S’mores are hard to make
S’mores are hard to make - if you insist on vegetarian marshmallows and commercial graham crackers are “off limits in [your] house.”
If you do make your own graham crackers, they just won’t be authentically Ann Arbor without a quarter cup of wheat germ.
The homemade smores recipe is too snooty for you? If I find the Bill Knapps smore recipe, I'll be sure to pass it along…
posted by Murph on November 13th, 2003 at 2:13 pmAn excellent find, AAIO. If everyone in the would just get rid of their cars and open their windows, we'd be able to hear the soothing sounds of wheat germ graham crackers being rolled out on the marble-top kitchen counters of every home in the Historic (sic) Fourth Ward. What's that sweet smell wafting? Why, it's vegetarian marshmallows! Just like grandma never made.
I'll never be able to understand how, on the one hand, conscientious Annarbourites can waste entire days pounding out organic home-made honey graham crackers (free of bleached flour), and then line up to feed off the latest slops in Bill Knapp's trough. This is truly a town of contradictions.
posted by Boris on November 13th, 2003 at 2:15 pmDamn, Murph beat me to the Bill Knapps reference….
posted by Boris on November 13th, 2003 at 2:17 pmwhen she says 'Store-bought grahams are off limits in our house,' you have to wonder what else is lacking… sugar cereal, spontaneity, love. the phrase speaks volumes.
posted by elise on November 13th, 2003 at 2:24 pmOK, I can understand the graham cracker thing with the fat and whatnot, but Vegetarian marshmellows? That just SOUNDS offensive.
posted by Frank on November 13th, 2003 at 2:25 pmwhoops, misuse of emphasis.
posted by Frank on November 13th, 2003 at 2:25 pmMurph - you're kind of right. Yes, I attack The Ann Arbor News food section both for being unsophisticated and for being too snooty. Although, if they could just be snooty in a Jamie Oliver or even William Grimes sort of way, I'd be okay with it. (All right, who am I kidding - it's the News.)
I think the off-limits graham cracker people and the Old Country Buffet aficionados are two different segments of A2 society (the former definitely live in the OFW), so in a way it's not inconsistent - but how come the representatives of each type of food are so eminently mockable in an A2 way?
posted by ann arbor is overrated on November 13th, 2003 at 2:26 pmi don't know frank… i was a vegetarian for a long time, so i can almost (almost) deal with her abhorrence of gelatin. the larger issue is that s'mores just aren't s'mores if they aren't made of mass produced grahm crackers, marshmallows and that wax paper we call hershey's chocolate. if the components bother you, you should just abstain, but don't insult the institution of the s'more by introducing an organic version and calling it by the same name.
posted by elise on November 13th, 2003 at 2:51 pmHoly Hell! That's pretty much A2 in a nutshell.
posted by anna on November 13th, 2003 at 4:19 pmGreat update! Yeah, there are definitely a lot of problems in Ann Arbor, and this is definitely one of them. Yep. Nothing's worse than a town some residents would “rather avoid mass-produced meat products” and consequently try to come up with an alternate recipe. How freaking terrible, elitist, etc. !!!
Suggestion: maybe it's time to rename this site “Ann Arbor Ate My Balls” — that seems to be about the appropriate level of discourse.
posted by Brian on November 13th, 2003 at 4:39 pmAdd one cup of self-righteousness, a half-cup of obsessive-compulsive disorder, and a dash of paranoia. Mix with holier-than-thou, add a dash of self-importance, some screwed-up priorities and serve up with organic, sulfite-free, sugar-free, meat-free, hand-picked-wheat graham crackers.
posted by anna on November 13th, 2003 at 5:53 pmHoly Hell! That's pretty much A2 in a nutshell.
posted by anna on November 13th, 2003 at 6:57 pmHey, I'd probably like the Ann Arbor version better than the real thing (provided they go easy on the wheat germ), but it's still tres A2.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on November 13th, 2003 at 7:57 pmwow…
posted by april on November 13th, 2003 at 10:20 pmsugar cereal equated with spontaniety and love? although i grew up on it, i'd equate it more with adhd…
and organic/vegetarian/vegan as elitist? self-righteous?
hmm, i know people who are into that, and many who aren't. it's the ones who aren't who take issue and push their thoughts onto others, act elitist about their dairy and meat industries, say dumb things, and act self-righteous as a defense mechanism against the fact that someone else is thinking differently than them.
come on, stop being dumb! she's talking about making a snack, this isn't an attack against you at all!
if you're going to try to push your thoughts on people, at least act intelligent…
Saturday is opening day for firearms deer season, so I thought the subject of s'mores should have taken a back seat to, say, venison roasts. But I guess I won't look at s'mores the same after reading this article.
posted by Jon on November 13th, 2003 at 10:30 pmI'm all for eating healthful food, but I'm pretty sure that even very expensive chocolate and self-made marshmallows are bad for you.
posted by anna on November 14th, 2003 at 10:27 amI'd like to personally thank you AAIO for adding comments. Your readers are fucking hilarious. Way to represent people!
posted by Steven B. Cherry on November 14th, 2003 at 2:30 pmGlad they're appreciated. Some of the stuff on the comments pages has been outdoing the front page.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on November 14th, 2003 at 4:37 pmLove reading this blog, and really love all the comments. Keep them rolling in!
posted by LG is overrated too on November 15th, 2003 at 12:10 pmIt is never a mistake to say good-bye.
posted by Yazmir Keith on January 25th, 2004 at 11:00 pm