Marshmallow, Bonfire

Sunday, 30 Aug 09

What do you think of when you hear the word ‘Bonfire’? Does it conjure in your mind images of pagan rituals, dancing around the flickering flames? Or do you, like me, reminisce back to camping experiences, and that all important coming-of-age experience, of toasting marshmallows on a long stick over the fire?

So, when Tim invited me back to the farm for the annual bonfire, I mentally packed a few things. Marshmallows. Last year’s law notes. Incriminating documents and photos. I was somewhat let down when I was informed that the fire was too hot to get near, let alone toast marshmallows. Surely there would be opportunity? More on that later though.

I’ve only recently begun playing with gelatine, and wasn’t exactly sure how these marshmallows would acquire their cloud-like feel with no egg whites in the recipe. There was nothing to fear though, as once the sugar syrup hit the dissolved gelatine, I quickly whipped it up to firm glossy peaks.

In fact, the only problem I had with the recipe is that I rather foolishly could not be bothered tracking down flavourless vegetable oil (my family tends to use olive oil most of the time), and so I could detect a very slight olive oil taste upon biting into it. I’ll call it the Adriano Zumbo influence ;)

I found the recipe over at Brownie Points Blog. I substituted glucose for the corn syrup and it worked well enough. Have I mentioned glucose looks thick enough to kill? Death by sweet smothering…its the thing that the bad guy is going to fall into when chasing the good guys through a candy factory, I swear…

Fast forward to the next day, and it was time for the Bonfire and Bushdance. I felt so thoroughly Australian.

Pretty sunset over the cooking/eating area
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C’s adorable salad dressing dispenser. I want one! His balaclava comes off to reveal his beak as a pouring nozzle ^___^;;

There’s something mesmerizing about fire… I see a horse leaping from the flames.

Tim wasn’t kidding when he said I wouldn’t be able to toast marshmallows on the bonfire. While that picture doesn’t give you any idea of the scale of the fire, I was standing a good 20 metres away taking photos, and heat was blasting my face like a bad case of sunburn. The fire could even be seen about 600 m down the road (my parents used it as a beacon to navigate their way there).

These guys also popped in to make sure everything was okay and safe. It felt deliciously less than legal, and added some excitement to the night. But I’m sure the question you must be asking is, did I get to toast my marshmallows?

I assure you, I did. =D

What do you see in the flames?

8 Comments

1. Bonfire, for me, brings up memories of good times with friends. Defiantly no pagan thoughts come to mind. It’s intersting, before the last couple of summers, a bonfire meant a very large, very hot, fire — like the one in your pictures. A campfire or just a fire (“we’re going to have a fire at so and so’s house, wanna come?” would be the context on that one) was a smaller fire you sat close to and toasted marshmallows on. In the last couple of years, having spent time with friends who refer to the smaller ones as bonfires, its more or less all the same to me now. I haven’t been to a large bonfire in a long time, they’re so fun. We usually have those in the winter, when its really really cold. They’re often at big sporting events like a football game or a ski race. We have smaller ones in teh summer — a big one woudl be too warm.

   I was completely unaware you could make your own marshmallows, that is very cool.

   Comment by Mar — August 30, 2009 @ 2:48 pm

2. I remember bonfire nights! They were always so exciting and I loved the smell of them! What a shame you didn’t get to toast your marshamllows but fresh ones are so delicate they might have blwon away! :)

   Comment by Lorraine @NotQuiteNigella — August 30, 2009 @ 10:03 pm

3. Haha, was it legal? Good to know the fire dept. was on the ball. The bonfire flames look so high, I’m sure your arm would have been bbq’ed if you’d tried to poke a marshmallow into it!

   Comment by Belle@OohLook — August 31, 2009 @ 12:07 pm

4. I love a good bonfire and the one you guys built sure looks impressive! I like the way you think with bringing old lecture notes – burning them would have been most satisfying! From the size of those flames I would have expected you’d need a yard stick to toast your marshmallows unless you wanted singed eyebrows!

   Comment by Forager — September 1, 2009 @ 12:23 pm

5. Haha I love bonfires!
   and your one sounds H U G E, if you were getting toasted 20 minutes away
   haha that stick you used to toast your marshmallow must have been very veryy long

   Comment by Grace — September 2, 2009 @ 2:36 pm

6. Surprisingly enough, notes are really hard to burn! A family friend of ours hid some old tax papers in the bonfire, and we were still poking at it near midnight, trying to open up books to burn them properly. Even after the bonfire had burnt down, there were still whole books with singed edges, and legible text!

   The lack of oxygen smothers the fire before it can burn the way through. You really need a good bin fire to burn up books and notes, and only bits at a time. :)

   Comment by Tim — September 2, 2009 @ 4:20 pm

7. Ahh I miss bonfires… haven’t made one since my HS days…

   Comment by FFichiban — September 4, 2009 @ 1:49 am

8. I’d love the idea of burning notes, but when i comes down to it, I think I’m too much of a hoard to actually burn notes I spent so much time making. But bonfires (and marshmallows!) remind me of high school. Not exactly the best times in high school, so maybe I need to make some new memories!

   Comment by Jen — September 7, 2009 @ 11:05 pm

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