Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwiches

If I made a bar chart that showed how many times I've eaten each different food item in my lifetime, peanut butter and honey sandwiches would tower over all the others. Most of them were consumed in my childhood, on days when my mom didn't feel like cooking. I find it strange that I never got tired of them. Even now, they are my ultimate comfort food.

Then there are the other foods. Don't mind me as I reminisce.

My mom makes the best potato salad. I have tried many times to recreate it, without success. It always had the perfect amount of olives, eggs, and dill pickles. She also made goulash, but don't ask me what that is because I'm not really sure. For us it was any meal in which pasta, tomato sauce, and hamburger were the main ingredients, but I don't think that's what goulash really is. It seemed like most meals that were made of those three ingredients ended up on the floor, but that's another story.

Whenever my mom needed to take a potluck dessert somewhere, she usually made a pumpkin roll. I have never made one because it looks so complicated. I'm impressed by my mom's ability to make this wonderful dessert because she didn't bake very often. I like to bake, but I usually stay with simple things like cakes, cookies, and muffins. I'm pretty good at making rice crispy treats, but I don't think that counts as baking.

Two or three times a year, we would have a big "Thanksgiving" dinner. My dad often took pictures of the formally set dinner table at these non-occasions, complete with three proper daughters with napkins on their laps. Dad always included a table manners lesson during these dinners. My little sisters especially loved when he would "accidentally" make mistakes (like flinging food from his plate with his fork). His lessons were informative as well as entertaining. Dad took a lot of pride in teaching us.

Sometimes my dad made steak or fish or shrimp or shish-kabobs. I shared my dad's love for crab salad from the deli, and I still remember the first time I tried some of his canned smoked oysters. I should have been grossed out, but I loved them. I still do. In fact, every year, Santa puts a can of smoked oysters in the bottom of my stocking because he loves me and knows I'm a good girl.

We ate tostadas regularly. I don't know how other people prepare tostadas, but my family ate them just like tacos, but with a tostada shell. Our toppings were: refried beans, hamburger, avocado (sometimes), diced tomatoes, sliced black olives, and sour cream. Sometimes our dinner was seven layer dip (made from the same ingredients) with tortilla chips. We used a small rectangular coffee table in the front room for this meal. Mom and Dad sat on the couch, and my two sisters and I would kneel at each of the other three sides of the table. It was always a race to see who could scoop away the largest section of the big circle serving platter, even though we knew none of us could ever beat Dad. We liked this meal, and in our childish enthusiasm would declare, "Dip for dinner!"

When we had tostadas or dip, I got to cut up the tomatoes or olives. I diced the tomatoes into very small bits because I didn't like them, so the smaller the pieces, the better. My whole family would be waiting for me to get those tomatoes cut up so we could eat!

But back to the peanut butter and honey sandwiches.

My kids love them too. I think it is ironic that my daughters think I am neglecting them by only allowing them to have peanut butter and honey sandwiches once a day when for a long time, I thought I was neglected because some days that was all there was to eat.

In the Bible, it says that John the Baptist lived for a time on locusts and honey. It must work: although I would rather get my protein from peanut butter than from locusts, no doubt!