Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Delicious

I crave weirdly.
Last night, I went to the market because, over the weekend, I had a hankering for bologna. Craving bologna, in and of itself, is not so unusual - it's easily accessible, standard lunch meat.
The Hanna factor? I like my bologna fried, and as part of a sandwich - a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Yes, you read that correctly. I like to fry a slice of bologna (and I greatly enjoy the cooking process as well - you should observe a frying slice one day. The heat makes the center of the bologna rise, so you have a slice of lunch meat shaped like yet another childhood staple - that weird toy-thing that you popped at your sisters to annoy them - on your frying pan) and slap it between two slices of bread, one spread with creamy peanut butter and the other with strawberry jam.
It is delicious. It was a favorite childhood snack, one I remembered only the other night, and one I absolutely had to try again. At first, I feared that my memory would have deceived me, that a fried bologna and PBJ sandwich did actually taste as horrible as it sounds. But I discovered, to my delight, that my most awesome memory has once again prevailed, and that my food of childhood is as delicious now as it was then.
Honestly, if you were to ask me what food reminds me of my childhood, I would say fried bologna and PBJ. I adored it when I was a kid, and I don't know why I ever stopped eating this sandwich - it is an orgasmic experience for the taste buds.
If you are faint of heart (or stomach), you may be squirming at the thought of such a meal, but I assure you, it is fantastic. I don't know what about the combination of ingredients makes the end result so enjoyable, but I will divulge to you now my amazing recipe:

2 slices of white bread
creamy peanut butter
strawberry jam
Oscar Mayer bologna

The bread MUST be toasted, the peanut butter MUST be creamy, and it MUST be jam, and not jelly. Oscar Mayer is just standard; I wouldn't even suggest thinking of using an alternative.
I eat PBJ sandwiches on untoasted bread, with either chunky or creamy peanut butter, but there is an exact science to the fried bologna and PBJ - do not tinker with it. It is not a toy, it is not even a meal - it is a privileged experience.

That said, I've also been craving buffalo wings, as of late. I'll also whip up a batch of brownies late at night to satisfy my demanding sweet tooth - I have made shopping trips just to sate a particular whim.
May my future husband be a patient, adventurous man.