A rainy Sunday

A rainy Sunday morning, 6am and I'm wide awake. It's a good thing though, I told a friend I'd bring dessert to a picnic Sunday afternoon, and now I have time to bake before church. Of course, the only thing I have in the house is flour which won't get me very far.

I head out into the quiet streets at 7. One lone car drives past, spraying water from the small lake that's accumulated from the night's rain. The corner store opens late on Sundays, but it doesn't matter, the bakery should sell everything I need.

I buy a stick of butter, a dozen eggs for baking and breakfast, a small bag of sugar, and chocolate bars for making hot chocolate, the closest thing to baking chocolate I've found. I buy 8 hot rolls just out of the oven, and a sweet donut-like creation with arequipe inside.

Back at home, as I mix my brownie batter, I pray they'll come out well- between a lack of real measuring cups, a gas oven with no temperature settings, and high altitude, baking is hit and miss for me here. The fact that I halved the sugar since the chocolate was pre-sweetened doesn't make me any more confident in the consistency.

The brownies are out now, cooling on the counter. They look to be a little different than normal, but nothing like my failed coffee cake from last weekend. Now I'm enjoying a quiet cup of tea before heading to a new church I'm trying out that's just around the corner.