Sue's Ooey Gooey Brownies

I'm sitting here sipping a Between the Sheets (a fantastic little cocktail consisting of an ounce each of light rum, Cointreau, and brandy shaken with 1/2 ounce of fresh lemon juice), still reminiscing over last week.  I just went through most of the pictures taken by the three of us sisters during the trip.  (I actually am going to steal a couple to supplement and replace a few of mine in the past few blogs...)  Anyway, in going through the pictures, I recalled two more food items that I've wanted to blog about.  So, here's the first one:

My father's boss of 35 years (both men long retired) was gracious enough to meet up with my siblings and other relations for dinner at Garibaldi's the second evening of our trip to CA.  He meets with my brother on occasion, but he hadn't seen the three of us girls together since we moved to PA in '81.  My last memories of him were when I was about 12 years old and involved the National Art Gallery, a train museum, and listening to Pomp and Circumstance on his Walkman (which he apparently still has).  Well, I will soon be swinging into my late 30s, just to give you an idea of how long it's been since I've seen him...

ANYWAY.  We met at Garibaldi's and spent FOUR HOURS talking and eating and drinking and laughing.  The evening was spectacular.  Well, Mr. Fisher must have had just as much fun with us as we were having with him, because the following evening we got a message: Mr. Fisher wanted us to come over for dinner the night before we left.

I have to say that my heart leaped at that invitation.  In one evening I had grown completely fascinated with this man who knew my father probably better than all of us, who was incredibly intelligent, sensitive, witty, artistic, and just plain cool.  A feeling of deep respect and trust had come over me in those four hours I had sat beside him, and I was so excited that I was going to get to know him more.

Sunday evening came—a bittersweet evening: bitter because it was the last evening with my siblings and my uncle, who had come up from LA; sweet because we got to spend it with Mr. Fisher.  But that night was one of my favorite nights.  Again, we laughed and drank and talked and ate.  For five hours we sat around the dinner table, the dining room lit by candles, and we shared another meal together.

(You are probably wondering at this point what any of this has to do with food.  This blog entry hasn't been about food! It's been a damn story! Well, hold onto your napkin, foodie friend...)

Now, Mr. Fisher has a very good friend, Sue, who loves to cook.  She never actually said she loves to cook—but it's obvious.  She came over for dinner and made, well—dinner. 

Aaaaand dessert, being a deliriously good chocolate creation that she calls Ooey Gooey Brownies.  She cut them into huge squares, plopped a massive scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, and served them with a pitcher of hot fudge.  Real hot fudge.

The best part? She gave me the recipe. So here you go, dear readers.  And thank you, Sue!!!

Directions:

Melt:
1 cup butter
5 oz. unsweetened chocolate

Stir in:
2 cups sugar
1 cup flour
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Instructions:

Pour the batter into a 9 x 13" pan, spread 12 oz. chocolate chips and 2 cups of mini marshmallows on top, and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

A-maaaaaaaaa-zing!