Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Peanut butter and love poem

Ingredients

Welcome! Happy Poetry Tuesday, everrrybody.

Wendy suggested I try one of Jared's classic snack combinations: peanut butter stirred into vanilla yogurt.

To Stir

I used some more of the fancy Cream-Nut peanut butter mentioned in 2 previous posts. Normally I only keep chunky peanut butter in the house, but I'm glad I had this (relatively) creamy brand on hand, as it seemed to mesh with the yogurt more soothingly than chunky might have.

Notice my giant yogurt tub? I really prefer full-fat-cream-on-top vanilla yogurt, but it's hard to find in single-serving containers. I had to buy the big guy. Yogurt doesn't have to be a diet food, y'all! Demand single-serving full-fat yogurts!

Stirred

Dear Jared,

Your snack idea is a good one. I like how the richness of the peanut butter tastes in the tangy yogurt. I kind of wonder if a sweeter peanut butter brand would be better, though. The Cream-Nut's honest nuttiness gets a little overpowered by the crazy sweetness of the yogurt. Maybe I should try plain yogurt next time. Also, this took a lot of stirring. I guess I'd need a blender to really get the textures to meld. The snack is a little too much work when I am dealing with a giant yogurt that needs to be decanted into a smaller container before the pb can be added, but that's my problem, not yours. I'm glad Wendy mentioned this combo to me. Keep up the inventive snacking!

Your friend,
Jennette



And now to the poetry. Today's snack reminded me of another poem I wrote when but a tender teenager. I was seventeen and romantic and nerdy, mad for peanut butter and certain boys, and could not stop writing love poems (not much of this description has changed). I suppose I should be too embarrassed to post this, but it's not like I have a poetic reputation to ruin.


I was painting my
fingernails with peanut
butter this afternoon and
the happy music was playing
on the stereo and then
the sun coming in the
window reminded me that
you love me
so we spent an hour
in the park just wrapped
around each other - flesh
sculptures in prickly grass
and you turned 8 cartwheels
and I got tired
and you understood that
i was too small to put the
baby bird back in its nest
and you kissed frustration
off my nose
then you wouldn't let
me lick the yogurt off the
picnic table and we watched
the dog eat a granola bar because
it was spoiled by the lemon
custard* and again the grass
was pricklysharp
but I was sitting on
your shoulders and you
were wearing shoes

Marry into the Handstand
photo credit: Matthew Nauser


* I remember that lemon custard granola bar, but not whether it was that flavor on its own or whether we dipped the granola bar in lemon custard yogurt. Either way, disgusting. A terrible idea.


11 comments:

houstonmacbro said...

Okay, I thought I was the only one that likes peanut butter on ... odd things. Can you believe I add a scoop (just on top, not mixed in) onto my oatmeal. I then scoop a little bit of the peanut butter onto the spoon with each bite.

And speaking of oatmeal, I never stir mine. I just pour boiling water over oats (and raisins, cherries or other dried fruit) and let it plump up. I hate it slimy.

Am I weird?

Jennette said...

I will always hesitate hard before considering any kind of peanut butter love weird. Peanut butter is excellent in oatmeal cookies, so I imagine it delicious in oatmeal as well. The way you describe eating it in oatmeal is the way I like it in ice cream (just on top; not mixed in). However, I have never found oatmeal to be slimy when I stir it, so although I don't find it weird that you don't stir your oatmeal I am now curious to see what difference there would be if I ate my oatmeal without stirring it next time. I usually cook mine on the stove or in the microwave (be careful of that, though), rather than pouring boiling water over it.

Thanks for commenting!

houstonmacbro said...

Thanks!

Clarification. I do stir the hot water in once or twice, but I let it sit after that. It will kind of plump up (if the water to oats ratio is correct) and be the consistency of ... almost like rice. The oats get big and almost flaky. I hope that's a good description.

Matt C said...

I like the sound of this. I'd do a plain yogurt, some honey, and banana slices.

yo said...

Wanted to let you know about my blog for restaurant Lulu on Mulberry Street (http://lulunyc.blogspot.com) because Lulu is making a name for itself with a "Snacks" menu, and I just did a post about it. Would love your feedback

Jennette said...

HMB - that clarification makes sense. I like plumpy oatmeal.

MC - right on.

AF - I'm off to visit your blog!

Mechanic said...

i love that poem as much as i love peanut butter. A LOT. thanks so much for sharing it, and the picture is fab too.

Jennette said...

You are a sweetheart.

betsy said...

You can get full-fat yogurt in single-serving sizes - in 6-packs. Stonyfield Farms makes a product called Yo Baby! The fruit flavors are quite delicate, the yogurt is delicious, and it comes in 4-oz servings.

We got it for the kid, but now it's practically the only kind I like - most other yogurt tastes gross and chemical-y to me.

Jennette said...

That is excellent news. Thanks for the information. I should have known the baby stuff would be the most pure.

Jennette said...

Thanks, George. If you do decide to visit more often, I hope you'll comment again! :)

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