Letters
Socks, Plus S’Mores: A Warning
Dear Kay,
I have so much knitting going on. Now that I am finished with my Picket Fence Afghan, all my other UFOs have bubbled up from the tar pit of opportunity. Knitting is all over the place around the house. (What else is new?)
Socks!
The Socks and Blocks Knitalong continues in the Lounge and on Instagram at #socksnblocksMDK. All the details are here. Please go have a ramble, post your own sockular efforts and blanket squares, and enjoy knitting in the company of fellow sockeristas and blanketeers.
Every time I return to sock knitting, I remember all over again how fun it is to make tiny little stitches. For me, knitting socks requires a totally different way of handling yarn and tension. I basically knit supertight, yank with righteous vigor when I switch from one needle to the next, and stop only to admire the endless shifting colors of my Barnyard Knits yarn.
Magic loop! This technique is so brilliant.
We have a bunch of Kim Formica’s scrumptious colors in the Shop, including the MDK-exclusive Getaway Set of 4 skeins of Barnyard Knits that are designed to be the summeriest colors possible.
This pattern is from MDK Field Guide No. 11: Wanderlust, our one-stop guide to knitting socks.
More Socks!
This is an ancient Zauberball, not sure what color.
I show you this Zauberball simply to note the crazy things that happen with color in a Zauberball. It’s all about two plies of yarn that are shifting color all the time. The result is an ever-changing wonderment of color. These socks are not going to match, but they are going to be such good friends.
We’re now up to 14 different Zauberball colors in the Shop, if you’re thinking this looks like fun. I promise you: it is.
Meanwhile, at Camp Shayne
Son David (who’s 24, not 4) got to talking about making s’mores the other day, so with absolutely nothing else to do around this place, we loaded up on Hershey’s chocolate bars, graham crackers, and marshmallows.
Operative word here is “jumbo.”
We ordered Kraft Jet-Puffed Jumbo Mallows, thinking those were the time-honored size that fits perfectly toasted on a graham cracker.
But no!
Kraft Jet-Puffed Jumbo Mallows are mattress sized. Seriously jumbo. They are so large that all previous toasting techniques are invalid. The center is about a half mile in from the outside, so it’s a whole new art to toast a Jumbo Mallow. Melty fluffitude without incineration? We’re still working on this, hunkered down as we are around the campfire.
We awake with the scent of woodsmoke from the campfire—wait, that’s not true.
The toasted Jumbo Mallow o’erhangs the graham cracker, causes general mayhem and the need for mallow control while snacking away at the thing.
DAUNTING: Where do you start?
I’m not saying it’s a travesty—this is no Double Stuf Oreo nightmare—but it’s simply fair warning to those of you who are thinking about ordering up a bunch of s’more makings. It’s a lot of mallow, I’m just saying. Order with care, I’m saying.
What’s your latest feat of cookery? We’re looking for new adventures. Bragging encouraged. If your acre of cilantro has come in, that’s great. If you’re going minimalist (and yes, I had popcorn as entree the other night), I’d love to hear it.
Love,
Ann
I do not care for sweets. Give me salty every time. Yet I have been making chocolate cookies and eating a single cookie every day. I don’t know me anymore.
I agree! S’mores are too sweet for me. I always want to try making them with saltines instead.
It must be in the ether! We were talking just yesterday about our upcoming camping trip (yes – we are finally allowed out in the UK!) and we wanted to make s’mores on the campfire. BUT I have no idea where I can get graham crackers in the UK – does anyone know???
Digestives are very similar
Australians: try chocolate coated Wheaten biscuits.
I’ve been hunting for the crackers and found the perfect solution on Pinterest – Choco Leibinz biscuits – thick Belgian chocolate with a sweet crunchy biscuit on top. Two melted marshmallows between two of this and were in business!!! I’m taking several packets on my travels 🙂
Also in the UK and I believe digestives make a worthy substitute.
We prefer rich tea biscuits for s’mores in our house. Although today my daughter told me she’d just seen a recipe that involved baking a whole sheet of puff pastry then laying a bar of chocolate on top, covering it with marshmallows and baking some more. I’d have to take my cooking blowtorch to the top I think.
I feel like digestives or Hob Nobs are an upgrade to graham crackers!
Oh my, now this is attention worthy! Thanks!
