colorado’s fluffy white stuff (and a giveaway)
Recipe: homemade marshmallows
Yes, I’m talking about snow… sort of. Actually, I’m also talking about marshmallows which, as you know, invariably brings us to eating s’mores après ski at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort and Spa at Beaver Creek Ski Resort in Avon, Colorado. The Park Hyatt BC invited me over to experience their brand of hospitality on the mountain, literally. Ski-in ski-out access to one of Colorado’s premier ski resorts? S’mores after the lifts close? Fine dining at 8100 feet? I needed to verify this before the snowpack up and walked (melted) away.
jeremy offered to assist me
s’mores daily from 4-5pm
roasting marshmallows over the fire pit
dinner at 8100: farmed greens with duck, seared scallops on smoked trout chowder
antler chandeliers abound (hey, it’s colorado)
looking toward the park hyatt’s lounge
outdoor heated pool and outdoor jacuzzi
Last week, a box of goodies arrived in the post, courtesy of the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek. There was an adorable ceramic s’mores cooker, marshmallow skewers, s’mores trays, graham crackers, chocolate, and four flavors of housemade marshmallows developed by their chef: orange creamsicle, coffee, crème de menthe, and vanilla. Normally, it would be too cold (and windy, don’t forget windy) to enjoy these on our deck – except this season has been anything but normal.
graham crackers, chocolate, four flavors of marshmallows
i subbed in my favorite local chocolate
What a sticky, gooey, messy, fabulous treat to share with people who won’t laugh at you for having chocolate and marshmallow smeared all over your mouth! It was the Park Hyatt’s way of sharing their s’mores tradition with me, someone who loves skiing, loves Colorado, and especially loves skiing Colorado. But it’s not just ME they wanted to bring this to… they want to bring it to YOU!
there is an art to toasting marshmallows, no fireballs!
s’mores in the mountains or anywhere – feeling like summer
I’ve got five packages to give away to my good readers (that’s you!). A package includes graham crackers, chocolate, gourmet marshmallows, and a $99/night room rate (with waived resort fees and complimentary valet parking) at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek in Avon, Colorado. Go ahead, look at their rates and tell me that isn’t a freaking amazing deal! Did I mention that the Park Hyatt is an incredibly family-friendly resort? They have so many activities and services for children and families. We don’t even have kids (okay, we have the four-legged furry variety) and we were totally impressed.
To enter the giveaway, please answer this question in the comments: What is your favorite summer food memory?
Oh yeah, there are a few rules, which you should read:
1) Prizes can only be shipped in the United States (US entrants only, please). Should you win, your mailing address will be required.
2) One entry per person. Multiple entries will be deleted and disqualified.
3) Entries must appear in the comments before 11:59 pm, Thursday, March 29, 2012.
4) Five winners shall be selected at random and announced (late) Friday, March 30, 2012.
And the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek is having a little competition on Facebook for the best new marshmallow flavor. They want suggestions from people and the winning flavor will be added to their menu. Now, I KNOW that MY readers have the creativity and palate to wipe the competition off the page. Leave your flavor suggestion on the competition page and tell them use real butter sent you.
Full disclosure: The views expressed here are entirely (and always) my own. I received a s’mores package and a comped one-night stay at the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek. The ski days, transportation, and meals were at my own expense.
The reason I love s’mores is because I am a complete sucker for marshmallows, and nothing compares to homemade marshmallows. This whole s’mores lovefest got me thinking that it’s high time I attempted to make my own marshmallows.
sugar, gelatin, light corn syrup, salt, vanilla, almond extract, egg whites
softening the gelatin in water
mix the sugar syrup before boiling: water, sugar, light corn syrup
It’s easy to do. That’s what I’ve always been told. That’s what I’ve always feared. Because it is a slippery slope when you learn to make something as wonderful as delicious air – deceptively light and yet loaded with sugar that makes your pants shrink.
frothy egg whites
slowly pouring the sugar syrup and then the gelatin while whipping the egg whites
add flavoring (vanilla)
In essence, you whip egg whites, slowly pour in hot sugar syrup that has been heated to soft-ball stage, then slowly pour in heated gelatin, add your flavoring, and now you have marshmallow fluff! If for some reason you live well above sea-level, a general guideline is to reduce the temperature of the sugar syrup by 2° for every 1,000 feet you are above sea-level. For instance, I live at 8,500 feet above sea-level and boil my sugar syrup to: 245°F – [(2°/1,000 ft.) x 8,500 ft.] = 228°F Once the fluff is ready, you can make it into marshmallows or use it for other things like sundaes, pie toppings, or diving into a bowl of it face-first.
marshmallow powder: half powdered sugar, half corn or potato starch
pour marshmallow into a greased and (marshmallow) dusted pan, spread evenly
You have to be patient and let the marshmallow dry and solidify. I imagine in humid climates it can take as much as a day, but in my arid mountain air, it took a couple of hours. Peel the marshmallow layer out of the pan and cut it up into pieces. Coat the pieces in marshmallow powder, because they are really sticky, and shake off as much of the powder as you can.
cut the marshmallows
coat the marshmallows in marshmallow powder
And you’re done! But not really… Of course I had to make my own version of s’mores. Despite not loving chocolate, if I’m going to eat chocolate, I’m going to eat GOOD chocolate. No sense in wasting my time and calories on junk chocolate. My girlfriend, Erin, gifted me some special Nunu 70% dark chocolate buttons. Combine that exquisite chocolate with my homemade almond marshmallows and some pizzelles, and you’ve got yourself a kick ass version of s’mores right here, right now. That’s right.
a stack of fluffy homemade marshmallows
nunu dark chocolate buttons, pizzelles, and homemade almond marshmallows
this is how i s’more
Homemade Marshmallows
[print recipe]
from David Lebovitz
1/2 cup (125 ml) water
2 envelopes or 17 g powdered gelatin or 8-10 sheets of sheet gelatin
1/3 cup (80 ml) cold water
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1/3 cup (100 g) light corn syrup
4 large (1/2 cup or 110 g) egg whites, room temperature
pinch salt
2 tsps vanilla extract or 1 tsp vanilla paste
1 tsp almond extract (my addition – so good!!)
1 cup (140 g) confectioner’s sugar
1 cup (140 g) corn or potato starch
Place 1/2 cup of water in a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin (if powdered) over the water, and let sit. If using sheet gelatin, David says to soak the sheets in 2 cups of cold water. Mix the 1/3 cup of cold water, sugar, and light corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium-high flame. Slap a candy thermometer on there so you can monitor the temperature. Beat the egg whites on low speed in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the balloon whisk until they become frothy. Add your pinch of salt to the foamy egg whites. As the syrup reaches 210°F/99°C (in my case, 193°F – reduce by 2° for every 1000 feet above sea level), turn the mixer to high and beat the whites until thick and fluffy.
When the syrup gets to 245°F/118°C (for me, 228°F), pour the hot sugar syrup in a slow, steady stream into the side of the mixing bowl while the whisk is still running. Do your best to avoid pouring the sugar onto the whisk lest you want 1) hot sugar sticking to the sides of the bowl or 2) hot sugar sticking to you. Keep beating! Empty the gelatin into the saucepan which should still be pretty warm/hot. If using sheets, place the sheets and 2 tablespoons of water into the pan. Give it a stir – if the pan is still warm, the gelatin should dissolve in a minute. Pour the liquid gelatin into the mixer as you did the sugar syrup with the whisk screaming around the bowl on high speed. Add the vanilla extract and, if using, the almond extract. Continue whipping the marshmallow fluff for about 5 minutes or until the bowl is cool to the touch.
While the fluff is whipping, mix 1 cup of confectioner’s sugar and 1 cup of corn (or potato) starch together to make the marshmallow mixture. Grease a square or rectangular baking pan with vegetable oil. If you want tall marshmallows, use something like an 8- x 8-inch or 9- x 9-inch pan. If you want thinner (shorter) marshmallows, go with a 9- x 13-inch pan. Dust the greased pan with some marshmallow mixture and pour the marshmallow into the pan. Spread it evenly and smooth the surface. Let dry for 4 hours or overnight, uncovered.
