My list of things to do is not only about big personal challenges or adrenaline fuelled experiences. It also contains a number of little things that I haven’t done that I would like to.
I have been lucky enough to visit the USA four times now. I’ve still only ventured to the Sunshine State, but I love it there and would love to go back sometime soon. I want to see the rest of the States and the world too of course, but sometimes it’s good to go somewhere you know you will enjoy. This time around I managed to tick three things off my list, all different – there was the Skycoaster, the swim with Dolphins at Discovery Cove (which may get its own post sometime in the New Year), and I ate a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich.
For some reason Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches have always intrigued me. They are very American, here in the UK we like to keep our peanuts and our jams separate! I have wondered how they would taste – I like peanut butter, I like a nice jam sandwich, it is supposed to be the most popular sandwich filling in the USA, so it must be good!
It was mission accomplished one sunny lunch time in Florida in October. We’d been to Walmart for groceries and bought a jar of PB&J – apparently America’s favourite combination of the two sandwich fillers – and I got to giving this thing a go.
No. No, no, no, no. No. I did not like. I couldn’t even finish the sandwich. Yuk.
The combination of buttery nutty and a little bit salty peanut butter with the incredibly sweet and chemically grape jelly (sorry, jam) was not nice. I could not make the flavours go together. My taste buds rejected them and wanted to separate them to different corners of my mouth. What I was hoping for was a perfect marriage of fruit and buttery nut, a revelation in flavour that would mean I’d be taking PB&J sandwiches to work. But what I got was an unpleasant taste in my mouth that I just couldn’t get rid of. Disappointed!
Maybe if I used products from home, which aren’t anywhere near as chemically (what goes into processed food in America?!?!), it would be different. Maybe I should try another one. I don’t know that I could bring myself to do it.
I’m really sorry my American friends, but I really don’t get it. I wanted to like it, I really did, but no, this combination is not for me. Please don’t hate me, but every time I hear any mention of PB&J on the telly or anywhere else I will involuntarily screw my face up with a look of “euwwww”.
Any other strange foods I should be trying?