Syrup Making Escapades

I dusted off my unlucky, oversized, moth-eaten chef hat today and tried to make Jalen some syrup for a snowcone. I got a recipe from the 'net that I followed. So, my first attempt was to mix 1 cup each of sugar and filtered water in a saucepan. I slowly brought it to boil on medium heat (#5) while stirring with a rubber whisk. It took forever for the mixture to resemble something other than water.

The directions I had didn't say how long to cook it, and I'm no cook, so I had to take a wild guess. Using a candy thermometer, I heated the mixture until it was just going past the thread stage as I was removing it from the heat. I let it cool for a few minutes, then poured the syrup into a small Rubbermaid bowl. Unfortunately, it hardened into a yellow sugary lump within 10 minutes. To make matters worse, I decided to put the bowl inside a paper bowl in the microwave to remelt it. I had this brilliant idea to dip plastic spoons in the remelted slop to make some highly creative lollipops. Well, the Rubbermaid bowl melted, the plastic spoon melted, and the whole mess got tossed into the garbage! So much for quick thinking. Oh well...at least Jalen got to lick the syrup out of the pot before it turned hard.

After lunch I made a second attempt, and I got it right! This time I mixed 1 1/2 cups each sugar and water. I turned the heat up to 7, and cooked it (stirring every few minutes) until it was just below the thread stage (approx. 226 degrees Farenheit), then removed it from the heat. A delicious golden syrup is the result. I didn't burn myself, the kids, the pot, or the Rubbermaid this time. Yay me!!!!!!

The syrup is cooling in the kitchen now. I'm afraid to put it in the 'frig because it may get hard again. So now I'm off to crush some ice in the blender (no cooking involved...I'm good at that!) for Jalen's snowcone.

**UPDATED**
Snowcone is done, and I'm injured again! I was having trouble getting all of the ice cubes to reach the blades in the blender. So I shook the blender cup back and forth, then up and down. On the way up, I smashed my left pinkie between the top of the blender cup and the bottom of the cabinet. Ouch!!! Two injuries on the same hand? I think I'm done cooking for today (and maybe for the week).