Lake Manatee State Park, Bradenton, Florida
After Abram returned from defeating Kedoriaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet with him in the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). Then Melchizedek, king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (a common meal at the time, and not a foreshadow of the New Testament Last Supper) He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram . . . Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
You may have heard the name Melchizedek before. The book of Hebrews (Chapters 5-8) in the New Testament spends a lot of time reminding us about this exchange with Abram and doing a comparison between Melchizedek and Jesus Christ. I’m not taking the time to get into all that, but I do want to point out two reasons for the comparison. Melchizedek was a King and a Priest, just as Jesus is (as opposed to the priestly order of Aaron, who was only a Priest). And also, to point out what’s in a name. Melchizedek means “My king is righteousness” or “King of righteousness”. “Salem” is a shortened form of Jerusalem and is related to the Hebrew word for “peace”.
We could’ve used a visit from the Cat in the Hat today.
The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the coach all that cold, cold, wet day.
I sat there with Blaine.
We sat there, we too.
And I said, “How I wish we had something to do!
Too wet to go out and too cold to play ball . . .”
So we sat in the coach.
We did nothing at all.
So all we could do was to sit! Sit! Sit! Sit!
And we did not like it.
Not one little bit!
Actually, we ended up working on the blog, and research – our standard rainy day fare. Plus I prepared part of tomorrow’s meal. I made the lasagna sauce, and dessert. Chocolate Raspberry Brownies.
I think we had leftover fried rice for dinner, but I can’t remember for sure. 😊
We also received an invite to a House Party in the evening! Three couples (the guys are former co-workers Blaine met while working construction ) were getting together on-line and invited us to join, and a great time was had by all! It was good to see them again.
Blaine was unable to wait on dessert until tomorrow, so we taste-tested the brownies. They passed with flying colors!
Here’s the recipe. (I can’t give you the recipe for the lasagna, because I don’t have one.)
CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY TRUFFLE BROWNIES
For the Brownies:
½ C. butter
1 ¼ C. semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
¾ C. brown sugar
2 T. water
¾ C. flour
½ t. baking powder
In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter and 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips over low heat. Cool slightly.
In a large bowl, beat eggs and brown sugar. Add the water and melted chocolate to the egg mixture. Mix well. Combine the baking powder and flour; stir into the chocolate mixture until incorporated. Spread batter into a greased 8×8 baking pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes until brownies are set. Cool completely.
For the Truffle Filling:
1 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
¼ C. powdered sugar
1/3 C. seedless red raspberry jam
In a heavy saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate chips. Cool while preparing the rest of the filling. In a mixing bowl, beat the softened cream cheese until fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar and raspberry jam; beat until just combined. Stir in the melted chocolate until well combined. Spread the filling evenly over the cooled brownies.
For the Chocolate Drizzle: (The drizzle isn’t necessary unless you’re serving company and want it pretty)
1/8 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ t. white Crisco
Place the chocolate chips and Crisco in a small sandwich bag. Set bag in a bowl of warm water to soften. Gently knead the chocolate with your fingers until melted and smooth, placing back in the warm water for a minute or two as needed.
Snip a very small hole in the corner of the plastic bag. Drizzle chocolate over the truffle filling.
Chill brownies before cutting. Cut into small 1-inch squares to serve (these are rich … a small square goes a long way). Store brownies in the refrigerator.