One more step has been traveled in the direction of my Americanization: I just ate the very first PB&J sandwich in my life.
Of course, I’m still me, so the peanut butter was organic, the jelly was rose petal preserve, and the bread was Lithuanian from the Global Foods store.
At this rate, I will be fully Americanized in no time.
Clarissa's Blog 
About time! My sweetie calls my PBJ sandwiches “non-PBJ.” For him, it’s got to be commercial peanut butter with grape jelly on soft white bread. As far as he’s concerned, my health-food-store-ground-peanut-butter with 100%-fruit-spread on whole wheat bread is another food altogether. I say it’s all good–including rose-petal jelly (want to try that!) on Lithuanian bread.
LikeLike
It is another food altogether and amazingly non-gross, compared to the commercial peanut butter, grape jelly and Wonder-type bread … which is a frightening nonfood in my wicked view.
LikeLike
Yes, that bread that is sold at gas stations, that is very soft and never goes stale. I’m terrified of it, too. 🙂
LikeLike
I never much liked peanut butter on its own until I experienced the peanut-only version at a healthfood store I once frequented.
It was a large machine with peanuts in the top and you pressed a button and it rumbled to life and fresh ground peanut butter came out. It quickly became a staple and nothing I’ve had from a jar (even organic) has ever come close to it.
That said, there is something to be said for the grape jelly (only an american thing there’s none in Europe as far as I can tell)* with skippy and wonder bread. Not as a daily diet, of course, but as a once in a while thing it’s okay. I’m far too American to completely avoid processed junk (and even enjoy it on occasion). Everything in moderation as they say.
*in taste the closest is probably black currant jam, but still…. it’s not the same.
LikeLike
Hmm, this sounds like the sort of thing that could be replicated with a blender/meatgrinder. Were the peanuts skinned or not?
LikeLike
I think they were. But I’m not sure.
LikeLike
It was something like this (self serve)
LikeLike
And probably only slightly salted. Guess it’s time to taste whether my blender can handle peanuts – peanut butter has always tasted to me like the sort of thing I’d love were it not for a slightly chemical taste that I never found in actual peanuts.
LikeLike
Yes, this is why I hate regular peanut butter. It’s too salty. And what I really hate are those Reese’s peanut butter candies. Bought them once by mistake and still shudder at the memory.
LikeLike
Oh, it’s not the saltiness I have a problem with (low blood pressure, I need all the salt I can get), it’s that slightly metallic aftertaste. I don’t know what they put into it but it sure isn’t just peanuts.
LikeLike
Ah, Stille’s comment was for Cliff! The way I see comments in the app makes them look like always being addressed to me. Sorry!
LikeLike
Love good, crunchy, organic peanut butter, love jam. It’s not called jelly in England! That’s a dessert made with gelatine, so not suitable for non-meat eaters like me. I’ve never got on with the two together, they leave a very strange after-taste, like chewing tobacco, my mouth must be weird.
I make my own jam, I grow my own Victoria plums and damsons, so my jam contains plums/damsons and cane sugar, nothing else.
Anyhow, Clarissa your rose petal jelly sounds amazing, but I don’t grow roses. Maybe I should start…
LikeLike
“love jam. It’s not called jelly in England!”
Technically they’re different things. Jam has pieces of fruit and skin in it, while jelly’s been strained.
One of the mistranslations that always drive me crazy in Poland is when they translate American jelly as ‘galaretka’ which is the gelatine dessert known as jello in the US. So millions of Poles must think Americans have sandwiches with jello on them.
Similarly bothersome is that ‘egg nog’ always gets translated as ‘ajerkoniak’ (also called adwokat from the Dutch drink advocaat*) so that Poles are probably convinced that children in America swill down pitchers sweetened vodka for Christmas…
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advocaat
LikeLike
“Similarly bothersome is that ‘egg nog’ always gets translated as ‘ajerkoniak’ (also called adwokat from the Dutch drink advocaat*) so that Poles are probably convinced that children in America swill down pitchers sweetened vodka for Christmas…”
– This was a mystery that bothered me for years. I couldn’t believe that what I thought was egg nog could ever be child appropriate. That was until I moved to Indiana, bought some egg nog for myself at the grocery store, preparing to have a good time, and realized that it was more innocent than Diet Coke. What a disappointment that was!
LikeLike
Next you will have “root beer” and enjoy it, rather than mentioning that it reminds you of the last time you visited the dentist …
LikeLike
I was going to make a special occasion of it but here you had to go and spoil my surprise. 🙂 Yes, I did have a root beer and I did like it. 🙂
LikeLike
Never had root beer – which root is it made from? I’ve tried dandelion and burdock, a traditional Yorkshire concoction made from -yes -dandelion and burdock – it’s horrible! As for Irn Bru, that’s made from Scottish girders… I wonder why it tastes like bubble-gum.
LikeLike
Sassafrass is apparently the main ingredient (with or without sasparilla).
Europeans (esp Germans) often seem to think it tastes like toothpaste. And despite what wikipedia says I’ve never heard of alcoholic root beer (may well have existed but I never heard of it or heard of root beer being used in mixed drinks either).
LikeLike
Everything that tastes like bubble gum has got to be good.
LikeLike