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It all started, like these things so often do, when Ralph emerged from behind the station dumpster, which rather strategically obscures his private trailhead. He made sure he wasn’t going to change anyone’s life by meeting them suddenly in the parking lot. Crunching through some thawed and refrozen grubby snow, he slipped on over to the office door. He didn’t hear anyone he didn’t know already in there, so he opened the door, ducked and stepped in.
“You rang!” he called out. No one was visible at the desk.
“You smell my coffee, Ralph? Howzit going?” said Ranger Rick, emerging from the kitchen nook with two mugs of the hot brown stuff.
“Nah, but now that you mention it, I’ll gladly drink a cup with you!”
“Good, then I don’t have to drink both of these,” said Rick, kicking his chair out a little with a foot and settling down.
Ralph’s especially broad chair was over in the corner. He fetched it and sat down opposite Rick. “No special occasion. I just felt like stretching the legs and looking around, and I thought we hadn’t had a sit-down in a while.”
“Things are pretty quiet. Not many come when the snow starts. I’m going to close the campground for the winter one of these days,” said Rick.
“Are Dexter and Hannah going to stay in the mobile all winter?” said Ralph.
“Probably not, they’d be up to their buns in snow!”
And just as if the mention summoned him, Dexter came through the door, steadied himself, and went to hang up his coat and earflap hat. On his way by the desk he lay down a foil wrapped platter.
The other element that comes into this story is the fact that Hannah possessed a nice Cuisinart food processor. You will remember that she maintains a blog dedicated to the development of recipes.
Sometimes she tries recipes she has seen elsewhere, just to see if they are for real.
“Whatcha got there?” said Rick.
“I can’t tell you what the recipe is called. They’re kind of nut balls, with dates or something. Hi, Ralph. Keeping warm?” said Dexter.
“Howdy, Dexter. Those sound interesting,” said Ralph.
Dexter peeled off the foil to reveal the nut balls. There they sat, about the size of golf balls, and quite dark in color. There were 14 of them. They looked sort of like chocolate, but lighter in color.
“Check ‘em out. I haven’t even had one yet,” Dexter said as he vanished into the coffee pot area and came back with a mug.
Conversation ceased for a while, being replaced by quiet munching. Each man ate three before speaking again.
“They looked a little ominous, but are very good. She used walnuts, didn’t she?” said Rick. Dexter agreed. He looked proud.
“The recipe called for dates, but she had a bag of figs, so she used those, and the walnuts, some coconut oil, some other stuff, and cacao powder. That’s why they look almost like chocolate. They’re not cooked, she just made everything into a paste with her processor.”
Ralph finished off his coffee, and said, “These taste like something Ramona would be interested in. I could eat them every day.”
“Why don’t you take the rest home to her?” Dexter wrapped the 5 remaining in the foil and gave the packet to Ralph. “Hannah will be happy you guys liked them!”
“Tell her thanks from me!” said Ralph. Then he said goodbye and he’d be back before spring, and laughed because it would likely be several times before spring.
Outside, he glanced up toward the campground, didn’t see anybody, then he slipped back behind the big green dumpster, and hit the trail back to Ramona carrying the foil packet carefully in one big hand.
He carried it right down to Ramona, who was toasting her toes by her fire, and playing with Cherry’s hair. She was making little short braids in the blond curls just for fun. Cherry was beginning to present a rather branchy effect.
“Wow, Cherry, you look great like that!” said Ralph when he saw what the girls were doing. “Hey, Mona! Hannah made these nut things and I thought you might want to taste them. Maybe you could do something like this!”
“Interesting! Let me try one,” said Ramona, receiving the foil package from Ralph, who was grinning hopefully.
So, Ramona tasted and approved the nut things. Cherry did too. Then Ramona got to thinking of how to make something like that without a food processor. It could be done, though it would take a deal of work.