Dust the top of the marshmallow layer with more marshmallow mixture. Place a cup of the marshmallow mixture in a large bowl. Loosen the sides of the marshmallow layer from the pan with a knife. Turn the marshmallow sheet out (you may have to tug on it – it’s okay). David uses scissors to cut the marshmallow into pieces. I used a knife. Use what you want (pizza cutter too). Toss the marshmallow pieces into the bowl with the mixture and coat the marshmallows. Shake out the excess powder using a wire strainer. [David also shows a neat technique of dusting a baking sheet with marshmallow mixture and plopping spoonfuls of fluff onto them – pretty cool.] Store for up to a week in an airtight container. Makes about 25 1.5-inch squares.
March 27th, 2012 at 12:52 am
Hmm, my favorite summer food memory? Summers in Atlanta with my grandmother, who I was very close to. We would pack a picnic basket (wicker lined with red gingham – I was very impressed, as this to me signified that it was a REAL picnic basket) filled with barbeque chicken and mashed potatoes and sometimes homemade beignets tucked into cloth napkins, or Famous Amos cookies, and go explore Stone Mountain (home of one Kenneth Parcell!) or the countryside past the city limits. I treasure those memories.
March 27th, 2012 at 1:09 am
My fave summer food memory: grilling steaks and hot links in my best friend’s backyard for 4th of July! One of my favorite things about Texas :)
March 27th, 2012 at 1:34 am
My favorite summer food memory: paletas in the park. Incredibly the memory connects Mango con chile consumed during a Colorado bike ride with limon in a Nicaraguan central park.
March 27th, 2012 at 1:53 am
My favorite summer food memory involves rhubarb. We had a patch in the middle of our backyard. I would follow my mother outside, help her select just the right stalks, and bring them back inside to be carefully washed and chopped. She made delicious rhubarb jam, pie, and cobbler. I can almost taste it now. Once I tried snacking on a plain old stalk… only once!
March 27th, 2012 at 4:30 am
Mine is going to the lake most weekends and camping. We would cook by the fire at night and occasionally roast marshmallows. The food always tasted better there, especially early morning breakfast. You would hear and smell the bacon or sausage cooking!
March 27th, 2012 at 5:00 am
Eating fresh raspberries straight off the bush.
March 27th, 2012 at 5:06 am
My favorite summer food memory is swimming in the pool in my back yard, then eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that my mom cut into quarters, just the way I liked it. And then ice cream after that, of course.
March 27th, 2012 at 5:26 am
Taking my two boys and picking blueberries…eating some and picking some! Then deciding what to make with them.
March 27th, 2012 at 5:26 am
As a child in North Michigan, summer by the lake would include dinner of a gigantic kettle of homemade sausage, corn on the cob, redskins, etc. over a fire. Plenty of beer for sure. 40 to 50 family members would show up. What a blast!
March 27th, 2012 at 5:33 am
Favorite summer food memory? I think it has to be the first BLT of the year, made with tomatoes still warm from the garden I like the way you s’more. I don’t care for graham crackers, so the pizzelle would be a great alternative. When we camp, we take Choco Leibniz for our cracker & chocolate in one.
March 27th, 2012 at 5:34 am
I like homemade ice cream, and it’s the best in summer on a hot day. I live on a beach and there is nothing better than sitting back with some homemade chocolate ice cream!
March 27th, 2012 at 6:18 am
My favorite summer food memory is sharing some grilled mussles, steamed crabs and sweet corn with my grand family @ Nagshead while on family reunion vacation. The food always taste better when you surround with all the people you love <3
March 27th, 2012 at 6:31 am
We always had family reunions growing up, some hot summer weekend by the river or lake. And my aunt always made her signature cinnamon rolls. I haven’t had them in years, but no other cinnamon roll compares.
March 27th, 2012 at 6:34 am
My favorite summer food memory is a lunch of soup and cod I had at a restaurant in Dubrovnik. Add to the fresh deliciousness the cool shadow under the intense sun, the narrow cobblestone street, the glass of white wine, and the sense of freedom I was feeling then – it was one of those perfect moments.
March 27th, 2012 at 6:42 am
My favorite summer memory is BBQ night at sleep away camp – burgers on the grill! AAAH that NEVER gets old!
March 27th, 2012 at 6:44 am
We came back to the States for summer vacations when I was a kid and I remember sitting on the plane anticipating blueberries and peaches and plain Cheerios and skim milk. (We could only get UHT or full-fat milk, ugh.)
March 27th, 2012 at 7:00 am
Growing up, my mom would make dirt cake (layered crushed oreos and vanilla pudding) almost every year during the summer because it was a no-bake dessert. It was the best.
March 27th, 2012 at 7:00 am
Strawberry shortcake. Yes, the little round packaged sponge cakes from the grocery store and coolwhip. I’m not saying it’s good but it’s my favorite summer food memory.
March 27th, 2012 at 7:06 am
Homemade peach ice cream with Fredericksburg peaches. Yum!
March 27th, 2012 at 7:06 am
Grilling out would definitely be my favorite summer memory! Delicious burgers on the grill with a cold beer… yum!
March 27th, 2012 at 7:13 am
My dad grilling steaks over his charcoal grill on Fourth of July. Then fireworks later that night. Loved running around with sparklers with my cousins.
March 27th, 2012 at 7:16 am
Lobster, corn and salt potatoes (all things that can be eaten by hand and dipped in butter) and cold white wine on the deck as the sun goes down and the peepers come out.
March 27th, 2012 at 7:20 am
I come from Australia, so my favorite summer food memory is a Christmas lunch memory- big tables laden with fresh salads, seafood and fruit eaten in my aunt’s sunny garden, followed by a quick splash in the ocean in the late afternoon.
March 27th, 2012 at 7:21 am
my favourite summer food memory HAS to be eggrolls on the back deck (a.k.a. the poop deck!) We always had to wait for a lovely summery day with little wind so that mom could take the electric frying pan or the deep fryer out to the deck. deep oil frying inside was taboo! soooo, she’d cook all the “guts” inside, let them cool and then quickly wrap bunches and bunches of lovely egg rolls and bring them outside for one of us lucky kids to fry! yummmmmmm! you just can’t beat a fresh cooked eggroll. (if you can wait long enough for them too cool you might not burn your mouth as well!)
have a great day!
March 27th, 2012 at 7:21 am
My favorite summer food memory is grilling on the deck with my husband. We especially like grilling pizza at night and enjoying it under the lights of our umbrella with wine and beer. Good times!
I love the idea of making s’mores with pizzelles!
March 27th, 2012 at 7:21 am
Our annual family 4th of July BBQ. My Grandfather would grill steaks, my Grandmother would make some horrid green jello salad and the rest of the extended family would bring the usual pot luck dishes. But my favorite was the homemade vanilla ice cream that was churned in an old electric ice cream maker, the type that you had to put ice and salt around the canister. We would top the ice cream with fresh strawberries, it was so good!
March 27th, 2012 at 7:24 am
bent over, slurping up the watermelon juice as you take a BIG bite, picking out the seeds, sticky from the heat as the sun blazes down
March 27th, 2012 at 7:32 am
I love grilling out with family and eating deviled eggs and hot meat!
March 27th, 2012 at 7:43 am
My favorite summer food memory is New Jersey boardwalk salt water taffy.
March 27th, 2012 at 7:43 am
Sangria. Chilled, delicious Sangria. Sitting by the backyard firepit, under the night stars on weekends with friends.
March 27th, 2012 at 7:49 am
My favorite summer food memory is being sticky with watermelon juice from the many many triangles of the fruit that we ate out on my front stoop in 90+ degree weather.
March 27th, 2012 at 7:51 am
My favorite food memory is shucking farm fresh corn on my back porch. I hated this chore as a child, but now every time I do it, it brings back such good memories.
We were at the PHBC a few weeks ago for lunch and it was fabulous. The sandwiches were delicious, and they were so good with our kids. It was the perfect break from skiing with little ones. Now I am craving s’mores. Thanks!
March 27th, 2012 at 7:59 am
My favorite summer food memory is the lobster picnic at the camp we stayed at in Maine when I was a teenager. We’d all get on a boat and head to a small island where the owners of the camp would light a huge fire and cook the lobsters, along with corn and hot dogs and potato salad with chocolate cake for dessert. So amazing to pick a lobster on the beach.
March 27th, 2012 at 8:17 am
My favorite summer food memory are the 4th of July pot lucks at the lake when I was a kid. I love pot lucks, and remembering all the eating, swimming, and playing, all while surrounded by family and friends, gives me a warm fuzzy every time.
