a marshmallow world in my winter

With the cold weather, my hot chocolate love has re-emerged.  Because nothing can cozy you inside & out like a mug of the good stuff.  As for toppings, I love whipped cream, but have never enjoyed marshmallows.  Until I made this homemade version and added a drop of peppermint, that is.It's too good not to share.

So make them tonight & enjoy them tomorrow. 

Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows

.75-oz unflavored gelatin (3 envelopes of Knox gelatin)
3/4 cup water, divided
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cups light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp peppermint oil/extract

Line 9 x 9-inch pan with plastic wrap and lightly oil it. Set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup water. Soak for about 10 minutes.

While the gelatin is soaking, combine sugar, corn syrup and remaining 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a full, rapid boil then boil hard for 1 minute.

Pour the boiling syrup into soaked gelatin and turn on the mixer, using the whisk attachment, to high speed. Add the salt and beat for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes, add in the vanilla and peppermint extracts and mix just until they are fully incorporated.

Scrape warm marshmallow into the prepared pan and spread evenly (lightly greasing your hands and the spatula helps a lot here). For red twirls, swirl red food coloring on top of mixture with a toothpick.  Take another piece of lightly oiled plastic wrap and press lightly on top of the marshmallow, creating a seal. Let mixture sit for a few hours, or overnight, until cooled and firmly set.

When the marshmallows are set, you can cut them up. I used kitchen scissors sprayed with a bit of Pam, and they worked perfectly well.  In a shallow dish, combine equal parts cornstarch and confectioners’ sugar. Remove marshmallow from pan and cut into pieces of desired size. Dredge each piece of marshmallow in confectioners’ sugar mixture.  Store in an airtight container.

For non-peppermint, regular marshmallows, simply omit the peppermint extract. 

And my Tips for heavenly Peppermint cocoa:  Make sure your water (or milk) is plenty hot so the marshmallows will start to dissolve and get blobby and lovely and spread their peppermint glory. I had a batch this morning for a brunch that was not hot and was not near as tasty as the cup I enjoyed tonight. Also, cut the marshmallows much smaller than in these pictures so they'll dissipate nicely into your chocolate.  If you like peppermint, that is.

Then find someone you love, lust, or merely adore.  Turn off all the lights except the Christmas tree.  And share.

spt: comfort

Tonight I'm bundling these two up to go caroling with me (with the youth in our ward) because Jim is off at soccer coach training.  It's 52 degrees cold (and I know that's laughable to real weather humans, but my buns are freezing!) so the comfort they give tonight will be absolutely literal as we cuddle up against the cold.

They are the companions of my days.  I remember Jim working very late one night a few years ago. We homebound three had very few scheduled obligations at that time so I kept Aidan up with me for company. And he actually was company. Which both surprised and delighted. It was the first time I realized these babies would be more than my lifelong (or 20 year) charges, and that I would be more than their lifelong (or 20 year) maid. They could be my best friends. My companions. My comfort.

green eggs, no ham

I'm no farm girl, so I was surprised when Jim told me Papa's chickens finally started laying eggs.  And they were green.  I've seen plenty of brown eggs, but the green were new to me.

And they've added some welcome variety to my morning short order chefdom.

Do you want that in toast, scrambled, or fried?

White, brown or Green?

Aidan got a green double yolk on his first try.  I told him it was lucky.  And it means Papa has happy chickens (I'm no farm girl, but that's the way it would work in my world). 

Aidan didn't agree with my lucklore and merely felt cheated...it wasn't green inside.

a bit of family history

 

It felt like an early Christmas gift when my grandpa gave me this picture yesterday.  His grandparents and all of their children (his dad is the third from the right in the back row, with the handsome swirl of hair).  And then he told stories about these aunts & uncles he knew well.  10 boys, 2 girls. 

Bill had Tubercleosis in a time when that meant confinement in a room built separate from the house.  The two sisters brought food back to his room regularly, but both were weakened and died fairly young of the same disease, one without ever having married. 

Doctor was given his name simply because he was the seventh consecutive son.  Apparently that was commonly done (with some biblical origin?), an interesting tidbit that I have never heard.  But I suppose there simply aren't so many seventh consecutive sons born these days. 

Dudley's wife died young, leaving 5 small children.  He remarried and had 12 more for a total of 17.  His oldest daughter was born on the precise day that Arizona gained statehood - February 14, 1912.  She is still living in the valley.

I asked what his grandpa was like.  The answer:  "He was the best darn fellow you ever did meet."  That status was apparently gained partially due to his Model T Ford, which he once let his 9-year-old grandson drive.  I suppose some things really don't change within a single century.  Hero status amongst a 9-year-old boy still takes that same route.

I asked what his grandma was like.  Apparently, she was quiet...people sometimes thought her grouchy.  I look at this picture and see the truth.  This woman was tired.  And there was no time for nonsense.  But that's just me imagining.  I do know that she obviously raised a clean, sharp family of 14, and actually managed to get a picture of them taken in the 19-0something's.  And that sure seems like something huge.

Grandpa's grandpa was the son of Daniel Webster Jones, who came to Arizona in 1877.  He remembers his grandfather well, and I'm sure he enjoyed many firsthand stories about his great grand, as well.  That makes me a 5th generation Arizona native. During our visit I was struck by the realization that grandpa's right there in the middle...spanning the years from start to present of this Arizona clan.

Kindergarten Christmas

Tonight was our first school Christmas program.  Ever.

This afternoon we were in the car (me, Mandi, and all of our littles) singing Christmas songs to stave of child long-drive boredom (which can have dire results).  Savs suddenly breaks into this song about a pinata.  I insist that this is a Christmas-song-singing car and pinatas have no place in Christmas, but she is still back there jamming and insisting that the song is indeed part of the Christmas program. 

And it was.  And I so wish I could have recorded the shoulder rolling actions that accompanied the lively rendition.  It had me in giggles. 

Aidan and Savannah played Mary and Joseph during one of the songs.  There was zero possibility for a close-up shot of the actual moment, but here they are pre-program with their music teacher (who happens to be our neighbor & friend!).

I got a bit jittery last night when Aidan said he did not want to be Joseph anymore.  And this morning. When Aidan said he did not want to be Joseph ever.  I was terrorized by flashbacks to the first primary talk he did not want to give...the one where he tossed a chair at the gaping audience.

But the worries weren't necessary after all.  My boy looked comfortable and confident.  And that is something he wasn't a year ago.  Something I'm grateful to see.  During their Mary & Joseph song, I moved around trying to get a decent photo angle (non-existent).  But I got something far better than a decent angle.  He caught my eye.  And smiled the kind of smile that only a small, excited child can manage - ear to ear, enveloping his eyes, and tugging at my heart.  Because I knew that smile was 100% mine. 

120 Kindergarteners were up there, but this one belonged to me completely in that moment.  I treasured that connection, and I have a feeling that he did, too.