And chocolate digestives supply both the cookie and chocolate. So you just need to add appropriately sized mallows
Nikki – I have seen them in some larger Tesco supermarkets. They will be in a small section with other import foods
I needed a dessert or sweet snack the other night. Nothing in my cabinet, to grab one of. I made a chocolate coconut walnut dried cherry brownie. Delicious, if I do say so. I did not share been eating it for days.
Magic loop holds no magic for me. Thrill was gone after one class waited couple days, couldn’t do it at home. Fail.
I love the pink and brown on the blanket!!
Currently, I am knitting Taylor again. It’s a garter stitch lace weight shawl. Using a beautiful MDK Freia yarn, lilac….charcoal.
Thanks MDK. Glad for name change.
All for inclusion ( special needs teacher by trade).
Chocolate coconut walnut dried cherry brownie?! I’m gonna need the recipe for that. I’ll google it in hopes of finding it.
My basil has come in (yay!) so I’ve been making pesto and smearing generous amounts over slices of my husband’s fresh baguettes. Unfortunately, my garlic breath lasts longer than my mini-feast.
S’mores! yum, but I think I’ll stick with the regular size marshmallow. Otherwise I’d have to double the Hershey bar.
…and that would be a tragedy.
Kraft now makes square marshmallows specifically for s’mores. Game changer!
Matchy matchy in s’moreland? This Girl Scout can’t stand it. GIve me the old contrasting shapes.
I’m making s’mores too! I roast two regular marshmallows in the toaster oven, and I smear peanut butter on one of the graham crackers. Yum!
Best French Toast ever, by Jacques Pepin. Dip white bread, both sides, in a bit of melted vanilla ice cream. Brown in melted butter, low heat, a few minutes each side. So easy! So delicious!
Hi there,
Got a new book a few weeks ago; THAT CHEESE PLATE WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE. And indeed it has, helping us clean out the fridge and giving us a whole new way to cook-without-cooking. You’re welcome!
I joined a CSA this year (thought it might be the only way to get fresh veggies w/o going to the grocery store, in case the pandemic became apocalyptic) so I’m googling recipes for things like garlic scapes and broccoli rabe. Found some walnuts in the freezer – I might try my hand at garlic scape pesto.
My sister has made garlic scape pesto, and she describes the flavor as having Spring in your mouth. She loves it big time.
Garlic scape pesto is the BEST! Make a pile, freeze in little yoghurt containers, throw it in soup come January and you’ll be happy. At least, that is what I usually do. This year, with my chef sister here, all scapes get devoured immediately. She’s a grasshopper, I’m more of an ant….
I second the vote for scape pesto. It is amazing stuff. Of course, anything with garlic scapes is pretty amazing. Enjoy them while they last; the season for them is so fleeting.
Such are our times that at first glance at your marshmallow s’mores photo I thought we were going to have a toilet paper essay. (Speaking of which it is possible to buy toilet paper earrings. They showed up on someone at a Pandemic (outdoors) Luncheon. (Etsy? Instagram?) After months of baking muffins, breads, cookies, pies, scones & dump cakes I am gradually devolving into Atkins power bars which have almost no sugar so I figure they are fair game. That and about 5 different summer fruits in my fridge at any one time. (Right now watermelon, blueberries, cherries, peaches & trans-seasonal apples (which pair well with popcorn,) But unless these are pre-peeled or baked in a pie nobody else appreciates most of them. Fascinating Zauberball. Can only do fat DK or larger nowadays (sad face),
Yes, a toilet paper essay – that is EXACTLY what i thought when I saw the first photo…..!!!
June is birthday barbecue time here in suburban New York. Today my eldest is 40. Well smack my hieni, how did that happen. Sorry for the profanity but 40!
Did you know that Greek from yogurt and balsamic vinegar with some salt and smashed garlic makes a great marinade for chicken breasts – which are -not coincidentally- zero points on weight watchers. Just sayin. And delectable. As for sweets we live in the land of cheese cake. Also macerated strawberries topped with a mixture of sour cream, sugar and lemon juice on buttermilk biscuits is the.end. This concoction is by way of @glitterville on insta. Beware. It is a lot of sugar. But it is, or was, strawberry season.
Oh, you want actual RECIPES. I googled oatmeal + no-bake and found several, although much mashing of bananas was sometimes required. And not nearly as fun as S’mores. Maybe adding yogurt, ice-cream-y smoothies, and make-your-own popsicles to the google list? Sorry I can’t think of anything more original.
