It is a large mound of rice crispie treat fixings. In addition, he found a reminder for a Saturday baby shower. I had no idea why the ingredients were there, so I called my friend who was throwing the shower and asked if she had dropped them off.
"What? Like I would just drop off stuff without asking if you would make something first?" she said. I would have been happy to make anything for the shower, even lots and lots of rice crispie treats, but they weren't from her.
Shortly thereafter, my mother called. She began our conversation by asking, "Do you have anything going on this morning?" How is that for a leading question? I didn't have anything on so she told me a funny story. Her boss, Scott, went to the University of Utah and remains a huge Ute fan. While he was in college, he and some buddies came down to BYU and made an attempt to steal the school bell that hangs outside the Marriott Center. They had it down out of the bell tower and were ready to haul it away when the police showed up. Everyone scattered, but one man was caught and ratfinked on the rest. Scott, along with his buddies, was arrested.
Naturally this story is part of Scott's family lore and a testament to his true devotion to his alma mater. It was his birthday on Saturday and they were throwing a big party for him at work. My mother asked if I had time to make a rice crispie treat bell that could be used as the centerpiece for the table and would harken back to his youthful escapade. Sure, I said, why not? If I was willing to make rice crispies for my friend and the baby shower, I should certainly be willing to make something for my mom.
I needed a mold, something I could put the warm and sticky marshmallowiness into to form a bell shape. This is what I came up with. I placed three bowls on top of each other and figured when they had hardened up a bit, I could stack rice crispie treat molds on top of each other and shape it a bit. I got to melting.
I used all the ingredients Mom had delivered, making eight batches of rice crispies. I filled each of the bowls and then turned out the contents onto the board. Here is what it looked like when I had shaped it a bit, squishing in the middle to make it look more bell-like. I also made a rope of rice crispies that I wrapped around the bottom layer to give it a bit of a lip.
Then I frosted the whole thing with grey colored icing and engraved a Y on the front so that there would be no question it was the Y bell.
While this probably doesn't look like much, it took me all morning to make. It takes a long time to make eight batches of rice crispies, and the whole molding, frosting process took time too. As I was frosting it, Brandt said to me, "Mom, why are you making a volcano? Where does the lava come out?" (As a side note, Brandt got a volcano making kit for Christmas from a friend, and together we molded and then erupted it using baking soda and vinegar. We made certain the eruption chamber was large enough spew lava, but this thing I was making had no hole at all.)
I called my mom to make sure she was at work so I could deliver the bell. When I called I said, "I am going to prime you for the correct exclamation when you see this bell. You are to say, 'Wow! That looks fantastic!' You are not to say, 'Why did you bring in a volcano?'" Then we went off bearing the art project.
When I walked in with the bell, my mother very effusively declared, "Wow! That looks fantastic! It really does look fantastic. You even got the Y on it." We had to hide it, so we took down the hall to another woman's office. When we walked in, Mom introduced me and the woman said, "Oh, you have a volcano."
Augh! It looked like a volcano! Mom corrected her and said, "No, it's the bell," and then the woman said, "Oh yes. It does look like a bell." I was somewhat disappointed by her response. I hoped Scott would get it.
I had to wait all day to find out how the bell was received. Mom was very busy and I didn't talk to her until the evening. When I called she said, "Scott loved the bell. When he walked in the room he said, 'Wow! It's a bell! How fun!'" They cut into it and ate some, and then Scott took the remainder home to share with his family, especially a grandson who loves rice crispies. I was glad the guest of honor liked my efforts and recognized it for what it was. That said, however, I'm not sure I'm going to answer the phone the next time my mother calls.
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