I made marshmallows yesterday, which resulted in some drama that I wrote about earlier (in short: my husband accidentally knocked the pan on the floor, I briefly debated being mad and then changed my mind when I saw my husband's stricken face. The end.). But wait! There was MORE marshmallow-related drama to come....
I made a second batch of marshmallows which did not turn out as obligingly fantastic as the first lost batch, but that's the way the cookie crumbles and so on. I carefully scraped the mixer bowl into two small pans (the larger one having been broken in the morning's accident), and then elbowed one of the glass pans onto the floor, where it shattered. I stood there unblinking for a moment, and then sighed and swept up the INCREDIBLY STICKY MESS. Did I mention that it was INCREDIBLY STICKY? It was. It was a big white gooey broken shards of glass mess but I managed to only cut myself once, so hooray for me.
The other pan of marshmallows turned out just fine.
The Girl and I went out to a Christmas concert in the evening and I had my frequent poignant realization that away from her siblings, she is a little child still and then after the concert, we crowded into the small church basement along with what felt like 500 other people and The Girl ate a piece of sheet cake with thick bakery icing and drank a cup of tea with maybe three packages of sugar in it.
My mother noticed that I was abstaining from the lavish dessert table, which is - do I even need to write this? - unusual for me. I merely shuddered. Apparently, all of the morning's marshmallow mangling had put me off sugar for once in my life. It was a lovely time, even with my new plans to live off carrot sticks and whole grains from that point on - a plan which I have since abandoned, you will be happy to read. And then later on, The Girl and I delivered bags of Nanaimo Bars and homemade marshmallows to a few friend's houses before bedtime. It was a charming end to the day, and some very nice time spent with my sweet daughter. As I closed my eyes in bed I had the consoling thought that I was done dealing with marshmallows and their sticky awfulness for another year.
Oh, wrong. So very very wrong.
Did you know that it's quite easy to miss small shards of glass on your floor when TWO PANS break in your kitchen? Public service announcement: it really, really is. I'd perfunctorily vacuumed the kitchen after breaking the second pan but now I want go back in time and kick my butt. My little guy was getting ready for school and hopping into his socks in the kitchen when he managed to locate a shard of glass with his foot and slice the bottom of his foot open.
OH THE GUILT.
I thought he needed stitches for the first while - there was SO MUCH BLOOD - but it was actually just a tiny little wound. The poor boy was pretty sad, though, so I kept him home from school for an hour just to make sure that he was all right and we read a stack of Christmas books and wrapped Christmas presents and basically he had the kind of hyper-focused attention I give my kids when I feel bad about something and he enjoyed himself SO much that when my dad showed up to take him to school, he cried AGAIN. So that was just a grand morning. (The Boy is fine - there was no glass in his cut, and the cut was actually pretty small. BY the time my dad got here, The Boy was entertaining himself by standing on chairs and jumping down, so I don't think it was all THAT sore.)
In conclusion: I still recommend making marshmallows. They are easy AND impressive, so long as you can avoid injuring your children, breaking your dishes or getting divorced in the process.
I had a couple of baking/entertaining traumas this weekend myself this weekend. 'tis the season and all that I suppose. But now I feel a strong urge to make marshmallows. . . an unexpected urge after all the baking I've been doing.
Unbelieveable! What drama! I really hope he is ok now...
I love mashmallows, even though my boys ain't that interested. I will still try to get them to eat one or two...its so lonely eating mashmallows alone...BBQ-ing mashmallows is my favourtie!
Hope your son is ok. Feet can be painful!
Those are the very same goals I set myself everyday! Glad The Boy was not seriously hurt.
And I have the opposite urge, to buy them in bags forever! I have had too many shards of glass already on my kitchen floor!
Poor boy! I'm glad he's okay...and I'm glad you still recommend the marshmallows because I was planning on making them!
oh how i hate that! we bust things all the time on our tile floor and it is very hard to get up all the pieces. it scares me since i hate even a little blood. poor boy.
oh the marshmallow woes at your house Beck - glad all is okay now though! They sound to yummy to give up on them though!
I think this is one of my favorite posts of yours! So sorry about the boy, though it did make for an "on the edge of your seat" post!
Oh, you poor thing. I broke a massive casserole dish a few months back and I'm still finding little bits of it here and there. Yuck.
Well it certainly takes all sorts and if that' show you get your kicks, then stick with it dearie.
Cheers
Ouch! I am so glad all is well. Now you need some new pans for Christmas.
Making marshmallows. That is SO something I would do, just because you CAN do it. Like the time I made soap. Just FYI, soap is neither fun, easy or safe to make with kids in the home, so don't rise to the challenge!
sneaky little shards of glass. i'm so glad he's okay!
Was he sad he didn't get stitches? BubTar is still sad he didn't get x-rays and a cast for his swing set mangled war wound.
Aw @ you. I break stuff ALL THE TIME. John just looks at me like, "Well, Fastie McGee, when are you going to slow down?" every time. And I'm all, "Hah! Even in slow motion I LACK ALL GRACE."
