So I'm going to ramble a bit about my favorite sandwich. Because I'm having one for breakfast, and it's wonderful.
Peanut butter & Jelly.
Except, I never use jelly, as I'm ridiculously specific about my pb&j sandwiches.
Here are the requirements that must be met before I will attempt to construct and devour said sandwich:
1) Bread--I prefer wheat, but on this point, I'm pretty easy going. It's the only thing negotiable really.
2) Skippy Crunchy peanut butter. Peanut Butter is on my list of things to never buy the generic of, along with Fig Newtons and toilet paper. Also, I only like Skippy. I can live with creamy if I have to, but I prefer chunky.
3) An appropriate flavor and texture of fruit spread.
That's where things get super picky. Or rather, where I get super picky. I'm not a fan of the consistency of jelly. I prefer jam or preserves. After learning how to make marmalade with my friend Katrina, I also now know the difference between jelly, jam, preserves, marmalade, butters and cheeses. Yeah, you can make fruit cheese. It's not like real cheese that's made from milk. It's one step firmer than a butter--like apple butter, only stiffer. Anyway, jams & preserves are the best for pb&j. Polaner's All Fruit is also acceptable.
Then there's the flavor conundrum. The two most prevalent (and so I assume, most popular) flavors of jam/jelly/preserves are grape & strawberry. I don't like either of these. I prefer something from the following list:
1) peach or apricot
2) black, boysen or raspberry
I really thought that was going to be a longer list, but that's really it. I know that peach & apricot taste different, but they're similar enough to count as fungible to me. Same with the berries--and yes, I like them with the seeds. With crunchy peanut butter, it's all just more crunch anyway.
and finally:
4) a glass of milk. In my world, you can't serve a peanut butter and jam sandwich with anything other than milk. And I only drink skim, because that's what tastes right to me after drinking it for 20 years.
Then there's the actual construction. I didn't realize that I was picky about this until my loving and wonderful husband made a sandwich for me. He brought me my sandwich and a glass of milk. He even put it on one of the little plates like I like. But... when I looked at my sandwich... the bread was... touching. The bread was touching. Like the two slices of bread were touching each other. Because there wasn't enough stuff inside to keep them apart. J put a think layer of peanut butter on one side and a thin layer of jam on the other. I didn't realize that I... over stuff my sandwiches apparently. I want my full serving (2 Tbs) of peanut butter and an equal amount of jam. This creates a substantial sandwich that will a) leak all over everything (another reason to use something more substantial than jelly) and 2) will keep your belly full for HOURS.
I ate the sandwich, and it was good, so please don't think I'm so horribly picky as to return a perfectly good sandwich just for lack of filling. But I did gently instruct my darling husband that he could be more generous with the innards next time.
And now I'm full. My sandwich is gone. I'm going to the dentist.
Have a nice day.
2 comments:
The art of PB&J is very important and very personal. Everyone has their own tastes and style and should be respected. Morgan and I like to do PB&J for lunches during workshops sometimes and we had to go through how the other likes their sandwiches so either one of us could pack for lunch.
I am a white bread girl. I will only eat wheat bread if there are no crunch bits to it. In my world bread doesn't have stuff in it.
I am also a creamy peanut butter girl. Can't handle crunchy at all. It ruins it for me. Brand is not as specific. I like Jif and Skippy, but I hate generic and Peter Pan. I am told if I ate fresh peanut butter commercial peanut butter would taste gross and ashy, which is why I don't try the fresh stuff. I don't want to ruin my love for commercial peanut butter.
I also tend to like jams over jelly. I will tolerate grape jelly but I would prefer strawberry jam. Or if I have it, pepper lady jelly. I love Apple raspberry and strawberry rhubarb. Ohh so very very good.
I am the opposite of you on construction though. I want a thin layer of peanut butter. Enough to cover my bread thoroughly without being in excess. Same with the jam.
I love milk with it, but I also love to drink it with grape soda. I remember when I was a kid, as a treat, my mom during the summer would give us grape soda with our PB&J which we ate in the driveway. That is the taste of childhood right there.
Oh, PB&J. I've had so many this pregnancy it's a real fear that I'll give birth to a giant peanut.
I don't care if it's chunky or creamy but since my husband prefers creamy that's what I have most of the time. I second the Skippy preference.
For jelly I like preserves, too. I do tend to like classic strawberry best, but cherry's up there too. Its a deal breaker to have seeds for me.
I'm generous with it all, too. Luckily, my husband and I see eye to eye on this and every night after I go to bed he makes me a sandwich to take to work with me the next morning (it's pretty much my 10a.m. daily snack right now). Nothing makes me feel as taken care of as opening the fridge and seeing my sandwich ready to go in the morning.
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