Seriously…You’ve Always Done This!
As our summer winds its way toward fall, we took the opportunity of a nice summer-like evening this weekend to kindle a campfire and enjoy S’mores. Once the campfire had turned into the perfect S’more fire—lots of hot red coals and very little open flame—out came the roasting forks, the marshmallows, graham crackers, and Hershey’s chocolate bars.
What’s that saying about never too old to learn new tricks? My son’s girlfriend arrived at the picnic table with a new ingredient for tonight’s S’mores: a package of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup candy bars. Her declaration that “our family has always made S’mores with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups” convinced us that it was certainly worth changing the recipe for tonight’s late evening snack.
I have always been a fan of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. They kind of fall in the same category as bacon and ranch dressing in that they are one of those items that is a for sure when added to a recipe.
The process of crafting S’mores on this night was pretty much the same. Marshmallows toasted to a golden brown, but in place of the normal Hershey’s candy bar was a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, placed between two halves of a normal-sized graham cracker. The first bite was something just short of awesome. WOW! Where have I been for all these years? This was indeed a recipe, while maybe not completely replacing the original S’more recipe, that would at least be offered as an option.
I only warn you that you may want to control the number of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups brought to your summer campfires for S’more making, because it’s really hard not to turn down a second or even a third round.
There’s still a lot of nice fall evenings ahead. Give this recipe a try. It’s one of those “for sure” recipes, something like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
Those New Phones Are Amazing, Too…
It had turned completely dark at our campfire when someone noticed that there was a rustle in the bushes about 50 yards away, and then two—well, actually two pairs of—eyes appeared from the shelterbelt. A pair of deer, kind of looking like maybe younger whitetails, were watching us from a distance.
We could just barely see their shapes, but taking a lesson from our Northern Lights experiences, I picked up my smart phone and, sure enough, the image that my phone produced was much better than what we could see with the naked eye.
My curiosity piqued, and I decided to try a photo. The only caveat, as far as I could tell, was that my phone prompted me to hold as steady as I could for 10 seconds. Then, without a flash, the photo was finished. And the results were again amazing.
My friends often show me their photos from trail cameras strategically placed to monitor the movement of deer during the fall hunting season, but those photos are normally fairly close. These two youngsters were at a distance. I have included the photo that my phone produced as a “hey, give it a try…you never know” challenge.
And 25 Years Later
From the glow of a campfire and the surprise of a phone camera, the week also brings us to a much quieter kind of remembering.
It was a cloudy morning in Minot on September 11th, 2011. We had a business meeting scheduled in our conference room at 8:30 AM. In the busyness of the day, we had not bothered to take the time to turn on the large television in our reception area. I walked past the front desk on the way to my office, and our administrative assistant was standing looking at the television with the remote still in her hand. Almost in a whisper, she said, “Oh my God.”
The first plane had hit the twin towers at 7:46 AM, almost 30 minutes earlier. Our clients arrived at 8:30 AM, and we all stood and watched in disbelief as the tragic story of 9/11 unveiled itself right before our eyes. The second tower, then the Pentagon, and finally a voice in the room that had stood silent for almost 30 minutes said, “Perhaps we should re-schedule our meeting for another day?”
The pieces of girders and concrete that form the 9/11 Memorial at the Peace Garden don’t show the whole story, but instead they cause people to pause, and if they were alive on September 11, 2001, remember that day, and more specifically the minute or minutes when they became aware of this horrific event. It was beyond surreal. It couldn’t be true…and no one expected the outcome to be as terrible as it was.
I read a short article that gives me fear because it talks about how events like Pearl Harbor, D-Day, and, in that same category, 9/11, are chronicled in our history books and don’t show the emotion and the realism of the day. For the friends and families of the 2,977 who perished as a result of 9/11, and Americans who were alive on that day, it is still so very real, even 25 years later.
Ramblin’s
If your Saturday isn’t planned out, there’s still time to head for the Downtown Minot Fall Festival. Starts at 10 AM and goes until 4:00 PM. More details on downtownminot.org.
Today’s Chuckle
Wisdom is what you can attain if you survive all the times you were stupid.