She had seen her mother pound nuts to a pulpy mass with a moderately long piece of wood in a wooden bowl. Ramona though her big pot would work for the bowl. She had a store of wild hazelnuts left over from fall, and dried blackberries. She also had a little butter. But she didn’t have the chocolate-colored powder. Maybe she could get some from Thaga.
While she was cracking a couple of pounds of hazelnuts, she whistled for Maeve and asked her to please go see if Thaga had some powder like that. Ramona wasn’t sure what to call it.
“Be right back,” said Maeve when she had the situation explained to her.
Ramona dumped the shelled nuts into her big pot, pounded them to bits with a longish piece of a dry branch, then added a good number of dried blackberries, a pinch of salt, and a lump of butter the size of an egg. Then she pounded the whole collection into a mass.
When Maeve returned, she had a small paper bag in her beat. She gave it to Ramona and said, “Thaga called it cocoa powder. She said it’s quite bitter without something sweet to flavor it.”
Ramona tasted the cocoa and agreed. So she put maybe about a cupful in her pot with everything else, but added some of her stash of honey to it so, then pounded some more.
She tasted it, with Maeve and Cherry watching, and decided it was good.
So, Ramona, assisted by Cherry rolled the pasty mixture up into balls. Ramona’s were round, and Cherry’s were kind of like eggs.
They filled three of the wooden bowls with them. They looked a lot like the balls that Hannah had made and Dexter had sent with Ralph.
“Hey, Baby!” said Ramona, after she was all done. “Would you like to taste these nut balls?”
“Of course, Mona!” said he. So, Ralph sampled one of Ramona’s nut balls. Then he went back to one of Hannah’s and tasted it. They were both very good. He smiled at her, and said, “I like yours better, sweet Mona! They are wilder. The taste like the whole Great Forest, all wrapped up in a little ball, with some cocoa added to make them exotic!”
Maeve tasted both, and agreed that Ramona’s tasted much more like the Forest.
They all ate so many nut balls that they were quite full, and didn’t think about dinner until later. But Ramona went ahead and made some potato and onion soup anyhow, just to finish up the day nicely.
It all started, like these things so often do, when Ralph emerged from behind the station dumpster, which rather strategically obscures his private trailhead. He made sure he wasn’t going to change anyone’s life by meeting them suddenly in the parking lot. Crunching through some thawed and refrozen grubby snow, he slipped on over to the office door. He didn’t hear anyone he didn’t know already in there, so he opened the door, ducked and stepped in.
“You rang!” he called out. No one was visible at the desk.
“You smell my coffee, Ralph? Howzit going?” said Ranger Rick, emerging from the kitchen nook with two mugs of the hot brown stuff.
“Nah, but now that you mention it, I’ll gladly drink a cup with you!”
“Good, then I don’t have to drink both of these,” said Rick, kicking his chair out a little with a foot and settling down.
Ralph’s especially broad chair was over in the corner. He fetched it and sat down opposite Rick. “No special occasion. I just felt like stretching the legs and looking around, and I thought we hadn’t had a sit-down in a while.”
“Things are pretty quiet. Not many come when the snow starts. I’m going to close the campground for the winter one of these days,” said Rick.
“Are Dexter and Hannah going to stay in the mobile all winter?” said Ralph.
“Probably not, they’d be up to their buns in snow!”
And just as if the mention summoned him, Dexter came through the door, steadied himself, and went to hang up his coat and earflap hat. On his way by the desk he lay down a foil wrapped platter.
The other element that comes into this story is the fact that Hannah possessed a nice Cuisinart food processor. You will remember that she maintains a blog dedicated to the development of recipes.
Sometimes she tries recipes she has seen elsewhere, just to see if they are for real.
“Whatcha got there?” said Rick.
“I can’t tell you what the recipe is called. They’re kind of nut balls, with dates or something. Hi, Ralph. Keeping warm?” said Dexter.
“Howdy, Dexter. Those sound interesting,” said Ralph.
Dexter peeled off the foil to reveal the nut balls. There they sat, about the size of golf balls, and quite dark in color. There were 14 of them. They looked sort of like chocolate, but lighter in color.
