Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Take Me Back Tuesday: Memories From Fire and Marshmallows

It is amazing to me how a memory will find its way from the safest hiding place in your heart and surface when you least expect it. That sort of thing seems to be happening to me a lot lately; an unexplainable memory comes flooding back on a moments notice.

We were in Colorado at our cabin last week, and normally all we do is work, work..... work. This time, we did make time to do a few of the things we usually just talk about doing and never actually get to do them.

One night, Steve, Matt and I, cooked out on the ground in a campfire. Simple meal.....hot dogs and fried potatoes. The guys grilled the hot dogs and I cooked the rest of the meal inside. This was a super easy dinner night for me....loved it. The weather was rather cool, we had to wear sweatshirts and I had to scoot extra close to the fire to stay warm.

It was so very peaceful sitting there among the stars and listening to breeze in the sway of the pine trees. There were no city noises to be heard, total silence except for the crackle and hiss of the fire.......wonderful. I snapped this photo as I walked back inside the cabin, the stars were just coming out and filling the sky with their magical lights. I wish I could capture the way the night sky looks in Colorado at 9400 feet on film, there are just no words.

Here is another shot that has no words....ahem.....I said hot dogs for dinner....not hot dogs for wieners!!!

Anyway....back to my story......after dinner we went back out to roast marshmallows over the coals. Oh, how I love a crispy, slightly burned marshmallow right out of the fire. I know smores are all the rage, but I prefer just-charred, warm marshmallows fresh out of the fire.

Suddenly, sitting there next to the fire, and shivering from the cool night air, I remembered just exactly how much I loved roasted marshmallows and how long it must have been since I last had some of these delicious treats.

Campfire talk turned to memory talk for me and I told the story of how I loved roasted marshmallows as a kid. Naturally, one might think as a little girl our family must have been a camping family. Not at all. In fact, if there was a time we went camping, I certainly don't remember it. In fact, with that being the case, I really don't remember how the marshmallow roasting got started in the first place with me, other than possibly at church camp.

However the memories I have of roasting these white puffs of sweetness was not from a camp fire, but instead from my grandma's own kitchen. She had a gas stove, and at our house growing up, we always had electric. So as all things were at her house, her kitchen was most special and provided sweets and entertainment. I can remember during football season, when my entire family gathered around the television to watch, no doubt, the Cowboys play.....I would sneak off to the kitchen and look in the cupboards for a bag of marshmallows.

My grandma always had a bag waiting. I never really liked to eat them right out of the bag, they had to be cooked, charred and warm for me to like them. I did not have a long wire, but always used a fork from her silverware drawer.....it worked so well.

If by chance, there were no marshmallows, I can remember looking in the refrigerator for a package of Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs. My grandma did not buy the cheap hot dogs that my husband loves so much. My grandma always had Oscar Mayer....and still to this day, those are my choice hot dogs to eat. The hot dogs fit nicely on the end of the fork, and they roasted up just fine over the gas burner in my grandma's kitchen.

My husband has heard this story over the years, and he just sits and patiently listens as I tell it again. I don't know if it is the fact that he feels sorry for a kid who never went camping with their family and had to resort to her grandma's kitchen stove as a campfire...or that fact he truly sees these are the sweetest of memories for me, and that no amount of outdoor camping could take the place these memories hold.

There is just something about grandma's and their kitchens that no other place on earth could ever replace. Funny how it took a bag of Kraft marshmallows and a campfire to take me way back to my childhood. Back to a memory of me standing in front of a brown gas stove, holding a fork of goodies over an open flame and enjoying every minute of it. ~good stuff

19 comments:

  1. OMG! I thought I was the only one who roasted a hot dog on the end of a fork on the stove. LOL! I used to do that as a kid too. Good times.

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  2. Cool story...great memories...we are so fortunate to have memories like these! Have a great week...*elaine*

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  3. What a special evening! You brought back similar treasured memories of mine too. Oh and your puppies looking out of the window just melted my heart. I'm such a sentimental fool and your Take Me Back Tuesday is a theme I love!! See you on Thursday!!

    Love,
    Susan and Bentley
    xxoo

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  4. Honestly, I think we must be soul sisters. My family never went camping when I was a kid either. All my friends families did, but not mine. I always felt cheated because I had to cook marshmallows on the stove too, or the bbq grill.

    After reading this post today, you had me look at that in a different light. I do have memories of those times with my brothers but just never realized it until I read this post.

    Thanks to you for sharing and helping me let go of some of that "junk" from long ago.....now, I see there is a silver lining in what I considered a unfair thing of my youth!!!

    Your dogs crack me up...they are so cute!!!

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  5. We did go camping when I was a kid and I'm sure we must have roasted some marshmallows over a campfire but the ones I really remember are the ones I cooked over the gas burner on our stove. I've even cooked a few hot dogs like that too.

