All Hail The Humble Marshmallow

It's October, which means it's genuinely fall and that the holidays are nearly upon us.  Which made me remember a story from last fall around this time that I'd like to share with you.  A story so exciting, that Readymade featured it and even illustrated it!  (Okay, so I got a 2 line tip, but the illustration got a full page!!) 

Back before I was a happily cohabitating lady, I lived with 2 other single ladies.

My roommate A was lucky enough to procure a turkey from her work as a holiday gift.  Not knowing how to prepare said avian, she defaulted to hosting a Turkey Day at our house and asked that I help her prepare it.

Preparations began Friday night when I decided I wanted to do a "traditional gravy."  This required some giblet stock...so I set forth to remove the iron-rich goodies from the bird and let them simmer with other goodness for several hours.  Much to the chagrin of my roommates ... squeals of "EWW!" and "THAT'S SO GROSS" could be heard through out the house as I manhandled the neck bone.

I also decided since I'd opened up the bird - that a brine might do good.  I had decided to put herb-butter under the skin of the bird for day of cooking, but thought as an off-set to that a sweet/spicy brine might be just the trick.  So, in went cloves, cinnamon along with the salt and veggie broth.  The kitchen filled the air with odors that one might confuse with an apple pie mixed with boiled kidneys. 

With the preparations done I bagged the bird in its new liquid home and went about my merry way.

Saturday came and went without much of a hitch, or much of a purpose.  I delighted in my sloth-like behavior.  Only jazzing up the routine in the evening when everyone in the house watched movies together and I made steaks for Ox and I.  My rare once a week beef treat...moooooo!

Sunday we awoke to a new sight!  About 2 inches of snow had fallen over night and the world was a winter wonderland...  The neighborhood children were dashing about in mad delight as parents posed them by trees in their winter-gear for Christmas photos.  By the time I was up and about, most of the snow had begun to disappear, but there were traces left dotting the trees.

I sat down with a breakfast sandwich (ham, egg and cheese on wheat) to hear a loud CRASH come from the kitchen.  As soon as I heard the loud racket, I knew what had happened.  You see, we keep a variety of items on top of our fridge...with each slam of the fridge door these items migrate slowly further and further towards the back of the fridge...we'd had our first causality.  I continued munching on my sandwich, afterall no one wants to clean on an empty tummy.

It was quite a sight to behold...the graveyard I found once we pulled the fridge from it's hiding spot.  We'd had 3 bottles fall victim to the great cavern at the back of the fridge...however only one such bottle had lost it's little life in the fall.  A lone bottle of Agave Syrup lay at the bottom of the heap...surrounded by it's innards.  Sticky innards at that! 

I proceeded to wedge myself behind the fridge (after making all involved put shoes on!).  Warm wash clothes were passed back to me as I began the clean up.  Glass was everywhere...encased in a molasses type tomb.  Soon all was cleaned up.

Feeling proud for doing such a household chore, I pushed the fridge back with a satisfied sigh.  Only to turn around and see that the wash clothes had been rinsed out in the sink and my stomach fell.  You see we were quite lucky at our bachelorette pad, we had a garbage disposal in our one basin sink.  It was quite handy.  Except when small shards of glass are a part of the yuckiness that is swirling the drain...as you see...garbage disposals and glass aren't exactly friends.  In fact, one might venture to say that they might even be considered enemies.  The garbage disposal was stuck, it wouldn't run...and how were we going to get the glass out?!

I proceeded to try to fish out each tiny shard of glass with a pair of tongs...this fun went on for about 15 minutes.  When I realized my folly...this wasn't working.  It was like a blind crane game...and I was losing.  What to do?!  It was Sunday!  It was the day of the TURKEY!!!  I couldn't proceed with preparations with a non-functioning sink!  Whatever will we do!!!

Then I recalled a device I had used out of the garage as a child...it was a magnet on the end of a stick.  Stuff falls in an engine, you can't get it - stick the magic stick in and volia!  But glass isn't magnetic...I needed something sticky that I could get the glass to embed in.  I considered potatoes -- but wasn't preparing those, so had none to speak of.  Then I began to ransack my cupboard.  Surely, surely I had something!!  Then, my hand landed on mecca, the golden ticket, the answer to my problems ---  MARSHMALLOWS!!! 

I received a few raised eyebrows as I removed the small puffs of sugar and began slowly and surely smoshing them about in the garbage disposal.  After a few smooshes I raised the 'shmallow to the light, wondering if I'd done any good and there they were - tiny shards of glass - embedded in the lovely puffs and my hands were safe.  I went wild!  I'd done it!  After about a dozen or so marshmallows fell to the task of the smooshing.  I decided to give it a go and amazingly enough - the wedged glass had been freed and the garbage disposal was clear!! I'd saved Turkey Day --- well marshmallows had - they were the heros of the day!!! 

The turkey went in the oven without a hitch.  Gravy was perfect.  The sides arrived on time and everyone had a fantastic too full turkey day!  We even went and got our first Christmas tree for the house and decorated it last night.  All thanks to our friend, the marshmallow.

So, the moral of the story is Marshmellows rock! :)