The Kind That Fights Back by KimB

[Editor's note: This story was written by KimB]

Mom was very particular about what we ate as kids and often we protested loudly. Mom loved wheat germ and yogurt (plain no sugar) and could eat loads of it. Frosted Flakes and other sugared cereals never graced our table and plain oatmeal was the most common breakfast food.

Getting groceries with Mom was always a “chore” and stressful to a T. Tagging along behind her while she selected the “correct” items was at times unbearable. I could see all the stuff that was advertised on TV and none of it went into the basket. Pleading and pouting availed nothing. There were no Oreo cookies going home with us, instead Raisin cookies (long flat and very uninteresting) were placed in the cart. Cream of Wheat made it to the basket, while the Coco Puffs stayed on the shelf.

Once, I placed something in the basket hoping Mom wouldn't notice – WRONG! First, she thought she had gotten the wrong cart but a confession soon followed and the subsequent lecture insured I never did THAT again.

But not everything was dreadful. English Muffins were always On The List, as was Peanut Butter. But like all other things, Jiffy wasn't going to make the cut and Mom always bought “fresh ground” peanut butter in a plastic tub. If I pleaded just right, I might get “crunchy” style but most often “smooth” was the version to come home with us.

I loved peanut butter and we ate it by the heaping spoonful. Heaps of it where placed on the English Muffins and with one bite, your jaws were clamped together. The perfect vacuum was achieved and it took minutes to get your jaws unglued to continue the munching. I think it was a secret method Mom had found to keep us occupied and quiet for 5 minutes... and it worked. We would be so busy trying to get our jaws re-hinged that glorious silence existed for a short while.

Mom would fix a mishmash of stuff for dinner. Mom would ask what we wanted in the casserole and we would pick out stuff from the fridge. Once, long before I ever tasted Thai Food, peanut butter made it into the pasta and sauce dish. With skepticism, Mom put a wallop of peanut butter into the sauce and surprisingly it tasted great!

English Muffins and peanut butter were the Hard Tack for traveling too. On any car trip we made, a bag of groceries sat on the seat near by and inside were English Muffins and the ubiquitous tub of peanut butter. Well slathered slices where passed around whenever anyone said they were hungry. The car may have run on gasoline but we ran on peanut butter until we got to our destination.

There was always a special quality to the peanut butter Mom bought. I have never been able to find the duplicate to the jaw clamping stuff Mom used to get. I have tried the organic stir-it-up type and the grind-it-yourself types and while they tasted good, they never compare to the memories of the stuff that “Fought Back” every time you ate it.

English Muffin with Peanut Butter