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  6. When I was a kid we went camping every year - something we took for granted! It was always the last week in July and the first week in August - the best weather for doing anything in Michigan. We roasted marshmallows, cooked on the cook stove, and had burnt toast for breakfast every morning! We always washed up dishes in water dad heated on that little cook stove, and man, do I remember having sore cheeks from blowing up the air mattresses every time we made camp in a new park! Guess we were very fortunate to be able to camp, but it was one of the cheaper ways to vacation way back then. And one of the most fun ways, too!

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  7. This is too funny. We just had this conversation over Memorial weekend. My husbands family all talked about camping as kids and campfires. I just sorta laughed and agreed.....not really lied...just sorta agreed. We never camped in our lives...I hate it as a matter of fact. But I did roast wieners and marshmallows over my grannies gas stove burners....and they were the best!

    I guess I should have fessed up with my husbands family, I just figured they would think I was strange. Now....I feel more normal!! Thanks for the great post that stirred up some great memories!

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  8. Beautiful story and memories! I love some marshmellows over a good fire. Enjoy!

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  9. So....I am not the only one who cooks a marshmallow over a gas stove! LOL Great post and I love the photo of your sweet doggies! :) Sandy

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  10. Good stuff, indeed---the BEST!! Your pictures do such justice to the remembrances of such times---backyard fire or gas stove.

    When I was a kid, Weenie Roasts were all the rage, and we could just gather our own wood and try to find a spot in the yard that would not either catch the neighboring trees and buildings on fire, or leave an unsightly round place on the lawn.

    And we're doing that very thing tomorrow night---four of the GRANDS are here, and the firepit out in the back has not been lit this season. We have the dogs, the buns, the great big bag of Jet Puffed, AND the graham crackers and Hershey Bars. We're gonna show them S'Mores the way we used to make them.

    And that blueflame moment, when the entire outside is that pale tan, and the fire catches just right, so you blow it out. Cool just a moment, then bite through that just-crisped crust into the soft, pillowy sweet insides---one of the Food Groups, yes, it IS.

    (And I've been known to bring out the skewers and the bag of marshmallows when everyone was still sitting around the table after a good dinner. Candles make WONDERFUL toasters, too--all the more memorable for the unespectedness of it).

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  11. Oh, I love a burnt marshmallow. When I was in college, I lived for one year in a house that had a gas stove.... It's the only time I ever had one, and I'd roast marshmallows on it ALL THE TIME.

    Your cabin looks amazing. I can see why you're a Colorado lady :)

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  12. Been there and done that. If you run out of your own Take Me Back In Time memories, you know where you get lots of them. Nice work.

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  13. Your Colorado night sky is wonderful, it sounds so peaceful and inviting. I never went camping as a kid nor did I eat smores. I had my first one when I married.

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  14. That is good stuff! Memories like that are so sweet.
    Karen
    Ladybug Creek

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  15. p/s/s
    I never went camping as a kid either and Oscar Mayer is my choice of hot dog to!

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  16. What a special memory and post. And, now you are experiencing the most beautiful place to camp. I lived in CO for a year and you're right about trying to capture the night sky at that elevation. Oh, how I pine for Colorado. It's one of my favorite things in the world!

    Thanks for sharing your story!

    Nancy

    p/s I love slightly charred roasted marshmallows to!

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  17. Good morning Suzanne, I have been wondering about your trip to your cabin. We so loved our visit there. I still moon over our wonderful wildlife pics that we captured there. I imagined you enjoying the rest away from everyday life and wished it could be us again. Smile.

    Your post today is such a good read. I never went camping when I was a kid either. We had an outdoor brick barbque in our back yard. Lots of parties with hotdogs (the cheap kind)and marshmallows were eaten there throughout the years. See, you sparked a memory for me. I eat my marshmallows just like you. We do go camping now every summer with out five children and all the grands. We haul our fifth wheel if want to call that camping.HA! Guess where everyone is when it turns chilly? This summer it will be in July at our Smokey Mountain Nat'l Park. We are about 1 1/2 hours from there. It is beautiful and not as high as the Rockies. I never thought of cooking hotdogs and mallows on a gas stove but why not???

    Love the photo of your cute pups.
    Love, Jeanne

    I will be joining you tomorrow for VTT.

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  18. Suzanne, you brought back some great memories for me. S'mores! YUM!

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  19. Really good stuff! I remember having camp fires and Daddy putting ashes in scrambled eggs because that's they way they fixed them as he walked across Europe in WWII. Memories.

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Sometimes someone says something really small, and it's like it fits into this empty space in your heart!

Thank you for stopping by and leaving your thoughts here, they really mean a lot to me!

Suzanne

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