March 27th, 2012 at 8:19 am
My favorite summer food memory is the hamburgers at the local baseball park. They were always the best…and they sure made watching baseball a lot more fun.
March 27th, 2012 at 8:22 am
My favorite summer food memory is sweet, juicy watermelon, cold buttermilk and crisp lemonades( not all together! ) – all to beat the terrible summer heat of India.
BTW Jen, I love your writing and obviously your photography is amazing. Thanks for sharing.
March 27th, 2012 at 8:25 am
I’m a Colorado girl, through and through, and my favourite summer food memories all seem to revolve around camping. There’s nothing like the mountain air to bring up your appetite and make everything taste amazing. But the finest memory is of catching my own trout, cleaning it (ew) and cooking it over the campfire under my dad’s supervision. So nourishing in so many ways!
March 27th, 2012 at 8:30 am
My favorite summer food memory is going to a BBQ with my best friend, stuffing my face full of roasted corn, watermelon and veggie burgers. :)
March 27th, 2012 at 8:31 am
My favorite summer food memory is sharing watermelon amongst cousins at my grandparents’ home in northern Indiana. It seemed that every time we visited in the summer, grandma and grandpa would have watermelon to share with us all (eight grandkids). The watermelon was bright red, crisp, sweet, and juicy. Grandpa told us kids not to eat the seeds or we’d grow watermelons in our tummies (he sure loved food, as did his three boys). In our 30’s now, it is still a cherished memory.
March 27th, 2012 at 8:32 am
My favorite summer food memory is having a big bowl of Chinese style shaved ice topped with condensed milk. Nothing cools you down faster (and inside out) in a tropical heat.
March 27th, 2012 at 8:34 am
My favorite summer food memory is fried chicken. We always requested Mom’s fried chicken for our birthday dinner, and my birthday is in the summer. Your version of s’mores looks so decadent! And delicious, of course.
March 27th, 2012 at 8:34 am
Sitting in the sun and eating my first burrito every trip back to NM to visit my in-laws.
March 27th, 2012 at 8:40 am
favorite summer food memory: impromptu trips with my church buddies to our favorite hole in the wall taiwanese eatery. we would get pork chop or fried chicken with rice, stinky tofu, or ro gen mi fen, then finish off with boba milk tea w/ custard, or shaved ice w/ lots of condensed milk, pudding, mung bean, and aiyu jello !
March 27th, 2012 at 8:40 am
Picnics with my mom and her dog :)
March 27th, 2012 at 8:46 am
My favorite summer food memory is a throwback to childhood: eating freshly grilled sausage (loaded with peppers and onions, of course!) and fried dough at the fair every summer in Vermont! Thanks for the drool-worthy photos, Jen!
March 27th, 2012 at 8:49 am
I love so many things about this post I can’t possibly list them all! Making s’mores out of pizzelles is genius. My Italian grandmother has been making pizzelles for as long as I can remember, but I never thought to fill them with chocolate and marshmallows. I can’t wait to try it!
My favorite summer food memory has to be eating tomato sandwiches – with tomatoes freshly picked from our backyard garden – when I was a kid. I still think it’s not summer until I have a tomato sandwich!
March 27th, 2012 at 8:53 am
The best memory I have is sitting in this small “restaurant” (I use this term loosely because it was outdoors and run out of someone’s small garage) in Costa Rica right along the Pacific Ocean. The rice, the beans, the fresh produce (and of course cold beer) was amazing.
March 27th, 2012 at 9:03 am
Every summer I look forward to fresh fruits, especially apricots. My favorite way to fix them is in an apricot crumb pie. Truly, only a summer dessert.
March 27th, 2012 at 9:25 am
One summer, we went to China and sampled a variety of authentic food. I recall particularly fondly the moments when we slurped piping hot bowls of noodle soup as the sun set!
March 27th, 2012 at 9:35 am
Eating a squash blossom stuffed with goat cheese for the first time. Its one of those food moments that I will remember forever because it really opened my eyes to what a delicate flavor can be.
March 27th, 2012 at 9:37 am
Summer in New York is replete with many great food memories. My favorite is italian ices – in Brooklyn, there are street stands that throw their awnings out and serve a million and one different flavors. Once you see the awnings open, you know spring is over! (Well, that, and the fact that it’s 10000+ degrees outside and a million percent humidity).
March 27th, 2012 at 9:48 am
My childhood summer was all about my mother’s Galbi (Korean BBQ short ribs) marinated in her own secret sauce. The meat was so thin, tender, and juicy. We would have a huge platter full of perfectly grilled Galbi with the fat drippings hanging on for dear life. Just imagine a small spoonful of rice, a dollop of Den-Jang (Korean fermented soy bean paste, tastes much better than it sounds…), and a large piece of meat all snuggled together in a buttery red lettuce leaf. Then imagine 20 of these in your stomach! Afterwards, the entire family would gather in my bedroom, lounge on the furniture, and enjoy the cool breeze. Travolta knew no summer lovin’… b/c this is summer love. :o)
March 27th, 2012 at 9:49 am
my favorite summer food has to be the satisfying bite of a juicy sweet watermelon slice in the hot georgia summer. yum.
March 27th, 2012 at 9:55 am
Camping and having my dad make special pancakes over the fire.
March 27th, 2012 at 10:02 am
Last summer, I went camping with my family for the weekend. No internet, no showers. We had the best food, though- we picked up a ton of vegetables and meats and just threw everything on the grill- with just oil, salt and pepper. The chicken was deliciously charred, and the best part was tossing roasted marshmallows (intended for s’mores) onto some sweet potatoes we had. It was amazing.
March 27th, 2012 at 10:03 am
My favorite summer food memory was when I turned my Grandmother’s recipe for rhubarb custard pie into an ice cream… I love rhubarb, and her pie was an amazing combination of sweet & creamy rhubarb custard topped with meringue. Turning the custard base into an ice cream was a simple piece of work, baking the meringue separately, and swirling the ice cream with the meringue & raspberry swirl was brilliant. Whenever I ate it I thought of her! (http://esom.us/?p=1004)
On another note – I absolutely love marshmallows, especially the homemade variety I buy at the Atwater farmer’s market. Lemon is my favorite flavor. I should give making them another shot. My first attempt was successful – but so messy!
Sarah
March 27th, 2012 at 10:17 am
My favorite summer food memory is biking to the snow cone stand for a bright blue bubblegum snow cone. There’s no way I could stand its sweetness today!
March 27th, 2012 at 10:18 am
My favorite food memory was making orange ice-cream with oranges from our trees. We’d make it in a large hand-crank machine. My sisters and I would all have to take a turn at both cranking and sitting on the top to keep it stable. When it was finished, we would argue about who got to lick the paddles and then rush to get all the drippy ice cream before it melted off.
March 27th, 2012 at 10:24 am
My favorite summer food memory is making puppy chow at summer camp! It’s Chex cereal covered in a mix of melted chocolate and peanut butter, then dusted with powdered sugar. Since we made it over a campfire, usually the counselor or instructor would monitor the melting process while we were instructed to search out firewood (probably as a busy work exercise so we didn’t hover too much!) I still remember eating it out of brown paper lunch bags that would wind up lined with powdered sugar dust.
My birthday is this Friday….winning would be awesome! :)
March 27th, 2012 at 10:25 am
Growing up in Hawaii, I loved eating shave ice (yes, it’s gramattically incorrect!) after a long day at the beach (this is a local dessert with super-finely shaved ice, topped with flavored fruity syrups). My favorite combination is mango and lychee syrups with vanilla ice cream. YUM!
March 27th, 2012 at 10:26 am
I have a summer birthday (end of spring, whatever), and at my birthday parties when I was a kid, my mom would make me an ice cream cake. Then all my friends and I would participate in a messy cake eating contest, typically involving no hands, while my parents took pictures to blackmail us with later. Thanks for reminding me to think about it :)
Although, now I’m thinking about eating freshly picked fruit, like cherries while camping. I can’t possibly choose *one* favorite.
March 27th, 2012 at 10:29 am
My favorite summer food memory has to be grilling with my dad. He loves to cook and has taught me many things in the kitchen, but learning his secrets to setting up a grill and making tasty food is something I’ll always cherish. And ending a day of swimming in our pool with fresh corn, grilled veggies from our garden, and grilled fruit for dessert from farmer’s market -what’s not to love?!