Foot cuts always seem to bleed like the dickens. Glad he's okay!
Poor boy! It really amazes me how soft those little kid feet can be ... it sounds like he had a day to remember with you, though.
The marshamllows sound deliciously cursed...perhaps they'd be a treat better for Halloween or April Fool's Day.
You want guilt? When my mother was younger she mistakenly left a needle on the floor -- my aunt stepped (who was about 15 at the time)on it it went right into her foot and had to be removed in hospital! Ugggh!
I wish I had a friend who would bring me homemade marshmallows before bed! That sounds so neighborly and happy. Not much of that goes on 'round here. Maybe I should start! :0)
We always seem to miss huge honking shards when something breaks (which is once or twice a month, at least). It is really hard to get them all the first time.
So glad the Boy is better!
goodness, those were some jinxed marshmallows!
I'm so sorry to hear about The Boy and happy you were able to enjoy such a special time with The Girl. Every year I think I will make homemade marshmallows, and every year I forget until it's too late. And it's too late now--I've made The List, and it's final. :)
What a nice evening with your girl it turned out to be!
Glad to hear the Boy is alright after all that.
You MADE marshmallows?
Wow.
I was off sugar after making truffles the other day. Lasted less than a day.
Who knew making marshmallows could be so risky? Who knew you could make marshmallows?!
The drama! I can imagine your husband might feel better now that you broke a dish too. Glad that boy is okay. I can't even imagine how much crying there would be if the same thing happened to my little boy....
I am always paranoid when something breaks that I have missed some glass somewhere. Now I'm even more paranoid. ;)
Sounds like the boy lucked out and got some wonderful mommy pampering out of the deal. Sounds worth the tiny cut to me.
Those marshmallows sound like delightfully tasty little troublemakers.
Yikes! If it's any consolation, I'm sure that in the future when you make marshmallows it will be a completely boring and mundane event. ;)
Okay, Beck, I'm sorry to be all "Me too! Me too!" but I also made marshmallows twice this week! But mine were the coconut covered kind. The kind where you toast the coconut in the oven and forget about it and burn it and curse and start over and burn it again.
I am sorry about your broken pans though. Sigh.
xo
When we moved into this house, I was eight months pregnant. I don't know what the previous owners broke in the bathroom, but three times that month I got a glass shard in my foot. It is not easy to pick glass out of you foot around an eight-months pregnant belly.
I'm glad the boy got over it quickly. One-on-one time with mom! That is the jackpot, around here.
Those don't look easy enough for timid me.
Oooo, I'd like to try marshmallows but I feel like I'd make a sticky sticky mess. I want to live by you so and and one of your adorable childen could just drop by and leave one of your amazing creations. Said child would run off and play with my kids and we would chat. Such a wonderful time would be had by all that everyone would agree that we should do it again and again. And we would.
Ok...enough dreaming...
Sorry about The Boy's foot. Ouch. Glad that he wasn't hurt too badly.
I buy marshmallows and still have the same kind of chaos in my kitchen... :) Great post! Sorry about the little guy's foot! But all is well after a day off from school, I'm sure.
My husband always tells me when I break something that it has rid me of some bad luck I was about to have. Maybe he just says that to make me feel better because I tend to break things a lot. However, if it is true, good for you for averting a lot of bad luck on the weekend!!
I cannot believe that. Do bad things always come in threes? My husband has been slicky fingers this year and has managed to break several glass items in our kitchen. One was full of water.I don't know what is more difficult - glass in sticky stuff or glass in water. The water made the glass almost impossible to see, plus you can't sweep and you can't mop. Dilemma.
We've had a child with glass in her foot once before, and I never, never, EVER want to go through that again, shudder, shudder, grimace. We're the glass police now whenever anything is broken. Trust me, you can count your blessings today!!
I can't even begin to imagine how you make homemade marshmallows.
Good grief. Sounds like it was total chaos. LOL
I had no idea you could make marshmallows ... interesting. Glad the foot is alright :)
Will you bring me homemade marshmellows? Pretty please with sugar on top?
It is a tradition to make marshmallows the night of the first big snow fall. We love them!!
I'm glad the boys toe didn't need stitches!
Yikes! I can't believe both pans broke! Sorry to hear the boy got a cut on his foot, but glad it wasn't more serious than that. Glass IS so hard to clean up; I can't imagine having to do it twice in two days! But it does sound like you had a very nice time with your daughter!
Oh my goodness---I'm not sure I can handle the drama that is marshmallows! And, here is my question---must you own a candy thermometer to make them? I do not and have this irrational fear of any recipe that calls for one.
Oh you guys!
I didn't even know it was possible to make marshmallows. Your sad pan stories prompt a very important question from me. Is there such a thing as a good cookie sheet? All of mine peel and get destroyed after one or two batches which puts me off the whole baking thing from the get go. Advice?