Kanu Hawaii is a fantastic non profit organization with some pretty amazing virtues and goals. They're kicking off Live Aloha Day for June 19th with some very simple yet effective campaigns on doing your part in your community. Everything from buying local to volunteering. If you live in Hawaii, you can find and join projects here. If you live elsewhere check out these easy commitments to better our world.
L stands for LOKAHI, meaning bring unity.
O stands for OLU'OLU, meaning politeness.
H stands for HA'AHA'A, meaning humbled.
A stands for AHONUI, meaning enduring.
Respect all elders and children.
Leave places better than you find them.
Hold the door. Hold the elevator.
Plant something.
Drive with courtesy. Never drive impaired.
Attend an event of another culture.
Return your shopping cart.
Get out and enjoy nature.
Pick up litter.
Share with your neighbors.
Create smiles.
Create a list and share it.
You don't have to be a politician, or the president of a company, or a famous doctor, to make everyone's life better. Sometimes the smallest things make the biggest difference.
Wow. It's almost as bad as googling your own name - but for, ahem - "marketing reasons" checking out Google Analytics and just who and where amyantonio.com readers are is crazy fascinating. It's also a little bit horrifying to know that readers in Argentina are just as aware of my inappropriate use of commas and hyphens as much as those in Indonesia. Welcome!
Freshly camped, or "yurted" thanks to the amazing Oregon yurts available at state parks, my friends and I recently succumbed to that fantastic combination of crunchy graham, melty chocolate and seductive marshmallow singed to perfection on the campfire. While there's nothing as fun as tossing a new fat bag of store bought "Stay Puffs" into your shopping cart, there is the lesser known glorious older cousin, the homemade marshmallow. It's a thing of beauty really - all fancy and square-like. Most useful in warm spirited drinks like coffee, kahlua and brandy.
To celebrate the passage into summer (come on, Portland! Stop teasing.) and it's traditions of swimming holes, canoe trips, and campfires - I'm sharing with you my (um, thanks to Gourmet Magazine) Homemade Marshmallow Recipe. Just like Grandma used to make - had my grandma actually made them. Enjoy!
Fluffy Homemade Marshmallows
These homemade marshmallows are not only easy to make, they set as perfectly as promised: puffed and lightweight, bouncing off one another as I tossed them in the container. Even better, they toasted like a campfire charm speared on the end of a skewer, and s’mooshed between two graham crackers with a square of chocolate.
Makes about 96 1-inch cubed marshmallows
About 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
3 1/2 envelopes (2 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1 cup cold water, divided
2 cups granulated sugar (cane sugar worked just fine)
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites or reconstituted powdered egg whites
1 tablespoon vanilla (alternately: 1/2 of a scraped vanilla bean, 2 teaspoons almond or mint extract or maybe even some food coloring for tinting)
Oil bottom and sides of a 13- by 9- by 2-inch rectangular metal baking pan and dust bottom and sides with some confectioners’ sugar.
In bowl of a standing electric mixer or in a large bowl sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold cold water, and let stand to soften.
In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook granulated sugar, corn syrup, second 1/2 cup of cold water, and salt over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to moderate and boil mixture, without stirring, until a candy or digital thermometer registers 240°F, about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour sugar mixture over gelatin mixture, stirring until gelatin is dissolved.
With standing or a hand-held electric mixer beat mixture on high speed until white, thick, and nearly tripled in volume, about six minutes if using standing mixer or about 10 minutes if using hand-held mixer.
In separate medium bowl with cleaned beaters beat egg whites (or reconstituted powdered whites) until they just hold stiff peaks. Beat whites and vanilla (or your choice of flavoring) into sugar mixture until just combined. Pour mixture into baking pan and don’t fret if you don’t get it all out. Sift 1/4 cup confectioners sugar evenly over top. Chill marshmallow, uncovered, until firm, at least three hours, and up to one day.
Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert pan onto a large cutting board. Lifting up one corner of inverted pan, with fingers loosen marshmallow and ease onto cutting board. With a large knife trim edges of marshmallow and cut marshmallow into roughly one-inch cubes. (An oiled pizza cutter works well here too.) Sift remaining confectioners’ sugar back into your now-empty baking pan, and roll the marshmallows through it, on all six sides, before shaking off the excess and packing them away.