Posted tagged ‘Fluffernutter’

“It is not the cook’s fault when the cassava turns out to be hard and tasteless.”

March 7, 2017

Mother Nature has it out for me. This morning as Gracie and I were going to the far side of the deck it started to rain. I walked Gracie down the stairs and went back inside the house. My sweatshirt had gotten wet. I then went to get the papers and yesterday’s mail. My sweatshirt got wetter, and I was cold. The rain stopped not long after I got into the house.

Today is much warmer at 40˚. It may even get as high as 45˚. A bit of sunshine would be welcomed, but I’m stuck with clouds and a rainy day. I suppose I’ll survive.

The other night I had a fluffernutter for dinner. I was in the mood for peanut butter and Fluff was the perfect partner. The only thing missing was Wonder Bread.

I love cheese of all sorts except blue cheese and any of its relatives. When I was a kid, we ate yellow cheese and only yellow cheese. It came in a block. It didn’t have much flavor but made for a wonderfully gooey grilled cheese sandwich. I don’t remember when I found real cheese. The first was probably cheddar.

In the beginning of Peace Corps training, eating Ghanaian food was cause for bathroom runs (think dual definition for this word). One night I fell asleep upright my back to the wall on one of the steps leading to the school bathrooms. I didn’t trust the distance between my room and the bathroom. It seemed to take forever, but by the end of training, my stomach had accepted its lot. Most of the time I was just fine though there were still moments. Ghanaian food can do that to you. Every time I visit Ghana I eat and drink what I want. Living here removed any fears or even thoughts of germs or diseases. It is what it is. I also make bathroom runs. They’re like the price of admission.

“Man cannot live by bread alone; he must have peanut butter.”

June 14, 2011

I’m really late I know, but I dragged myself out of bed for an early morning meeting, and when I got home, I read the papers then snuggled under an afghan and shared the couch with Gracie for a nap. She’s still asleep. The day is raw. My hands are cold, and I need socks to keep my feet warm. It’s the dampness more than the temperature which makes 57° so uncomfortable. Today is a stay at home and read day. I might just have some cocoa, and, of course, it will need a dollop of Marshmallow Fluff floating on the top.

I love fluffernutters. When I was little, I only had creamy peanut butter, but then I tasted and got addicted to the chunky. My favorite now is Roasted Honey Nut, either plain or chunky. Groundnut (peanut) paste was a staple in Ghana. It was thick and sold in jars to be used for soups, but I bought it for sandwiches. I’d have to mix in a little groundnut oil to make the paste easy to spread or it tore up the bread. I always thought of those sandwiches as a bit of home.

My mother never packed fluffernutters in our lunch boxes. They were always snacks to us. Sometimes I’d use Saltines and make a little snack of miniature fluffernutters. They always needed milk. They were best eaten in the living room in front of the TV. We always left crumbs on the rug no matter how careful we were.

I also like PB&J sandwiches with grape jelly, strawberry jam or hot pepper jelly. I like them for lunch or even dinner if I’m really feeling too lazy to cook anything. I don’t do glasses of milk anymore. I do coffee.