.
5. Bake for an hour or so.  Let the brownies cool and cut into squares.

The ideal time of day for solar cooking is from 10 a.m. till 3 p.m. but since we are a little latitudinally challenged I think we can extend that somewhat.  This period is all about trial and error.

On a totally different subject~

I got my poor old Ukelele out the other day, having decided I should practice up a bit, since it’s been a while.  Rowdy asked me, “Do you know how to play that?”  That Cowboy is almost 11 years old and has no memory of hearing me sing and play the Uke.  Shocked I was, hmm?  (sometimes I have to invoke a little Yoda-speak just for emphasis)  But, I have been faithfully practicing every evening when the littles are freshly abed, kinda feelin’ a little Pa Ingalls-esque, only ukelele-style instead of  fiddle-style (yes, I love Kung Fu Panda).  I wonder if Pa Ingalls ever felt like someone implanted pebbles under the skin of his finger-tips.  Man, do mine ever hurt!  

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