Back to the regular Posts! Brownie Cups~

I was thinking about making brownies, but those are so normal. I have a super amazing yummy decadent recipe for Extreme Cookie Do Brownies that is a huge hit no matter when I make them..so, I thought I'd make them again. BUT, I wanted to make them single serving size. I wondered if I could make cupcake brownies and add the toppings. So, I tried it. Making brownie cupcakes is pretty simple. You just need to make sure you don't over fill the cupcake cups. Since I did, I remembered a cool contraption one of my friends got me called a cupcake corer. I hollowed out the brownie circles, cut part of the core in half to squish inside the bottom of the brownie cupcake. Then, I took a generous dollop of the cookie do mix (eggless, so you can eat it and eat it and eat it...) and pressed it inside. 

 After letting the stuff set up properly, I added the melted chocolate chip 'frosting'. I dropped it on top and spread it out over the top of the confection. I kept them in the paper cups because I anticipated it might be easier to assemble the different layers. I was right! I also placed them inside a cool cupcake tin to help keep them set up when I was coring the treats.

 I shared them with some friends and this young man helped show off the layers inside a bite. (I'm also a strong advocate for sprinkles. Sprinkles make everything more fun!) I think they are as yummy as the brownie itself (I always double my recipe to make a LARGE pan of them), but they did take a while to assemble, so these are a special treat treat. :o)

Last day on the Kenai

My last morning, I decided to take the kayak out on the lake one more time. The birds are fairly tame right now, probably because many of them are babies. 

 I am sitting at the fat end of the 'key' on the lake. From this spot you can't really see mum's house or the neighbor's. You can almost see the neighbor's float in the middle of the narrow part of the key. (our lake is sort of shaped like a key. The houses are at the tip of the key, the part that would go in the lock.)

 The sun was coming up over the trees and shining on the lake and the fog had burned off. It was beautiful!

 The dew on the lilypad flowers just made me happy!

One of the last things I got to do on the Kenai was attend one more Kenai Peninsula Oilers game. This one was against the Chugiak Chinooks. The Oilers won 9-7!!!

My last day in Alaska, Mary took me to Westchester Lagoon. Which looks totally different this lovely July 3 than it did in April when I went with Kelly and Titus. 

 One of my favorite Alaskan flowers showing off the march of time in stunning color. In just a few inches, the fireweed will have topped and a few weeks after that, it will be winter.

Kasilof Kapers

My last Sunday in Alaska, we had a great time doing different kinds of fun things. At church Randy had some air rockets ready to launch and I think JaLeen made 4 pretty in pink ones. After that we drove out to Kasilof and visited a museum. It consisted of several old log buildings which had been used by various settlers way back in the day. There were many signs telling us what was used when.

                                       

One of the things we noticed in a small cabin was well..how small it was! Janet is under 5 feet and this doorway made her feel like a giant.

Some of the buildings were locked, but you could peek in the windows to see what there was to see.

 One of the more fascinating buildings hosted miscellaneous fishing gear. One wall of a cabin was covered in panels that held different kinds of ways to make knots.

 Below, mum is standing near the first flushing toilet on the Kenai. It is a two seater and was next to the water and the tides helped with the maintenance.

 Lee decided this was one of the very first sawzalls. Looks a little bit scary, but loggers did what they had to do to get it done!

 In the museum proper there were all kinds of different things that were used in the past. I particularly liked how this wall was old labels. Some families used newspapers to cover their walls. You could read last year's news while you drank your coffee!

 This yoke was made in Anchor Point by a talented wood carver. He made it so his wife could haul water easier.

There were several canneries who canned salmon and put a variety of labels on them. I liked this one the best. (I prefer red salmon!)

        

After the museum we went down to Kasilof beach. This is the mouth of the river, it is a great place to catch reds (which are the fish running about now. As you can see there are not very many people on the banks yet, just wait a few more days!)

 

One of the more interesting beach finds was hauled off by this tourist. It was a dehydrated  shark. Not sure what kind it was since it is in such awful condition, but Alaska has been known to host a nice variety. In recent years there have been many more than previously netted/found.