Marshmallows I have known

I'm not a huge fan of Rachel Ray's. I find her kind of fluffy and I don't happen to have on hand any ingredients for her so called "quick" meals. Besides, she's not a fan of slow cookers because they're too slow. Anybody whos isn't a friend of slow cookers is not a friend of mine! And what's with the "Yum -Oh!" stuff? But I did pick up one her her magazines in the world's best thrift shop for a quarter just for grins. It had the most incredible recipe for toasted marshmallow milkshakes. Probably one of the best milkshakes I've ever had. Little Miss Teen loved it and begged to make another batch right then and there (because 13 year olds live by the creed of "if one is good more is better.") The boys didn't dislike them they just didn't appreciate them as much as we did. What's the scripture about "don't cast your pearls before swine?" http://www.rachaelraymag.com/search/marshmallow%20milkshake?searchSource=hdrbox-Recipes

I love good milkshakes. Thick and preferably fruit flavored. The ones of my childhood were made from fresh raspberries from our own bushes and honey. Toffs is a local dairy that makes great ones. I really like ice cream and should probably give it it's own blog entry sometime.

I'm sort of neutral about marshmallows. I like them well enough, not well enough to eat raw and plain as a snack like my family does. My Huggyband loves them and also used to love to play a game called "chubby bunny" (seeing who can stuff the most marshmallows in their mouth at once) with his youth group. I can't stand Peeps and I don't like marshmallow filled chocolate stuff. But the kids sure do. I guess I'd say that I prefer them in baked goods. If I can find my moms recipe for marshmallow chocolate/marshmallow butterscotch cookies I'll post them. I don't know that I've ever eaten marshmallow cream. Americans seem to be hung up on something called "Fluff." http://www.marshmallowfluff.com/pages/homepage.html. Apparently it's like marshmallow cream only better? I think I've seen it in grocery stores here. Fluffernutter sandwiches fluff + peanut butter seem to be some sort of American icon/staple/delicacy. You can make it at home but it sounds complicated and involves raw egg whites in case you're squeamish about that sort of thing. http://www.grouprecipes.com/58165/home-made-marshmallow-fluff.html There's also something called "Amish peanut butter" that involves peanut butter, marshmallow cream and corn syrup. I love that stuff but it's really sweet so a little bit goes a long way. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Amish-Peanut-Butter/Detail.aspx

My best marshmallow story is of planting them on bushes in Korea so my friends 4 year old daughter could pick them. We had the day off for some obscure Korean holiday (perhaps election day? On election day there everybody gets the day off. And they have city, province and national elections all in the same year, all 1 month apart from each other) and we were bored and broke. I must have just read this story by Nancy Sweetland http://www.janice142.com/JoyPage/Marshmallows.htm about planting marshmallows on bushes for her kids to pick (well where do you think they come from???) and was inspired to try it myself. STOP NOW, FOLLOW THE LINK AND READ THAT STORY! So I did. I grabbed a bag of marshmallows and staked out a corner of a local park. Of course the Koreans thought I was crazy but what else is new? Young M probably thought that everything else was odd in Korea, why not this? So at the appointed time young M and her Mom came along and picked a bucket full of marshmallows that we then took back to my apartment and put in hot chocolate. I also seem to remember listening to an impromptu saxophone concert in the park that day. Very cool.

But as far as I'm concerned the best way to eat marshmallows is roasted! Roasting involves fire and fire stresses me out. I'm all for candle light church services as long as I don't have to hold the candle. I'd prefer to light birthday candles at the table rather than to walk into a room with them. I'm thrilled that they now make battery operated tea lights. I don't like fire, (I'm surprisingly ok with fireplace fires. And yes I do watch the fireplace channel on TV, in fact I bought a DVD of it! I have great memories of watching it with some friends, all curled up under blankets on a cold winters night. Now my kids request that I put it in) And I DO love campfires.

My first campfires were at our family cabin. The cabin is a sacred place to me. In my head it becomes so magical and mystical that some days I forget that it actually exists. It's been 10 years since I've been back but occasionally I'll catch glimpses of it in the photos of family members still enjoying it and I remember that it's real. It's still there the problem is that I'm not and that kind of makes me sad. That's what memories are for. An oh the memories we made! Canoeing the lake, catching turtles, growing up. Campfires....

My second best memory of campfires is of camping as a young adult. And oh how we did camp! I was blessed to be a part of an amazing young adults group. We spent a lot of our summers camping. Memories of those camping trips probably need there own blog entry. Just like my friendships, memories of those trips have gotten sweeter and more precious over time. There was the time we went camping in the rain and it turned out to be one of the very best trips. I was baptized on that trip. You will never convince me that a church baptism is anywhere near as fun as one outside. But at least church baptisms are warmer. The problem with summers in BC is that there is just a short time when the water in lakes and rivers warms up to an enjoyable temperature. The first weekend in July up at Wells Gray is NOT one of those times! I remember the total chaos and disorganization of just getting there. Figuring out when and where we were going (5 zillion lakes in BC and my youth pastor always picked the ones farthest from Kamloops.) packing (it was my job to pack the duct tape, lawn chair and the food that most of the others didn't plan), getting lost.......... We'd get there and there would be a scramble to build an elaborate tarp system over the camp. For some reason this always involved someone climbing a tree.......... And then we'd hike. Hiking with my young adults group is another story for another day (a horror story that is!). After that there would be the mandatory burned dinner and finally (probably after another forced 10 km march) we would settle down to a campfire and some of the best worship music I've ever heard. Just as I'm convinced that indoor baptisms aren't as fun as ones outdoors (because I was baptized on one of those trips, in a freezing cold lake in early July. Brrrrr!) I'm secretly convinced that worship music sounds better outdoors as well. Besides, with indoor worship you can't really have s'mores, and roasted marshmallows, s'mores, great worship and even better friends all kind of go together. Thanks for the memories gang! Oh and here's what we discovered: s'mores are much easier to make if you make them with Nutella!

Marshmallows and memories; pretty sweet!