March 27th, 2012 at 10:35 am
Favorite summer memory? Scouring the streets of Taiwan for the best shaved ice! Always a welcome treat in the sticky humidity
March 27th, 2012 at 10:42 am
My favorite summer food memory was from when I was a child – fresh picked garden tomatoes topped with home made mozz, salt and pepper. All of this under the grape vine pergola in my grand mothers back yard. Thanks for triggering this great memory on a Tues morning!
March 27th, 2012 at 10:50 am
I worked at a local ice cream shop called the Pied Piper when I was in high school. One of the (dangerous) perks was free ice cream. But I was young and not too concerned about eating right, so I thoroughly enjoyed those warm summer nights and delicious chocolate ice cream.
March 27th, 2012 at 11:01 am
coming out of lurkdom for a chance to ski Colorado…. AND roast somemore’s! Best summer food memories…. picking dinner, fresh from the garden, still warm from the snun. Nothing beats it.
March 27th, 2012 at 11:05 am
My favorite summer memory: picnic dinner at the Waialae drive-in theater. Mom would pack musubi, shoyu chicken wings, carrot and celery sticks, and Lorna Doone or Oreo cookies.
March 27th, 2012 at 11:07 am
Favorite summer memory would have to be sitting out on the porch with friends talking, grilling corn and meats and sipping on a glass of wine. The summer air just has so much “magic” in it.
March 27th, 2012 at 11:09 am
Going to the market during a trip to Montenegro and picking up delicious ripe fresh figs and a huge perfectly sweet watermelon, and making a meal out of simply that.
March 27th, 2012 at 11:30 am
My favorite summer food memory is eating fresh-caught fish on the shore of Lake Superior with my family as the beach bonfire roared to life with the setting sun.
March 27th, 2012 at 11:34 am
My favorite summer food memory…growing up in Ohio with three sisters, our favorite meal was tomatoes, fresh corn, and good bread (apparently I was a budding vegetarian even then). The good bread was crucial for soaking up the corn’s butter and the juicy tomatoes (which I ate and still eat like an apple), and my mother always let us follow up with something sweet (apple crisp and ice cream remains a favorite, though it was normally watermelon from the farmers market). My favorite part of these meals, though, was sitting around our outside table, laughing with my sisters and parents, and knowing that though those days wouldn’t last forever, I’d always know how very special they were.
March 27th, 2012 at 11:53 am
My favorite summer memory is the warm sunlight lingering past 9 pm on the hills behind my parents’ house. The days felt endless and everything was glowing and golden. Thanks for the giveaway!
March 27th, 2012 at 11:57 am
Mmmmmm…..I can smell it now. Growing up in northwestern Montana, every summer my family looked forward to the county fair. The BBQ chicken was the best! The meal was complete with all the fixings – fresh corn on the cob, coleslaw and beans. Yum!
March 27th, 2012 at 12:01 pm
Thank you for writing my favorite cooking blog! I make my own marshmallows, too! A favorite summer food memory was my first time trying maple marshmallows (after all, for us Vermonters, anything that can be made with corn syrup is doubly delicious when made with maple syrup!). I brought them on a camping trip and loved watching my 50’s+ friends scarf them down with graham crackers or just plain. I am on the permanent-invite list, now.
March 27th, 2012 at 12:02 pm
favorite summer food memory is definitely eating fresh tomatoes off the vine like they are apples…
March 27th, 2012 at 12:14 pm
Favorite of summer was this chinese tea (sha gu cha?) that my mom would make. It was bitter and refreshing. I haven’t had it in years, should probably venture into one of those chinese herbal stores and hope they don’t laugh at my kindergarten level chinese!
March 27th, 2012 at 12:35 pm
Thank you so much for your blog!
My favorite summer food memories:
Tea made by hanging bags in a mason jar and setting it out in the sun.
Fresh corn on the cob
Ice cold watermelon slices
Watching my son try to eat an ice cream cone (it winds up everywhere…)
March 27th, 2012 at 1:01 pm
My favorite summer time food memory is berry picking with my family :)
March 27th, 2012 at 1:10 pm
Corn. Picked fresh and eaten right there in the field. So sweet and juicy there’s no need to cook it. Yum, I can’t wait.
March 27th, 2012 at 1:58 pm
Eating watermelon on the beach with friends, the tangy sweet juices running down our arms into the sand. Those were the days.
March 27th, 2012 at 2:08 pm
My grandmother was an exceptionally proper woman, hair always done, dress always pressed. Now imagine a watermelon seed-spittin’ contest where my prim and proper grandmother wins! The cecadas roaring, the fire-flies blinking, and us spitting seeds from our lawn chairs, laughing all the while.
March 27th, 2012 at 2:12 pm
Eating corn on the cob fresh off the grill dripping with melted butter. Nothing better than fresh summer produce!!
March 27th, 2012 at 2:14 pm
My favorite summer food would have to be- sliced tomotoes sprinkled with a little sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, corn on the cob and steamed lobsters. I grew up on the East coast and this is by far my most missed meal!
March 27th, 2012 at 2:26 pm
Mine would be making halo-halo, it’s a Philippine dessert hard to describe really but it’s a sweet dessert, what I remember most is every summer me and my cousins would set a table outside our house and sell this to make extra money for summer never really made money because we ate most it ;)
March 27th, 2012 at 2:28 pm
Favorite summer food memory…hmm…I think I would have to say any and every meal eaten after a day at the pool or lake, why does every single thing taste increditble after you have been swimming in the sun all day??
March 27th, 2012 at 2:29 pm
Mmmm…warm farmstand produce. Every summer we make caprese salad over baguettes with the tomatoes dripping out and finish with homemade white peach ice cream.
March 27th, 2012 at 2:30 pm
My favorite summer food memory is fishing with my pops and grilling up the rainbow trout for dinner!
March 27th, 2012 at 2:40 pm
Melon balls with my grandmothers fire engine red melon baller paired with mom’s homemade baked beans, grapes and classic turkey sandwiches with those flat sandwich pickes, thousand island dressing and just a bit of sand… followed by… you guessed it …s’mores! Tastes like summer!
March 27th, 2012 at 2:42 pm
My favorite summer food memory is grilling outside on the 4th of July and eating with all of my friends and family in my parents’ back yard. I love making and eating any flag-themed desserts!
March 27th, 2012 at 2:43 pm
snow cones! theres a wonderful snow cone shop that my dad would always take me to and i always got a orange creamsicle snow cone, the owner knew my order and made it when he saw i was in line:)
March 27th, 2012 at 2:57 pm
How fun would it be to make s’mores with homemade marshmallows! I definitely am going to have to try this recipe as I’ve always wanted to make marshmallows. Thanks for sharing!
March 27th, 2012 at 3:00 pm
Pizzelles instead of graham cracker! Genius! I’ve yet to make my own marshmallows but someday I will.
My favorite summer memories always involve food and water. Fresh corn, watermelon, hanging out by the river/lake. Getting chills from the cool air on sunburned skin.
March 27th, 2012 at 3:02 pm
I remember as a young adult the first time I had 4th of July dinner with just my parents as my brother, sister, and I were all out of the house. We had grilled shrimp on rosemary skewers for the first time. It was such a fun, fragrant way to do shrimp kebabs.
March 27th, 2012 at 3:23 pm
My favorite summer memories are from the mid-west, growing up as a kid. We would stop by the produce stands on the side of the road and stock up on fresh tomatoes and corn. I always think of BLT sandwiches and corn on the cob for summer meals!
March 27th, 2012 at 3:39 pm
Hot dogs and s’mores grilled/heated to perfection over a campfire while camping in northern Michigan as a kid. What I’d give to go back to those lazy summer nights with my family!
March 27th, 2012 at 4:24 pm
All kinds of fruit tarts, cobblers, and pies.
March 27th, 2012 at 4:44 pm
oh my goodness, I want some of your S’Mores! Pizzelles! Heck yeah! My favorite summer food memory is camping with my neighbors and they had this iron sandwich press, you would put a slice of bread down, put cheese and whatever yummy stuff inside, add then the second slice of bread and throw the iron press in the fire! It was campfire grilled cheese. Although the one time when we had peanut butter and fluff inside that was awesome.
On a related note, I just took my Girl Scout Troop to the 100 Anniversary Exhibit at a local museum and their was a recipe there from 1920 for Some Mores! They even subbed out chocolate for pineapple as an alternative. Those smart Girl Scouts!
