see more loldogs ask – i can has hotdog?

Remember Tang? It’s what we had before we had SunnyD. Old people remember Tang, and the thing we remember best about it is that the astronauts had Tang in their space ships, and so we wanted it. We wanted it with all the blind zealotry that preschoolers can muster. We wanted to be astronauts, too, and we knew we had the right stuff, and we figured we might as well get a head start by acclimating to the menu as early as possible. But we refused to eat the dehydrated peas, and so we grew up to be bloggers instead.

Where was I?

Ah, yes. The astronaut menu was all about the dehydrated, the freeze-dried, the vacuum-packed, the foil-lined, and the otherwise meddled-with. If you were off to the Moon you wouldn’t think to pack an apple until it had been reduced to something resembling the stuff you scatter on your driveway when it’s icy. THAT is real down-home astronaut cooking. Unappealing, impractical, expensive, and synthetic.

Until now.

my head almost exploded when I recently found PB2. PB2 is my newest peanut butter obsession. Basically, it’s just powdered peanut butter... a fine, insanely delicious-smelling, peanut butterlicious powder that is EXTREMELY versatile.

According to Bill Keith, head of sales and marketing for Bell Plantation, the company that sells this delightfully bizarre foodstuff, it’s better for you than regular peanut butter.

Here are the nutritional facts : Reg PB has between 190-200 calories per serving, PB2 has 54. Reg PB has between 140-150 fat calories per serving, PB2 has 25. PB2 is all natural. There are no additives.

But wait, there’s more! Sure, it’s self-evidently astro-fabulous, but it is also delightfully reminiscent of some of the shall we say less orthodox archetypes of the Sixties.

As HungryGirl says:

I literally spent an entire Saturday night experimenting with this stuff and had the BEST time (it was not nearly as pathetic as it sounds, I promise).

No word on if she put it in brownies. And from Bill’s recommendations on the RandomThoughts blog:

You mix 2TBS of PB2 w/ 1 TBS of the liquid of your choice. Water will reconstitute it to the consistency of regular PB. You adjust the formula to your taste. JC’s granddaughter likes it w/ grape juice. Try it with your favorite liquid. I know someone that mixes it w/jalapeno juice. Talk about a kick.

Hmmmm. Who would do a thing like that?

In a nutshell, that is what an “eminent biologist/naturist” EO Wilson said at at the Aspen Environmental Forum.

Well, Mr. Wilson, we’re even worse when we have PMS.

Not one to be above some hyperbole, Mr. Wilson was trying to encourage his audience to think about how our current society, with its advances in technology and fear of children running around unsupervised, has made our children disconnected from nature.  In theory, this leads to a society that will care less about nature than previous generations.

While I agree that we are moving toward more structure in our children’s lives via classes and playdates, I think the death of the appreciation of nature has been greatly overexaggerated. 

I don’t have to force the Munchkin outside, he loves being outside.  There is all this hand-wringing about how computers and video games are ruining our kids, but my son loves nothing more than playing in the mud.  I wish I was kidding.  Given the choice to watch Scooby Doo or go out and dig in his alloted spot in the planter, he will choose the digging every single time.  He loves the beach and just today was complaining that we haven’t been in so long. 

I happen to think that children have an innate connection with nature.  I don’t know any mom who purposely keeps their kid cooped up in the house all day.  In fact, it is exactly the opposite.   It might be because of where I live, but I don’t that’s all of it.

While I understand that Mr. Wilson was trying to make a point, I really think he is selling us moms short.

Or, maybe he is simply trying to pull a classic mom ploy.  Hands off the guilt trips, Mr. Wilson, they’re all ours!