Root Beer Float Cupcakes

It's funny the things you miss when you are living far away from home.  Of course you miss family and friends.  You miss weddings and birthdays and even funerals.  You miss the sights and sounds of your hometown.  I never knew how much I would miss mountains until I lived in a flat place. 

But inevitably, when talking about home and what you miss, the conversation always comes around to food.  People miss their favorite Mexican place, or the way dad grills burgers, or mom's pie on Thanksgiving.  I miss seafood.  Good, fresh seafood.  Perfectly fried clams from Seattle's iconic Ivar's restaurant.  But that's for another post.

Root beer is another thing that people just really miss.  And by people, I mean Americans that like root beer in the first place.  Root beer is pretty much an exclusively North American thing and you just can't find it easily anywhere else in the world. 

S'mores Mini Pies

So this last winter was the first winter we had a wood-stove.  Man, it was awesome.  On chilly mornings I would fire that thing up and sit in my chair right next to it, getting all toasty warm with a quilt and a cup of coffee.

Another bonus: since we had a fire going constantly, and we had some marshmallows leftover from last camp season, I got into the habit of making myself a toasty, tasty, one-serving treat for a dessert every now and then -- yes, a s'more, right in my house.  That campfire taste instantly took me right back to 4th of July gatherings at my grandparents' house when I was a kid.  That toasty, roasty tastewas a time machine straight to childhood nostalgia, and that sweet, crunchy, chocolately, melty bite was a perfect mouthful of a treat.

I highly recommend getting a wood stove, just for this purpose.