March 27th, 2012 at 4:56 pm
Uncle Tom’s steak, at family barbeques!
March 27th, 2012 at 5:11 pm
My favorite summer food memory… family cookouts finished off with heaps of juicy watermelon.
March 27th, 2012 at 5:14 pm
My dad’s homemade banana ice cream!
March 27th, 2012 at 5:15 pm
This is such a fantastic post on how to make marshmallows! I’ve been wanting to tackle the task for a while, and I think this will be my go-to recipe! Thanks!
March 27th, 2012 at 5:20 pm
My favorite summer food memory is – a burger hot off the grill with corn on the cob!
March 27th, 2012 at 5:36 pm
Fresh corn on the cob – particularly off the grill!
March 27th, 2012 at 5:41 pm
My favorite summer food memory… this past summer we took the whole family (parents, sisters and niece) and went white water kayaking. Afterwards we made tri-tip steak, campfire ratatouille, roasted corn on the cob and watermelon back at camp. Everyone was sunburned and coming down off the rush of Class III rapids when it should have been Class I. Perfect.
March 27th, 2012 at 5:47 pm
grilling cherry stone clams with garlic butter and following it up with s’mores. Nothing can beat the salty and sweet dinner!
March 27th, 2012 at 6:45 pm
My favorite food memory is salmon on the grill, fingerling potatoes, and a ton of sangria on the shores of the mississippi… sigh. Only a few months until it can happen again!
March 27th, 2012 at 6:45 pm
eating watermelon after watermelon.
March 27th, 2012 at 8:20 pm
My favorite summer food memory is getting ice cream from the ice cream truck that would drive around our neighborhood on the really hot days with my sister. It was such a treat and we would make such a mess eating it!
March 27th, 2012 at 8:29 pm
Eating warm watermelon in the field with my dad and grandpa.
March 27th, 2012 at 8:44 pm
Eating farmer’s market baguettes, cured ham, cheese, and fruit in front of the Louvre with my best friend. Best summer I’ve ever had.
March 27th, 2012 at 8:57 pm
My grandma’s homemade strawberry pie!
March 27th, 2012 at 9:08 pm
A lobster salad roll by the water.
March 27th, 2012 at 9:18 pm
going on a road trip with my friends after graduation and eating the signature food in every city/state! BBQ in north carolina, lobster in maine, etc…
March 27th, 2012 at 9:19 pm
My favorite summer food memory is the fresh steamed mussels with not more than lemon and sea salt, the freshest fried calamari rings and a cold glass of ” horchata de chufas ” we have almost every day as beach snack while vacationing with my brother and granny in Benidorm, Spain all summers as kids…lucky us !
March 27th, 2012 at 9:44 pm
hmm, it has to be fresh tomato salad made from either my homegrown or just bought farmers market tomatoes, salted and left for a few minutes then a splash of olive oil, tastes like sunshine
March 27th, 2012 at 10:17 pm
Probably walking down the Tillamook Creamery to get a milkshake, burger and fries and sitting on a bench to people watch with my Mom and Grandma once a week. It was such a treat!
March 27th, 2012 at 11:46 pm
Having a picnic with my family and playing on the beach.
March 27th, 2012 at 11:53 pm
Pringles, m&m’s and lemon-line Gatorade. Lol. How’s that for a memory
March 27th, 2012 at 11:58 pm
My favourite summer food memory would be from last year, when my mother made a traditional Spanish white bean salad with red and green peppers and a light vinaigrette (empedrat). I was extremely skeptical before trying it, since I’m not too fond of beans and I had always eaten them hot and not as a cold dish, but what a pleasant surprise it was! Now that I’m in the US and miss my mother’s cooking, it’s a recipe I will make for sure during summer hot days.
March 28th, 2012 at 12:10 am
I aboslutely love so much about food in the summer, but my days start off right when I’ve got a bowl of cheerios topped (as in mounded) with fresh blueberries and wild strawberries from our yard.
March 28th, 2012 at 12:46 am
My favorite summer food memory is: I live in San Diego, and when I was a little girl, we used to drive to Arkansas to visit my paternal grandparents. This was in the 50’s, when there was no air conditioning and everyone carried a canvas bag of water hanging from the hood ornament of the car for overheating emergencies (the car’s, not ours). The farm had a fast running creek behind the house, with a “spring house”, a sort of lean-to where you put things to get icy cold. One of the things we put there was watermelon, and to a pre-teen, there was nothing better than that icy cold watermelon. I can almost taste it now!
March 28th, 2012 at 1:00 am
My mother’s cold peanut noodles and lightly pickled cucumbers on the side. Best ever!
March 28th, 2012 at 1:10 am
My favorite summer memory is eating corn on the cob for dinner that was roasted in a fire. That’s all, just corn. My second favorite memory is going on a picnic to one of Denver’s Mountain Parks. My mother would bring a gallon thermos jug of grape juice and orange juice mixed together. We would have a can of potato sticks and some kind of sandwiches, and some kind of cookies, maybe Cowboy Cookies which are oatmeal with chocolate chips.
March 28th, 2012 at 1:11 am
Some of my favorite summer memories were vacations in Minnesota with my grandparents — they had a humongous garden and we kids always were out there picking raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, corn, beans, cabbage, tomatoes, spinach, radishes, zucchini and what my grandma called ground cherry tomatoes (tomatillos today) and any many others…what I remember most is how fresh and delicious everything tasted – like the earth itself. My grandma also made this awesome vegetable dip with fresh dill – I often daydream about how delicious and wonderful those times were…am grateful that I was able to have the experience of eating truly delicious home grown food early on and I am sure it is why I too have a garden today…nothing better than nature’s bounty!
March 28th, 2012 at 4:52 am
my mom always made me a tuna salad sandwhich after playing and swimming all day
March 28th, 2012 at 5:10 am
Favorite summer food memory: Mom’s roasted fresh tomato, zucchini, and mozzerella dish. Homemade dill pickles and pickled peppers.
March 28th, 2012 at 5:44 am
My only summer food memory is grilled steaks: the only way I enjoyed beef as a kid!
March 28th, 2012 at 6:00 am
My favourite summer food memory is my father bbqing anything and everything from turkey, salmon, veges to the trusty hamburger. He had secret recipes for various marinades that were just fabulous. Our home was always open to everyone, loved it.
March 28th, 2012 at 6:10 am
My favorite summer memory food memory is my Dad’s homemade BBQ sauce when I saw him putting chocolate ice cream into the pot!!
March 28th, 2012 at 6:33 am
Summer hayrides to the creek for cookout and fishing!
March 28th, 2012 at 6:45 am
Favorite summer food memory would have to be a fruit salad my aunt made. She carved a watermelon into the shape of a basket (with handle) and the fruit salad was served out of the basket. As a child, this was most fascinating!
March 28th, 2012 at 6:46 am
My favorite memories are of hunting down, picking, and eating cherries, paw-paws, and mulberries at my dad’s house, and sucking on pickles with my best friend in her back yard.
March 28th, 2012 at 6:57 am
My favorite summer food memories are eating sweet corn from the garden, picking wild blueberries from the woods, and standing around in the kitchen eating watermelon for dinner with my dad when it was too hot to cook!
March 28th, 2012 at 7:01 am
When summer comes, I always look forward to the freshest fruit and veggies. As a summer memory, I think back to when I was 12, so bored one summer day. I decided to make a lemon meringue pie, from scratch. I didn’t know there was an easier way. So, I made a crust, cooked my eggs, made my meringue. It took me hours (as I remember). After dinner we had the pie. My parents, two older brothers and myself. It was gone in 10 minutes, so much labor and time invested, but it turned out delicious.
March 28th, 2012 at 7:04 am
Favorite summer food memory… eating watermelon and the seed spitting contests with my cousins at our annual summer family reunion. Watermelon means summer!
March 28th, 2012 at 7:09 am
My favorite summer food memory is running barefoot through the garden with my older sister and eating tomatoes and peas. We’d stand there and shell the peas and drop the shells when we were done. My great grandmother used to get so mad when she found pea shells littering the place. They were so good though. And there’s NOTHING like a warm tomato eaten straight from the vine. Dust it off on your shirt and start eating. Yum!
