May 25, 2005

Profgrrrrl's Cereal Meme

When do you eat it? And how often?
I'll eat it any time of day, whenever I am a hungry. I do not live in a household that has the three-meals-each-day ritual. Most of us just eat when we are hungry.

How many boxes do you buy each week?
Six

What are your favorite cereals?
Restaurant oatmeal is my favorite: I love the texture of it. When I meet my friends for breakfast, to eat and chat and share poetry, I always get oatmeal and orange juice. When I take an annual drive to the mountains every fall with my parents, we stop at a diner and I get oatmeal.

My cold cereals are just any of those natural grain types that all taste the same. With-a-Why is going through a Cinnamon Life stage.

What kind will you not eat?
I don't like the mostly sugar ones.

What is the secret about cereal that you don't always admit?
Sometimes if I am at a conference, I will order room service oatmeal because it tastes so good and because I absolutely cannot function without food first thing in the morning. But I do feel guilty spending about ten dollars on a bowl of oatmeal and a glass of juice.

What liquid do you pour on your cereal?
Vanilla soy milk on cold cereal.

What do you put on top of your cereal?
I love fresh blueberries on cold cereal.
On oatmeal, it's brown sugar and raisins.

Do you prefer cereal or other foods for breakfast?
My preference would be a croissant drizzled with melted dark chocolate on a spring day in Paris.

Do you have any cereal-related rituals or other oddities?
When I was a kid, my mother would never buy the sugar cereals, so I used to always take a spoonful of sugar and sprinkle it on. I saw Davy Jones do this once on the Monkees. And he was a grown-up! But I don't do that any more.

Favorite cereal memories?
When I was a little kid, we would get cool prizes in the cereal boxes. My favourite was a set of tiddly winks.

On camping trips, my mother used to sometimes buy those little boxes of cereal. You would break open the box on the perforated lines, pour milk right into the box, and eat it in the box. Then you could just toss the box in the fire.

On dark winter mornings when I was a kid, my mother would make a big pot of oatmeal with peaches in it. We all sit around the kitchen table, eating oatmeal and listening to the list of school closings on the radio. Always there was the hope that we would get a snow day. And snow days are so exciting!

When I lived in London for a semester as a college student, one of my roommates used to make oatmeal every morning, and I would eat a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of hot tea as I planned my day: which cathedral or garden or museum to see, which play to go to that evening, which pub to drink at with my friends.

Your favorite thing about cereal?
Reading the back of the box! But cereal boxes have gotten less fun over the decades. Or maybe it's because I buy the boring healthy cereal instead of the fun kid cereal now.

16 comments:

Ianqui said...

I see you've never bought Puffins then! An adult cereal, but you can learn all about the cute little buggers, and how to save their habitats.

Phantom Scribbler said...

We don't charge $10 for the oatmeal here at the Scribbler Mansion...

Yankee, Transferred said...

I always wished I could like oatmeal, instead of having the reaction I have to the look and the smell of it...it seems like it would be good start-the-day food.

reverendmother said...

jo(e), have you tried steel-cut oatmeal? (aka Irish outmeal) Much heartier than the quicker stuff. Steel-cut takes the better part of a half hour to prepare. You toast the oats in the pan, then simmer for 20 minutes, then add a little buttermilk at the end.

Wow I could eat some right now.

timna said...

yes to the oatmeal. just had some in a restaurant last weekend. (I went downstairs, saved only $2 - should have stayed upstairs and had the room service).
yes to brown sugar and raisins, too!

jo(e) said...

Steel-cut oatmeal? I've never heard of that.

The only options where I shop are the instant oatmeals (most with sugar added) that I never buy -- and the big round cannister of Quaker oats, which is what I get.

reverendmother said...

Here's a description of sorts. They're basically less processed than regular oats, with more of the oat left intact.

It would be a joy for me to send you a tin from our local Trader Joe's (if you don't have one near you). I would be interested to see what you think, oatmeal aficionada that you are. :-)

Liz Miller said...

I love your cereal memories. I used to sit and count how many time they used the letter "E" on a box of cereal. Lovely mindless eating.

iBeth said...

I love oatmeal, however I can get it. And I still put sugar on cereal! And unlike my mom, we do buy sugary kids cereal (I'll blame that on my husband--I would never have bought that stuff but he did, and once they have tasted it, they never go back) but none of us puts sugar on that, of course.

We eat SO MUCH cereal at our house. Both husband and older daughter will frequently eat two bowls at breakfast.

Unknown said...

Am I the only one in the world not putting soymilk on cereal?
And, jo(e), my husband eats Barbara's Cinnamon Puffins; they're not sweet at all and actually good for you.

jo(e) said...

Reverendmother: I'd love to try some steelcut oatmeal.

ibeth: Yes, my kids always ask for the sugar cereals and it is entirely my husband's fault.

Songbird: I too was surprised at how many of my blogging friends put use soymilk ...

I've never heard of Puffins. I'll have to look for them.

Anonymous said...

Mmmm... all this talk of oatmeal has me hungry. Absolute comfort food. I like raisins and vanilla soy milk on mine, too. I also like to pour a little maple syrup on top. Yum.

Mona Buonanotte said...

Mmmm...imagine how good a bowl of restaurant oatmeal would be if young Davy Jones were sitting across from you. Sigh.

My kids clamour for my homemade granola, uses regular oatmeal, wheat germ, fruits, nuts, etc. Should I tell them it's heathier than Frosted Flakes? ...Nah...

RussianViolets said...

Oh, I so need to have oatmeal tomorrow. Yum!

AAYOR said...

I made oatmeal raisin cookies last night... does that count?

Anonymous said...

I love oatmeal in restaurants, unless it is instant. I sure wish I knew how to make it myself. I've even cooked it for a long time but it still isn't the same texture.