Popcorn as entree; a staple here. Little chunk of cheddar on the side. How could I furget the apples in yesterday’s grocery order?
Can of black beans sprinkled with Tony’s and heated on the stove. Combine that with a salad in a bag and dinner is ready!
I’ve been drying a bounty of chocolate mint and spearmint for winter tea but there is so much of it this year that I’ve also been thrusting “bouquets” of it on unsuspecting friends!?! One friend admitted they put a sprig of chocolate mint into their white wine the other evening and have found a new favorite!! One of my favorite teas from Harney & Sons is Vanilla Comoro — adding chocolate mint elevates a cup of it to “nectar”. As the owner of the largest red currant bush in the world, it’s that time of year when I hoard them into the freezer. Looking forward to sweet muffins with red currants and dried orange rind! Plus I’ll need to make the annual delicious red currant tart next week. FInishing up a test knit for Charlotte Stone of her new sock pattern, Lush Lemonade — so cute!! and that gives me one more pair of holiday gift socks — two down, eight to go!!
First attempt at Parmesan spinach artichoke dip awaits me later today
Recently one of my biggest “cooking” discoveries (involving no cooking at all) is that lettuce makes a fine addition to a fruit smoothie. It is not something that ever crossed my mind before I started getting produce boxes delivered, which often contain a lot of greens on the brink of a state even the goats and chickens won’t look at. So, every time I opened a box I had to start using all the greens, immediately.
Any kind of lettuce seems to add a depth of flavor to a smoothie yet is itself unidentifiable. At least to me, and I’m the one who put it in there, so you’d think if anyone could identify the flavor it would be, you know, me.
Ann, do you watch Ann Reardon’s “How To Cook That” videos on YT? I came for the debunking but stayed for the “Clever or Never” gadget reviews. Just yesterday I saw one with a microwave s’mores-making device – it had little hands to hold the top cracker in place! – which was actually rated Clever. In case you decide to pursue this hobby further 😉
I used to make s’mores in the microwave — it was lots of fun arranging tiny chocolate chips on a graham cracker and then balancing mini marshmallows up top. I think I skipped the top layer or just added it after cooking. As a matter of fact, I have 2 of those 3 items on hand — maybe I need to add mini marshmallows to my shopping list…
During this whole thing, I’ve started growing tomatoes and I got some plants for the house. I’ve only killed one of the plants so I feel like it’s going better than expected
I’ve also managed to finish some projects I had sitting around, and started a whole bunch of new ones such as: a therapy shawl, a few hats, a scarf, and some washcloths because I forgot how much I hate knitting with peaches n cream cotton, yuck! I started swatching for my first sweater, and I hope to cast that on very soon! And your socks remind me of the minion color way I bought a while ago that has yet to be made into socks….
And I’ve been making roasted veggies and rice with basalmic vinegar a lot, because I can’t be bothered to thaw something from the freezer most days. Highly recommend, it is delicious!
One great thing that has come out of this awful time is that I discovered the New York Times’ recipe for Supernatural Brownies. THE BEST BROWNIES EVER. Simple, too.
Smores with nutella instead of Hersheys. Smores with peanut butter instead of Hersheys, Smores with cookie butter instead of Hersheys. Is there no end????
Peeps make the very best s’mores. If they’re a bit stale, they work better because they don’t get soft and fall off the fork as quickly.
Well, I am in the deep south and it is HOT down here, y’all! We are having coffee smoothies almost everyday. STRONG cold brew (got caffeine? YEP!), yogurt, vanilla….add a little peanut butter and voila, lunch is served!
I make kugel. In particularly, cherry pie filling kugel. There is a REASON we are going through eggs like my cat goes through catnip. His tallness can’t figure out WHY. Eight eggs at a time dear, 8 eggs.
Great. Now I want S’mores. Thanks a lot.
My fam LOVES jumbo marshmallows. Here’s the trick: you toast it to your perfection, then you carefully slide off the outer layer of toasty goodness and eat it. Then you can repeat this as many times as possible. We usually average three toasts per jumbo, but sometimes we get four! Oh, and the melty toasty middle is perfect for s’mores.
Upgrade to Hershey’s special dark instead of milk chocolate. You’re worth it!
I’m in the middle of teaching online summer school and a major DIY kitchen reno. Not much cooking or knitting going on here.