March 28th, 2012 at 7:15 am
Favorite summer food memory, that’s easy! The very first date I went on with my (now) husband. It was just warm enough to wear a sundress and walk from my apartment to the railroad tracks where the restaurant was. I was 18 and had never been to a real Italian restaurant, but we sat outside and had sparkling water and bruschetta, and my first rissotto. Ten years later the first few warm days of summer always take me back to the wonderful food and the beginning of a wonderful new life! (And yes, we most definitely still enjoy a wonderful rissotto sitting outside on our back deck!)
March 28th, 2012 at 7:23 am
No doubt, favorite summer food memory it’s grilling as much as we can – freshly picked corn on the cob and a good hearty burger. It doesn’t get better than that!
March 28th, 2012 at 7:27 am
My favorite summer food memory is BBQ’ing with my family that includes oysters on the BBQ, loads of BBQ’d corn along with my moms famous homemade apple pie. I love family get togethers.
March 28th, 2012 at 7:46 am
My favorite summer memory is eating marshmallow, cooked on the gas stove using an ice pick as a skewer :), at my grandma’s “cabin” at the lake (the cabin was a trailer home). So many wonderful memories
March 28th, 2012 at 8:22 am
My favorite summer memory is going to the pool with my brother. My mom would drop us off for about 2 hours and we would play in the community pool. It was a blast, and the only time we were allowed to drink Barq’s root beer from a can! That alone made the trip to the pool worth it.
March 28th, 2012 at 8:27 am
My best summer food memory? Climbing a sweet cherry tree and eating the yummy dark red fruits:)
March 28th, 2012 at 8:32 am
My favorite summer food memory is the 4th of July picnics we have every year. We go to a nearby park that hosts a huge fireworks display. We bring a huge picnic, with fresh cut watermelon, usually some kind of great fresh fruit salad, baked “fried” chicken, my mother’s amazing potato salad. The rest is a sort of picnic potluck, with everyone else who comes (sometimes as many as 30 people), bringing their picnic specialties – everything from fresh pickled okra to . So, so fun and delicious. Kids run around with balloons and frisbees, the grass is super soft on bare feet and we wait for darkness to fall, and then the fireworks.
March 28th, 2012 at 8:44 am
My husband’s “Burnt Chicken on the Grill” which would probably be more realistically called “Blackened Chicken on the Grill”. I think he likes the drama of burnt in the name. I’m not a huge fan of s’mores, BUT I think the flavored marshmallow would totally make me a believer! I’ve always preferred my chocolate with add-ins like nuts or dried fruit or caramel or mint or such, so a flavored marshmallow in a s’more sounds great!
March 28th, 2012 at 9:17 am
My favorite summer food memory is watermelon, cut and eaten straight up. Whenever I see a recipe involving watermelon I think “Why?”
March 28th, 2012 at 9:43 am
I was five. My mom was in labor with my younger sister and my older sister and I were staying at a family friend’s for the night, anxiously awaiting the new arrival. I couldn’t sleep. How could anyone?! A new life was on it’s way! So I did what any self-respecting five-year-old would do. I went to the kitchen. Everyone else was in bed and though I had some vague concept that what I was about to do wasn’t necessarily okay, I opened the refrigerator, and pulled out the first thing I could reach. A jar of white, sort of creamy sauce with a foreign smell. I grabbed a spoon and dug in. It wasn’t long after that the parent’s got up to tell us we had a new sister, only to find me on the floor of the kitchen, joyfully clutching a now empty jar of horseradish.
I’ve loved it ever since.
March 28th, 2012 at 9:44 am
My favorite summertime memories are from when my family would go to Estes Park every year for vacation. We would play in the river, fish, go hiking and so much more. We usually went over my birthday and I loved having one of those pink sno-ball cakes as my birthday cake (but I’m glad I don’t have to now!) On the last day of one trip, my mom let each of us kids pick out a pint of ice cream to have for lunch. We sat by the Big Thompson and ate dessert for lunch. I was in heaven!
March 28th, 2012 at 9:58 am
My family farms, so summers mean wheat harvest to me. My mom would, and still does, take wonderful country meals out to the fields for my dad and his harvest crew. We would work all day on delicious menus of fried chicken, barbecued ribs, roasts, etc. complete with all the fixings. The best part was hearing all about the day’s events as we shared a meal with all of the thankful workers who hurried to bring the combines in when they saw us setting up the food table. I don’t think my parents have ever had a single employee who hasn’t commented that my mom’s harvest meals are the finest they’ve ever eaten.
March 28th, 2012 at 10:13 am
I went to boarding school in India, and the only time I was home was during the summer.
Summers always meant great home cooked food made by my mother and grandmother – all my favorites – chilli fried rice (mirch pulao), spicy potatoes (dum aloo) , pumpkin lentils (sambhar) with rice, zuchinni fritters in tomato sauce (lauki kofta), eggplant chutney (baigan bharta), and traditional south Indian fare from my grandmother. Summer meant long walks in the morning, before 9.00 am and it got too hot to walk outside, leisurely days reading trashy summer fiction, and afternoon tea with Marie biscuits with my grandparents. Summer meant the bounty of tropical fruits – chickoos, jackfruit, papaya, pineapple, pomegranate, dozens upon dozens of varieties of mangoes, guavas, custard apples, lychees, tender coconut flesh – helping my mother shop for them at the bazaars, and helping my grandfather cut up the fruit.
I can’t separate the memories of food from people and experiences, and perhaps therein lies the magic.
March 28th, 2012 at 10:13 am
My favorite summer food memory has to be eating fresh picked tomato sandwiches on Wonder bread with lots of mayo (juices running down your wrist to elbow). So delish.
March 28th, 2012 at 10:14 am
I am not entering the contest since I am living in France right now. Just wanted to say: I love the way you capture whole eggs in your photos – they always look so beautiful! Mmm, maybe one day I’ll try to make marshmallows, but I’m always turned off by the phrase “they are really sticky, but…”
March 28th, 2012 at 10:14 am
My favorite summer food memory: homemade popsicles ala 1980. You know the kind: frozen koolaid in dixie cups with crooked popsicle sticks. So fun.
March 28th, 2012 at 10:21 am
My favorite summer food memory is enjoying the food at our wedding. We had a huge spread of food! The dessert station and gelato bar were my favorites:)
March 28th, 2012 at 10:22 am
Summers during my childhood were spent in Bombay, India where I was raised. Bombay summers are intensely hot and humid. My favorite food memory was licking shaved ice popsicles or kulfi (Indian ice cream) while waiting for my parents to come home after work. After that we would get together, have tea, eat biscuits (cookies!) and then prepare dinner :) Summer meals were always light and fun!
March 28th, 2012 at 10:54 am
Favorite summer food memory is definitely spitting watermelon seeds off the back deck. My sister and I competed for distance, with the sweet juice dripping off our chins. What a yummy memory.
March 28th, 2012 at 11:50 am
My favorite summer food memories are any of the meals on our first trip to Europe. We still reminisce about that food =).
March 28th, 2012 at 11:51 am
My favorite summer food memory is eating just picked sweet corn from our garden. yummmm…….
March 28th, 2012 at 1:10 pm
My favorite summer food memory would be eating ice cold watermelon while sitting on a still warm sidewalk on a lovely summer evening in Kansas.
March 28th, 2012 at 1:25 pm
Favorite summer food memory: having a bonfire in the empty lot next to our house and feasting on watermelon. We spit the seeds right into the ground and felt quite wild! Then the next summer we found watermelons growing in the same lot. That was a hit.
There was also the summer after my senior year of high school when every day I slept until noon and then ate my lunch while sitting on the front porch swing: a box of Golden Grahams, a jar of marshmallow fluff. I’d fill the spoon with marshmallow and then cram it down into the cereal and eat whatever stuck to the fluff. I’m clearly a health-food person.
March 28th, 2012 at 1:58 pm
The first summer we signed up for the CSA that grows food down the street from us in Boulder, we got more chard than we knew what to do with. My parents were out of town, so I invited a bunch of my friends over and made an all-vegetable dinner. We ate it on the porch and I got to enjoy seeing my more squeamish friends taste yellow green beans, chard salad, roasted beets, and blackened corn with spicy mayonnaise. It was probably the most beautiful meal I have ever made, and one of the most delicious.
