Soundtrack: The Cure, “The Love Cats”
Tonight, a creative housemate of mine decided to have a kiddie menu theme for the dinner she was making for us. Dinner consisted of macaroni and cheese with little slices of tofu dogs added to it, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (on white bread, of course) cut into little quarters, “ants on a log” which consisted of celery slices filled with peanut butter and little raisins stuck on top, pasta spirals with butter, sliced carrots and celery. For dessert we had brownies and some kind of vegan whatsit that tasted pretty good. And apple juice was served as a beverage.
It wasn’t exactly conducive to the gluten free lifestyle I’ve been leading. But I could NOT resist the notion of mac and cheese. I don’t know if it was the same Kraft Macaroni and Cheese dinner I grew up with (my parents always just called it “Kraft dinner”), but it sure tasted like it. My stomach was going, “no, no, no,” but my taste buds were being gleefully transported back to 1972 and were not going to miss this opportunity at nostalgia no matter how much my stomach protested.
Ever since childhood, I have had an odd habit of eating the same thing every day. I probably ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day at school from fourth grade until I graduated from high school. In college, out of creativity and necessity, I added some interesting twists to the sandwich–what I’d probably refer to today as Mutant Butter & Jelly. Instead of using two slices of bread, I would use three, and on the insides of two of them I would spread butter. If jelly wasn’t available, I used either honey, maple syrup or Miracle Whip–whatever was available in the house. I even tried mayonnaise once, but that didn’t work so well.
I suppose it wouldn’t be that much of a leap to imagine a college-themed dinner here consisting of pizza and ramen noodles. And more pizza. And more ramen noodles. With Bac-Os as a condiment.
You see, things like this wouldn’t happen if I lived in my own apartment. This is yet another reason to live in a co-op house.
And now it’s time for me to take a nap…
One thought on “tonight’s dinner? here’s the kiddie menu”