I found an online chef I just love: The Smitten Kitchen. She has a couple of cookbooks but if you sign up for her newsletter you get lots of free recipes weekly. All very simple with ingredients you already have in your pantry. Since it’s hot here in the SW US I’m making her salads, pasta and veggie dishes. My favorite: toasted almonds with zucchini YUM! 3 ingredients, 5 minutes in a skillet. Although her galettes look gorgeous I just don’t want to turn on the oven for a couple more months.
I LOVE Smitten Kitchen – it hits the spot in terms of easy and delicious enough to justify any trouble you’ve gone to.
If you haven’t tried her rice crispy treats (salted brown butter), you are in for, well, a treat.
You made me laugh out loud! Thanks for that. I really really like Barnyard Knits beautiful yarns….she’s killing my budget.
I know this is countercultural, but I have never been a fan of anything marshmallow. Not s’mores, not chicks or bunnies, not mallow mars. Just looking at them makes me a tiny bit queasy. Now, graham crackers with melted chocolate and bananas, I’m fully in!
I hate marshmallows, too. I even tried making them from scratch after reading raves about homemade. Blech! Taste, texture, everything is just ick.
Frankly not that keen on graham crackers either. But my sheep go nuts for them.
At last, I meet another who hates marshmallow! Seriously, that stuff is like gummy Styrofoam.
I make popsicles with yogurt, whatever fruit we have that is starting to get tired (apples, grapes, berries), some mint from the garden and maybe some oatmeal. Mix with immersible blender. My popsicle maker holds about a half cup for each ‘sicle. Perfect snack on a hot day.
Kermit, Foodlady says there is “absolutely nothing else to do around this place” when she’s not knitting socks. You’ve been going too easy on her. Demand more attention.
My latest culinary adventure was bourbon cherries. Inspired by a picture on Pinterest, I picked up a bag of cherries on one of my rare forays out into the world for supplies, and ordered a cherry pitter online. I have to say, it was ridiculously easy to do. My husband is thrilled with the two quarts of these little gems in our fridge, and Manhattans at our house are now extra special.
It’s gazpacho season here. Make a big batch on Sunday, have drinkable lunch for the rest of the week. This is so healthy I can eat straight grease for dinner if I want to (or spike the gazpacho Bloody Mary-style, whatever).
#1 I grew crimson clover to bring my soil back to health. It is gorgeous. My neighbor told me you can eat the clover leaves , add them to your salad greens. Oh my. This is seriioulsy Granola and I am happy to eat it.
Also, my friend Judy has a recipe for SMORE bars. I’ve yet to make them. But I will now!
We’re just at the beginning of summer fruit here. Strawberries just finished, blueberries next, peaches and nectarines soon. We can finally get tomatoes that taste like tomato again, so cream cheese and tomato sandwiches on toast with some very thin slices of onion are back for lunch. And our grocery store is selling something called Jet Puffed “StackerMallows” – flat square marshmallows just tight for s’mores!!
Popcorn and white wine make a perfectly acceptable dinner.
Words to live by. Sent the sentence to several friends.
We toast marshmallows on the stove all the time! I’m also using the giant marshmallows, they are kind of big but I love them. Also get a bag of Reese’s Thins. Basically a thin peanut butter cup, and a perfect size for a s’more.
Latest culinary obsession: ANZAC cookies. We discovered ANZAC biscuits (cookies) while researching how to make DIY Girl Scout Samoas: apparently the west coast GS Councils just borrowed the ANZAC cookie recipe. They are so easy and so good, and keep well (if carefully hidden). They are addicitive. There are several good googleable recipes.
Also I just found out that Jani’s Famous Ice Cream ships if you buy four pints! Now I am doomed.
*Jeni’s*
S’mores made with thin Reese’s peanut butter cups. A new play on an old favorite!!!
I’ve been as rubbish as ever about cooking. But I’ve made two batches of raspberry jam, rhubarb and ginger jam and cherry jam and cherry cordial this past week, all with fruit from my garden. So not feeling too shabby overall.
We once had a S’Mores fest at a family reunion that included a variety of chocolate, cracker, and other alternatives. My favorite was a gingersnap, spread with lemon curd, and a well-toasted marshmallow. A revelation.
I love this idea!! Must try it. We’ve had a potato bar with all kinds of potatoes and toppings… very popular 🙂
Mainly making cakes for the amusement of others in the household. I recommend Alice Medrich’s Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts. And a gram kitchen scale if you don’t have one yet.