March 28th, 2012 at 2:02 pm
Favorite summer food memory = family + church camping trip, where we got to roast our own hot dogs for dinner over the fire, and then there was a DESSERT TABLE afterwards, where every family brought something to share. For someone with a sweet tooth, an entire table of desserts to choose from (or taste every one of) was the best part of the entire summer. :)
March 28th, 2012 at 2:23 pm
My favorite summer food memory is grilled corn while BBQ-ing with family and friends. It just tastes so much better than the boiled variety!
March 28th, 2012 at 2:27 pm
My favorite summer food is grilled sweet corn. I absolutely love it. Thanks for the chance to enter.
March 28th, 2012 at 2:52 pm
Favorite food memory are bacon grease pancakes. My mom would only make them when we went camping, and the were awesome.
March 28th, 2012 at 3:00 pm
My favorite summer food memories involve going to the different summer festivals in Colorado- I always look for my favorite go-tos like corn on the cob and turkey legs, but love how inventive some of the food stalls can be- like monkey balls for example!
March 28th, 2012 at 3:20 pm
My favorite summer food memory happened last summer and involved fresh margaritas! Good friends, margaritas, and al pastor burritos. I don’t think we even had dessert – just another margarita! But I have lots of fond memories of summer evenings outside with friends and neighbors, often also involving a margarita. :)
March 28th, 2012 at 3:34 pm
Strawberries and Vanilla Ice Cream!
We didn’t have a lot, but this was a real summer treat.
Still love it!
I know that I’m not eligible (live in Canada) but had to share my favorite treat.
Would love to know how to make the creamsicle marshamallows.
Charlie
March 28th, 2012 at 3:47 pm
ever since I’ve known my husbands family I always look forward to the 4th of July!!! That is the day that my sister in law, Nok, makes her famous egg rolls. The whole family gets pretty excited about them and they are gone in a flash.
March 28th, 2012 at 3:48 pm
I loved going over to my grandparents house in the summer. All of my aunts,uncles and cousins would all come and swim all day. Best part was homemade Butterfinger ice cream. We all still love it!
March 28th, 2012 at 4:25 pm
Favorite memory must be sophomore year of college (only 2 years ago!) picking fresh cucumbers and tomatoes from my community garden, buying some fresh corn and hearty bread and then cooking it all up with my friends. We felt like such adults coming home from work and making an absolutely delicious meal that just happened to be picked the hour before.
March 28th, 2012 at 4:47 pm
The first time I had spaghetti with slow roasted tomatoes with my husband on our back porch. It tasted so amazingly, surprisingly good, my husband and I were nodding and agreeing that I was a brilliant cook when actually the tomatoes did all the work and all I had to do was sufficiently salt the pasta water and not overcook it.
March 28th, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Fresh salads, with tomatoes!
Thanks for the giveaway :-)
March 28th, 2012 at 5:12 pm
Annual Opening Day of Cure Organic Farm’s CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) Program. I love seeing everyone again + all the “new babies”…pigs & lambs, that is. And, of course, savoring the 1st fresh produce of the year + farm fresh eggs!
March 28th, 2012 at 7:13 pm
eating watermelon slices in the back yard and spitting out the seeds in the grass— and hoping year after year that one of the seeds would sprout and we’d have watermelons growing wild in the back yard.
March 28th, 2012 at 7:17 pm
Favorite summer memory is having dinner outside on the patio and eating watermelon in the dark. That was such an extremely rare treat for us and it still warms me inside thinking of those nights as a family.
March 28th, 2012 at 7:24 pm
My vacation to China in 2008 is probably my best memory. We had a huge family reunion, and I met almost 20 family members that I’d never met before. It was overwhelming a bit, but it was so fun. Getting to eat authentic Chinese food like steamed fish, chive and egg omelettes, homemade fish balls, Goubuli dumplings and vermicelli with fried eggs was the BEST. Sometimes at the end of the meals we’d get steamed rolls with condensed milk. So good. The Golden Park in my hometown would have vendors selling lollipops of caramel(made purely with sugar) that they made in front of you. I loved trying all the flavors of milk they have: peanut, melon, apple, coconut flavor, and more. The best parts were hands down hanging out with family, whether it was playing with my little cousin, playing on the beach, or having a feast together at a huge table with a Lazy Susan. I could ramble forever. :)
I don’t really care about the waived resort fees and $99 room rate. I just want the s’more set, if that’s possible. I’d rather someone else who wants the entire prize package to receive the prize. I just wanted to share my memory.
March 28th, 2012 at 8:28 pm
Favorite summer food memory: We got married in July of 1981. Instead of a fancy, formal rehearsal dinner, my Italian father-in-law had a corn roast. This was before roasting corn was cool. I still have friends and relatives that attended, 30 years ago, talk about that being the best meal they have ever had. They don’t remember the wedding but the roasted corn dinner!
March 28th, 2012 at 8:52 pm
I love hanging out with friends and family during the summer, eating grilled cheeseburgers and caprese salad made with heirloom tomatoes.
March 28th, 2012 at 8:54 pm
Tell me if I get to wordy, but one of my favorite memories was eating smores at the Hyatt in August, 2009 right before my kids left me for college. It seemed like a long time to me before we were able to be a family again. Actually, it was that winter but when your kids leave home it seems like FOREVER. Just sitting around that fire pit with smores and a glass of wine-well, we were all pretty mellow. And then we went out East for orientation. But that is another story…
March 28th, 2012 at 9:07 pm
My favorite summer foods are white peaches and watermelon. I grew up in California, so the amount of cheap produce at our fingertips was incredible! I know now, how much I took that for granted. Every week my mom and I would go to the farmers market and get huge bags full of white peaches for 50 cents a pound! Trust me, I ate them all. In the later summer months, all I ate, almost everyday, was watermelon. I’d cut half a watermelon, eat it for lunch, then eat the second half for dessert. Oh, how I miss those days.
March 28th, 2012 at 9:49 pm
Hands down, blueberry buttermilk pancakes made in the summer will always be my favorite memories! The blueberries combined with the reaql maple syrup and butter are sublime. Having a house full of kids made it even better!
March 28th, 2012 at 9:50 pm
It isn’t summer unless we’re grilling fred steak and having watermelons during the summer!
March 28th, 2012 at 10:10 pm
My favorite summer food memory would have to be when I was a really little girl and my mom use to make us popsicles. There were two kinds of flavors. The first was a sweet milk (milk and sugar) and the second one was red bean popsicles! They were amazing! I wish I was young again!
March 28th, 2012 at 10:16 pm
My favorite summer food memory is eating watermelon in the park under the warmth of the sun.. I grew up in Florida and we used to have huge family gatherings with 5 or 6 huge and perfectly sweet watermelons.. yum!
March 28th, 2012 at 10:33 pm
My favorite summer food memory has to be my mother’s 80 birthday party. My Sister, her daughter, son in law and grandson came up to Massachusetts to help celebrate her birthday. They rented a small cottage in Otis, MA and that is where we celebrated her birthday. We had garlic shrimp, salads, and I brought some lobsters. Well, they didn’t have a pan to cook the lobsters in so I was supposed to bring one from home. It is about a 40 minute ride from my house to their cottage and I forgot the pan. So, for the first time in my life I cooked the lobsters on the grill. My goodness those lobsters were wonderful. Sweet, tender and buttery delicious. My niece’s husband made garlic shrimp and the salads. All that food and the cake helped make this reunion/birthday party a wonderful food food and family memory. My mother still talks about how good that lobster on the grill tasted. Thank you Bobby Flay for showing me lobsters on the grill! I’m hoping we will enjoy her birthday for many years to come.
March 29th, 2012 at 8:03 am
Going to Ted Drewes in St. Louis for frozen custard.
March 29th, 2012 at 8:57 am
My favorite summer food memory is eating watermelon, grown in our garden, on the deck with my sister.
March 29th, 2012 at 9:11 am
My parents were real food hippies when I was growing up. They tried really hard to make sure everything we ate was as fresh, local, and unprocessed as possible. As an adult, I am thankful for this, but as a child I resented it like nobody’s business.
Luckily, my nonna came from a generation of Italian immigrants who thought packaged food was the greatest invention of the 20th century. Every summer when we went to visit her on Cape Cod, she would make us boxed jello in tall glass cups, covered with cool whip. Cool whip is…probably one of the most disgusting “foods” on the planet, but I still remember how exotic and exciting those desserts seemed when I was young, and digging into them at my nonna’s house is definitely one of my favorite summer memories.
