Friday, November 23, 2007

Snap, Crackle and "Pop!"

This past weekend was the last regularly-scheduled "Father-Daughter Day" weekend.

It was nothing special. We did the "usual" stuff, with one exception.

I made Rice Krispies Treats for the first time ever.

Now, I like Rice Krispies Treats. I mean really, really like them.

My mom never made them, though. I'd have to scrounge them at the very rare functions where someone might have brought them to pass around. As a result, I've never had the opportunity to really pig out on them.

So...

Last Saturday, I happened to notice there was a giant box of Rice Krispies sitting in the kitchen cabinet. It had been opened a couple weeks ago and it seemed as if it wasn't being eaten. There, staring me in the face, was the recipe for RK Treats!

Hmmm....

All that was needed was 4 tbsp of margarine (check!), 6 cups of Rice Krispies (check!) and a 10 oz bag of marshmallows.

"Come on, Mariel!" said Daddy. "Let's go bye-bye to Food Lion and get some marshmallows!"

One trip to the store and eighty-nine cents later, we were back home and Daddy was melting 4 tbsp of margarine in a large sauce pan. Mariel was perched on a kitchen chair so as to watch the majesty of a ten ounce package of mini-marshmallows melting into a soupy tub of goo.

Neat-o!

Into this mess, I poured the six cups of cereal. Then I scooped the resulting mixture into a prepared 9" x 13" cake pan and pressed it down into a 1" thick slab of goodness.

After an hour in the refrigerator, I cut off the first square so that the blue-ribbon panel of judges, i.e. Daddy and Mariel, could sample the results.

I bit into my square. MMmmmm! Perfection! It was everything a Rice Krispies Treat should be; a solid TEN!

Mariel took one bite, made a face and asked for a "vanilla bar" instead. (That's what she calls granola bars, folks.)

Model father that I am, I gave her a granola bar and finished her square.

Then I cut and ate another.

And another.

And another.

And another.

Yes, the pan was half-gone by the time Mommy came home from work at 5:00. And, also yes, Daddy was feeling pretty green.

Then it dawned on me. By eating a half pan of Rice Krispies Treats I had also eaten a half-bag of marshmallows!

Yuck.

What sort of an idiot would just sit down and start gobbling a bag of marshmallows with one hand while cramming down fistfuls of Rice Krispies with the other?

That would be, um, me.

And so ended our regularly-scheduled "Father-Daughter Days."

Happy Day After Thanksgiving, Everyone!

15 Comments:

Blogger CS said...

You can also make those by melting the marshmallows in the microwave. I used to make them all the time as a kid, and loved them. damned shame they have gelatin in them, because now they are off the list.

November 23, 2007 12:57 PM  
Blogger Martin said...

It must be 22-25 years since Ive had a rice krispie treat...

man I loved them.

good times.

Happy Thanksgiving-ish.

November 23, 2007 1:26 PM  
Blogger Lee said...

Mmmm... we love making RK squares here. (And little hands love eating the marshmallows straight out of the bag). We put a splash of vanilla in ours.

Sorry to hear you had a bit of a tummy ache after.

No marshmallow-y treats for Mariel? I wonder if she'd go for another childhood favourite of mine -- Finger Jell-o!
http://leesvoice.blogspot.com/2007/05/recipe-finger-jell-o.html

November 23, 2007 7:48 PM  
Blogger RED MOJO said...

Those things are a weakness of mine too. I started making them when I was around 11, I used Fluffernutter. That comes in a jar, already a goopy substance, very easy to heat with a little marg. and mix up. Cheating maybe, I don't know. We always had the stuff around. Very entertaining story.

November 24, 2007 9:59 AM  
Blogger Gale said...

Sometimes you just have to feed the machine, you must of had a marshmallow/krispy cereal defenciey.

November 25, 2007 6:33 AM  
Blogger Allan said...

"What sort of an idiot would just sit down and start gobbling a bag of marshmallows with one hand while cramming down fistfuls of Rice Krispies with the other?"

Uh...Homer Simspon?

November 25, 2007 1:59 PM  
Blogger weatherchazer said...

Your post made me feel nauseous- for the pure fact that I got blasted one time and ate RK Treats as my "solid food". Haven't touched one since.

November 25, 2007 4:22 PM  
Blogger Synchronicity said...

awww what a great post. i have definitely done the same thing. heck i have eaten them when the marshmallow was still warm and gooey....oooh now i am salivating. me want crispy treats!

November 26, 2007 2:48 PM  
Blogger whimsical brainpan said...

I love Rice Krispies Treats and I could see myself eating half the pan.

November 27, 2007 4:28 PM  
Blogger Craig D said...

cs: This would explain why my gut felt like a rendering plant at low tide.

xbox4: 25 years?!?! What, is there an Irish embargo on Rice Krispies? Are Lucky Charms the only cereal allowed in? There is no excuse for this!

lee: Mariel is a long-time fan of finger Jell-o. She likes to play with it rather than eat it, though.

red moho: Marshmallow Fluf is an allowable substitution, per the recipe, no need to feel you're "cheating!"

gale: You're right! There was a dangerous lack of RK Treats in my dietary food pyramid.

allan: My cullinary mentor!

weatherchazer: Obviously, the beer was activating the latent sanp, crackle and pop mechanism in your stomach. Ouch!

merelyme: You make Rice Krispie Treats - Ungawa!

whim: Try it before your next blood draw and see what happens!

November 28, 2007 5:13 AM  
Blogger Allan said...

Haha! Hope all's well...don't get 'round much anymore.

November 28, 2007 4:42 PM  
Blogger Martin said...

--"xbox4: 25 years?!?! What, is there an Irish embargo on Rice Krispies? Are Lucky Charms the only cereal allowed in? There is no excuse for this!"--

nah, me old mother went and croaked and there was no one to make them for poor old me ;-)

would you believe lucky charms are not available in ireland, leprechaun n'all.... first time I saw them was in US in '94.

whats wrong with good old porridge anyway...

November 28, 2007 5:25 PM  
Blogger Judy said...

You are soooooo funny, and I giggled reading the entire post right up to the inevitable downing of WAY too many Rice Crispie Treats. So did Daddy learn anything from Mariel? ; ) I prefer to get green with a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips, and the really bad thing is that you can buy them by the pound at our food co-op... right there in the bulk bin next to the grains and legumes...

November 29, 2007 2:05 PM  
Blogger Craig D said...

WIZ: Does Daddy ever learn anything from anybody?

November 30, 2007 9:26 PM  
Blogger more cowbell said...

haha! Half a bag of marshmallows does sound rather nauseating, when you think about it in those terms. Blech!

What I found most amazing was that you actually went into the grocery store and came out having only spent the 89cents. I can never do that.

December 03, 2007 1:32 PM  

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