For myself it’s just stir fried veggies or salads. And as many fresh cherries as I can get.
I think the excess of marshmallow is just the right thing for s’mores and I also love people’s substitutions of other cookies/biscuits from other countries. My adventure in pandemic cooking has been apricots. My yard tree produced fruit for the first time ever. I ate what I could fresh and then made freezer jam. Then my brother called last weekend and said his neighbor had an overachieving apricot tree and would I like some more. I picked 6 plastic grocery bags full. The real cooking adventure was making and canning 8 quarts of apricot nectar. It’s pretty good. A little thick but it can be thinned with all sort of things…water, Sprite, various alcoholic liquids.
That’s a big marshmallow! I presume that as long as it doesn’t burn some part of your mouth, it’ beyond wonderful! Something to consider for my next Amazon order.
Here’s my brag of the day. It’s my successful attempts at making the iconic Papi Chulo green sauce from Berkeley’s Cheeseboard Pizza. It looks like green sludge, but oh, boy, it’s good! Cilantro, parsley, peppers, citrus. What’s not to love? I’m feeding two Berkeley students right now and it helps keep them happy! I used this recipe: https://honestlyyum.com/16898/the-cheeseboards-papi-chulo-sauce/
We are a s’mores in the winter household. Isn’t that what woodstoves are for? I accidentally got those giant marshmallows, and ended up cutting them in half with kitchen shears. It worked pretty. Now to check the tarpit for some socks.
Dessert first: chocolate hard shell (melt some chocolate chips in a little coconut oil- when you drizzle it over cold ice cream it hardens, as coconut oil is solid when cold). My favorite cucumber salad: slice 2-4 cukes evenly, salt them in a strainer then after about 20 minutes rinse them. Mix 2 T sugar, third cup vinegar, two thirds cup half and half, add the cukes. I eat it in one sitting. I’ve used cream instead of half and half when it’s all I’ve had. When tomatoes are perfect, toasted bagel with cream cheese or mozzarella slices, tomato slices, torn basil. I can eat these three things every day of the summer, I think!
Sorry, back again. Someone mentioned black beans and it reminded me. Never underestimate a big jar of salsa. In desperation one day I threw together some canellini beans, griound beef and salsa, maybe something else (pasta?) and it turned out pretty yummy. You can probably add salsa to all kinds of leftovers, I’m thinking. Play around with proportions. Also thanks to person who said coconut oil + chocolate. Bought a jar of That for a recipe and the rest is just sitting there.
Next time you are at or order from a “whole foods” type store, grab a bag of natural ingredient marshmallows. Game changer!
Over at barefootcontessa.com, Ina Garten has recipes for Homemade Marshmallows, Homemade Toasted Coconut Marshmallows, and S’mores with Homemade Toasted Coconut Marshmallows. Yum.
And they are fabulous, one and all!
I thought that I was alone in my dislike of the DoubleStuf Oreo! It came along early in the mucking-around-with-a-classic-snack-food trend, and I still remember my adolescent disappointment. Too much of a good thing (the middle of the Oreo) was definitely too much for me! And…I am a mere 15 times older than a 4-year-old, but I also had a hankering for s’mores a few weeks ago. As a general wheat-and-dairy avoider, I switched to an off-brand gluten-free graham cracker, and like you, used Hershey’s Special Dark rather than Milk chocolate, but they were just fine, even being oven-toasted rather than fire roasted! Oh, and the graham crackers were small, so I cut the marshmallows in half. It worked perfectly for oven-toasting, as the cut half of the marshmallow stuck nicely to the chocolate. Finally, I was pleased to discover that “Marshmallows are almost all safe on the gluten-free diet.” Or so says Jane Anderson.
I started cooking again this spring due to two things: the completion of my first college degree (husband took over most of the cooking when I started college) and the beginning of the pandemic shutdown. Since March I have made things I hadn’t made in years. Doughnuts, waffles and funnel cakes, to be exact. What is it with all the carbs anyway? I even had to buy a waffle iron since we hadn’t had waffles for so many years that I am pretty sure we gave our old iron away.
We made refrigerator pickles for the first time. So easy!!! Four little cucumbers, ready to crunch in 24 hours. Yummy snack – we’ll definitely make them again. You should try 🙂