March 29th, 2012 at 9:12 am
My favorite summer food memory would definitely be eating popsicles in the evening on the porch.
March 29th, 2012 at 10:43 am
My summer food memory is in Alaska with my family and fishing! We would go out to the ocean, fish, and then grill them up and eat! The best memory everr!
March 29th, 2012 at 10:47 am
My friend Alex (now my husband) and I had just finished a month of hiking the Appalachian trail, and we were hanging out at my uncle’s cabin. Alex talked a lot about cooking when we were hiking together to entertain me, and now he finally had a chance to demonstrate. He made the best twice baked potatoes and veggie kebabs I’ve ever had! Of course, eating trail food for a month first may have made me a bit biased…
March 29th, 2012 at 12:08 pm
burgers and hot dogs on the grill. and fresh watermelon too!
March 29th, 2012 at 12:33 pm
Eating watermelon and having seed-spitting contests off the deck with my brother — sums up summer and childhood for me :)
March 29th, 2012 at 1:40 pm
My favorite summer food memory is eating “train wreck” (a meaty macaroni plate of madness) at an eco-education summer camp where I met my best friend in the world. We’ve been best friends for going on 17 years now and I’ll never forget chowing down in the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains with the best friend a gal could ask for.
March 29th, 2012 at 2:11 pm
Every second or third year when I was a kid, we used to head up to New Hampshire with my parents’ friends-since-college and their kids. Each family was in its own cabin, but after the hours of driving and the time stocking up on groceries and putting the canoe in the lake and running all over the site to see how it hadn’t changed since the last time we were there, we were inevitably exhausted, with no desire to cook. Our family would make a big salad and boil elbow macaroni (tradition), and Candy, my almost-mom, would have brought up a huge, frozen batch of homemade meatballs the size of your fist and spaghetti sauce. No matter what else we ate for the rest of the week, pasta and meatballs and that iceburg lettuce salad was, without question, the first meal of summer vacation.
March 29th, 2012 at 2:38 pm
my favorite summer food memory involves live crab and corn in the husk on the grill and sweet juicy watermelon.
a close 2nd to that would be my mom making her lipton iced tea.
March 29th, 2012 at 3:03 pm
My favorite food memory is eating Campbell’s bean & bacon soup with sliced hot dogs and Fritos with my friend on the back porch.
March 29th, 2012 at 3:54 pm
My birthday is in the summer, so my favorite summer food memories involve my birthday. Rack of lamb with lots of mustard and parsley on the grill with grilled asparagus doused in olive oil, salt, and pepper, a green salad with a little blue cheese and toasted pine nuts, and big, heady red wine from my dad’s cellar on the beautiful porch built my parents neighbor under the tree that drops yellow, sneezy bits all summer long. It’s not a specific memory, but the aggregate bits of so many lovely evenings with family and friends under those trees. And cheesecake. There’s always cheesecake on my birthday.
March 29th, 2012 at 4:07 pm
This is definitely not a high-brow foodie memory, but my small hometown’s Dairy Queen franchise is only open from mid-March to Labor Day, so its opening always signaled the start of spring, and its closing was the mark of summer’s end. It sells pretty much only ice cream, but it randomly also sold foot long chili dogs and those miniature bags of Lays chips. A foot long chili dog split with my sister, a tiny bag of Fritos and a small Blizzard after spending all day at the pool was pretty much heaven to me as a child and definitely a favorite summer food memory.
March 29th, 2012 at 4:45 pm
I remembered enjoying pudding pops when I was a kid. So yummy and delicious.
March 29th, 2012 at 4:45 pm
Dripping wet from the chlorinated pool, sprinkling chunks of sea salt on huge pieces of watermelon, and spitting the seeds at each other and laughing.
March 29th, 2012 at 5:43 pm
Veggies from my mom’s garden. Somehow, the kohlrabi is what sticks with me as being the most delicious.
March 29th, 2012 at 7:38 pm
Eating freshly picked strawberries from my backyard… what a wonderful summer food memory
March 29th, 2012 at 7:50 pm
My favorite summer memory is from growing up in Lake Tahoe, the summer I managed to filch a recipe for basil gelato from the restaurant I waitressed at. This is when I was considered as a complete failure at cooking (“OMG, How could you burn rice?!?!”) The basil leaves smell soooo sweet when they’re steeping in the milk, and then we were all practically dying of impatience while the machine spun and spun. The best part was taking bowls of herby-fragrant-sweet basil gelato with fresh farmers market strawberries out to the back deck and watching the sprinkler slowly water all of mom’s flower beds (but mostly all the rocks and trees in our rather mountainous backyard — boy those were some hardy flowers!) Nothing like sitting back under the big umbrella with the sun low in the sky in the evening and watching for hawks in the trees while the cats nap on chairs.
March 29th, 2012 at 8:00 pm
A few years ago I had a farmshare which included 5 quarts of strawberries and 6 pints of peas (u-pick). 3 friends and I drove out to the quiet, peaceful farm on a wonderfully sunny and warm day, picked strawberries and peas to our hearts content (2 shares worth), then drove to the nearby reservoir and had a fantastic picnic. The strawberries were delicious, and I remember this day as one of the most relaxing summer days ever. It was wonderful.
March 29th, 2012 at 8:07 pm
Eating Whattaburgers on the beach in Corpus Christi as little kids, after hours of playing in the water. Wrinkly fingertips, sand and salt on our faces, tar on our feet, hungrier than all get-out.
March 29th, 2012 at 8:10 pm
Every summer, we head out and pick the wild blackberries. They are sooooo good especially on a warm sunny day when you can practically taste “summer” in them. We go home and make a blackberry pie, and I swear, the memory of that first pie lives on from year to year!!
March 29th, 2012 at 8:13 pm
No doubt some of my best summer memories involving eating fruit popsicles (http://daviswiki.org/aisu_pop) on a wednesday night at the Davis farmer’s market, listening to the band play as the sun sets.
March 29th, 2012 at 8:52 pm
Definitely eating scoop after scoop of gelato in my dad’s Italian hometown.
March 29th, 2012 at 8:57 pm
My favorite summertime food memory would be my grandmother’s home-made potato salad. She is no longer alive, and I have yet to taste a better potato salad. I can make a great batch of potato salad myself, but mine doesn’t even compare to grandma’s. My grandma also made a delicious dessert which consisted of strawberries, sugar, and tapioca. Most people seem to be grossed out by tapioca, however, this recipe is fantastic! Her recipe was a very pleasing and unique summertime food. I think I will have to make some soon. :-)
March 29th, 2012 at 10:08 pm
My favorite summer food memory is enjoying cool and fresh BBQ and grilled Vietnamese dishes out on the patio! There would be a buffet-style spread of spring roll ingredients such as bun, crispy pickled carrots and daikon, and lots and lots of green herbs and leafy lettuce on the table for all of us kids to put together with the grilled meats coming straight off the BBQ! Watermelon slices were the grand finale!
March 29th, 2012 at 10:38 pm
My fav summer food memory is gulping down a glass of buttermilk flavoured with ginger, green chillies and curry leaves! There is nothing as refreshing as butter milk on a hot summer day in India! Yummmm!
March 29th, 2012 at 10:53 pm
My favorite memory has to be picking blueberries at the farm with family.
March 30th, 2012 at 12:04 am
Thanks for sharing all of your great summer food memories! Entries are now closed and winners will be announced soon.
April 7th, 2012 at 4:59 pm
My Dad making hot dogs for us as kids with all manner of different toppings.
December 12th, 2012 at 6:53 am
[…] After a long weekend in New York, I was much in need of some good ole cooking therapy. Since purchasing the Kitchenaid, I had yet to use it for something difficult, something I would never normally attempt without one. At Whole Foods one day, I spotted a package for homemade marshmellows that were a whopping $11.99 for a little box! Determined as ever, I set out to make them, armed with detailed instructions and beautiful pictures from Jen over at Use Real Butter. […]
December 12th, 2012 at 7:34 am
[…] After a long weekend in New York, I was much in need of some good ole cooking therapy. Since purchasing the Kitchenaid, I had yet to use it for something difficult, something I would never normally attempt without one. At Whole Foods one day, I spotted a package for homemade marshmellows that were a whopping $11.99 for a little box! Determined as ever, I set out to make them, armed with detailed instructions and beautiful pictures from Jen over at Use Real Butter. […]