“Check ‘em out. I haven’t even had one yet,” Dexter said as he vanished into the coffee pot area and came back with a mug.
Conversation ceased for a while, being replaced by quiet munching. Each man ate three before speaking again.
“They looked a little ominous, but are very good. She used walnuts, didn’t she?” said Rick. Dexter agreed. He looked proud.
“The recipe called for dates, but she had a bag of figs, so she used those, and the walnuts, some coconut oil, some other stuff, and cacao powder. That’s why they look almost like chocolate. They’re not cooked, she just made everything into a paste with her processor.”
Ralph finished off his coffee, and said, “These taste like something Ramona would be interested in. I could eat them every day.”
“Why don’t you take the rest home to her?” Dexter wrapped the 5 remaining in the foil and gave the packet to Ralph. “Hannah will be happy you guys liked them!”
“Tell her thanks from me!” said Ralph. Then he said goodbye and he’d be back before spring, and laughed because it would likely be several times before spring.
Outside, he glanced up toward the campground, didn’t see anybody, then he slipped back behind the big green dumpster, and hit the trail back to Ramona carrying the foil packet carefully in one big hand.
He carried it right down to Ramona, who was toasting her toes by her fire, and playing with Cherry’s hair. She was making little short braids in the blond curls just for fun. Cherry was beginning to present a rather branchy effect.
“Wow, Cherry, you look great like that!” said Ralph when he saw what the girls were doing. “Hey, Mona! Hannah made these nut things and I thought you might want to taste them. Maybe you could do something like this!”
“Interesting! Let me try one,” said Ramona, receiving the foil package from Ralph, who was grinning hopefully.
So, Ramona tasted and approved the nut things. Cherry did too. Then Ramona got to thinking of how to make something like that without a food processor. It could be done, though it would take a deal of work.
She had seen her mother pound nuts to a pulpy mass with a moderately long piece of wood in a wooden bowl. Ramona though her big pot would work for the bowl. She had a store of wild hazelnuts left over from fall, and dried blackberries. She also had a little butter. But she didn’t have the chocolate-colored powder. Maybe she could get some from Thaga.
While she was cracking a couple of pounds of hazelnuts, she whistled for Maeve and asked her to please go see if Thaga had some powder like that. Ramona wasn’t sure what to call it.
“Be right back,” said Maeve when she had the situation explained to her.
Ramona dumped the shelled nuts into her big pot, pounded them to bits with a longish piece of a dry branch, then added a good number of dried blackberries, a pinch of salt, and a lump of butter the size of an egg. Then she pounded the whole collection into a mass.
When Maeve returned, she had a small paper bag in her beat. She gave it to Ramona and said, “Thaga called it cocoa powder. She said it’s quite bitter without something sweet to flavor it.”
Ramona tasted the cocoa and agreed. So she put maybe about a cupful in her pot with everything else, but added some of her stash of honey to it so, then pounded some more.
She tasted it, with Maeve and Cherry watching, and decided it was good.
So, Ramona, assisted by Cherry rolled the pasty mixture up into balls. Ramona’s were round, and Cherry’s were kind of like eggs.
They filled three of the wooden bowls with them. They looked a lot like the balls that Hannah had made and Dexter had sent with Ralph.
“Hey, Baby!” said Ramona, after she was all done. “Would you like to taste these nut balls?”
“Of course, Mona!” said he. So, Ralph sampled one of Ramona’s nut balls. Then he went back to one of Hannah’s and tasted it. They were both very good. He smiled at her, and said, “I like yours better, sweet Mona! They are wilder. The taste like the whole Great Forest, all wrapped up in a little ball, with some cocoa added to make them exotic!”
Maeve tasted both, and agreed that Ramona’s tasted much more like the Forest.
They all ate so many nut balls that they were quite full, and didn’t think about dinner until later. But Ramona went ahead and made some potato and onion soup anyhow, just to finish up the day nicely.
🌲🍁🌲
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