W3- Teachers

The person that has taught me the most when it comes to cooking is easily my mother. I have also learned a few things from my grandmas and aunts, the older generations. I have tried to learn from my girlfriends, but to be honest those lessons have been more detrimental to my cooking knowledge than helpful (probably why to this point I have chosen to stay unmarried). Another place I was supposed to learn about cooking was my World Foods class in high school. Unfortunately, I didn't pay very close attention and therefore have no idea how to prepare the African, European or South American foods we made in that class. But the teacher and the lesson that I remember best comes from my all-time favorite movie The Sandlot.

The scene takes place in the team's clubhouse (a treehouse built overlooking the sandlot) while the boys are having a camp out to explain to the new kid, Scott Smalls, why he can't climb over the fence to retrieve lost baseballs. However, the best thing Smalls (and myself) learned in this scene was the proper way to make s'mores.

The lesson starts with Hamilton "The Babe" Porter asking Smalls if he wants a s'more, to which Smalls replies "Some more of what?" To this Porter repeats his question while pointing to the ingredients on the table. Smalls still clueless answers, "I haven't had anything yet, so how can I have some more of nothing?"

The second reply clearly hits Porter's last nerve as he swallows and then exclaims "You're killing me, Smalls! These are s'more stuff. Ok? Pay attention. First, you take the graham. You stick the chocolate on the graham.  Then, you roast the mallow. When the mallow's flamin' you stick it on the chocolate. Then you cover it with the other end. Then, you stuff."

I'll admit this scene wasn't the first time I was given instructions on how to make a s'more, but it is how I remember now. Plus every person that I have ever taught to make s'mores has heard a loosely quoted version of these instructions.

In closing I am sure that anyone who reads this would shout a "You're killing me, Smalls!" if I didn't include a video of this scene, so here it is.