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Thursday, January 14, 2010

Cereal Eater

Sunday nights at my house while growing up were cereal nights. The four of us would arrive home from evening church, and pour ourselves bowls of crunchy bran and puffed rice just in time to watch Life Goes On and America's Funniest Home Videos. Cold cereal was part of my childhood, so why shouldn't it have a place in my adulthood?

I was eating a bowl of Corn Flakes tonight, and I announced to my roommates that I could eat cereal everyday for the rest of my life. I'm not so sure I'm willing to stand behind my statement in a court of law, but I sure do love cereal. So, I got to thinking... Why do I love it so much?

Mom tells the story of when I was a baby, standing in my crib in the wee hours of the morning, calling out, "O's!" She would go to the kitchen, fetch me some Cheerios, and then return to bed, knowing she'd scored another couple of hours of rest. Cheerios are still my favorite. They taste like home.

Memories hang around in my head of Ben and I fighting over the last bowl of Kix, or the toy in the Golden Grahams box. I remember the awe of the Wheaties box, especially the ones featuring Michael Jordan. They were going to be collector's items one day, so we delicately removed the bag of cereal, and carefully pasted the tabbed top back in place. Empty Wheaties boxes collected dust on my brother's bedroom shelves for years.

Certain cereals are synonymous with members of my family. Dad always really liked Crispix. I thought Crispix were kind of boring. Grandpa ate Raisin Bran. And my Granny liked All-Bran. Bran must be a right of passage into old age.

And then there are those cereals that hold a special place in my heart...

--Frosted Mini Wheats satisfy my inner 6-year-old and 70-year-old at the same time.
--I will neither confirm, nor deny, that I used to suck the cinnamony-sugar off the little pieces of "bread" in Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
--Christmas would fail to be Christmas if there wasn't a bowl of Chex Mix lying around getting stale.
--Cookie Crisp are better eaten dry.
--Is there really such a thing as a Grape Nut? They are break-a-tooth good.
--It's worth eating the stale bits in Lucky Charms for the rainbow of marshmallows. You take the good with the bad.

So, what are your favorite cereals? Favorite sugar cereal? Favorite adult cereal? Favorite healthy cereal? Cereal that brings back memories?

10 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cherrios also remind me of soccer---remember.
Cherrios also remind me of the litter box. You loved that job!
My favorite---honey nut cherrios!

8:16 PM

 
Anonymous mom said...

Anonymous was me--I hit the wrong button!

8:18 PM

 
Anonymous casey freeman said...

rice krispies are the best & my all time fav
reese's puffs-yum
peanut butter captain crunch :)

10:53 PM

 
Blogger Kaylan said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

10:11 AM

 
Blogger Kaylan said...

1) I love your blog (and YOU).

2) I have two all-time favorites: Honey Nut Cheerios and Frosted Mini Wheats. I can never decide which one I like better so I go through phases and often switch back and forth between the two.

3) My favorite thing (still to this day)—what tastes like home to me, if you will—was when my mom would cut up a banana and a few strawberries to top off my cereal. Nutritious and delicious! :)

10:12 AM

 
Blogger Natrudy said...

I was a big fan of Honey Nut Clusters and Banana Nut Bread. However, my guilty pleasures were always (and still are) Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Cracklin' Oat Bran. Man that stuff was soooo good!!

2:47 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I would have to admit that Lucky Charms was and is still my personal favorite, though it requires a certain skill to ensure the ratio of cereal bites to marshmallows is correct. That way there are enough marshmallows in every bite, even that last one!

I have to disagree about Cookie Crisp, which is my second favorite. It is the combination of cookies and milk that makes this cereal a success! The cookies soak in milk so each bite tastes like a childhood snack. Then, the leftover milk tastes divine!!!

I, too, grew up with Sunday night cereal. Can you tell??? And the ritual holds strong today. I make some kind of dinner for the three boys after church, then I myself go to the cupboard to pick from several choices! How exciting!!

~ Katie

10:57 PM

 
Anonymous Mandy Gallagher said...

Oh my...this blog is great..I absolutely LOVE cereal and could eat it everyday of my life as well!! My old school favorites are Frosted Flakes,Honey Nut Cherrios,Fruity Pebbles & Choc. Pebbles..and don't you love how Choc. Pebbles give you choc milk! Unfortunately, since I am old now it comes to healthy cereals...like Special K, which I absolutely love as well!

8:44 AM

 
Blogger Rhonda said...

As if I could not love you any more, you devote a whole blog post to cereal. IT IS MY FAVORITE FOOD. Though I'm sure you all know that! I cannot choose a favorite; I don't discriminate. I like the healthy ones just as much as the sugary ones. Because I would eat it 3 times a day, I don't keep any in the house and only buy myself a box every 2-3 months. The box is gone within 4 days!

9:51 PM

 
Blogger Amanda Bradley said...

I eat cereal almost every morning for breakfast. Usually I have Rice Krispies- but for splurges I get Coco Puffs or Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

3:49 PM

 

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