Steaming Oats

Wow. I have been sitting here for about eight minutes without typing a word. My apologies, I feel mentally and physically sucked dry at the moment. I have been walking around work like a zombie. For some ridiculous reason I've still been getting on the treadmill like the hamster that I am, probably to feel like I still have one piece of my "routine" still intact.

I have been so wrapped up with graduate school statements of purpose that I have had little time left for creative reading or writing. Thus I have been sitting here trying to think of something witty to say and instead have bored you so far with two paragraphs concerning my application status. The good news is I will be all done on Tuesday. And then we will wait to hear who wants me and who doesn't.

So let's see, what's something fun we can talk about before I leave you to write, once more, about my "academic and professional objectives" (which I have memorized now, by the way)?

Oatmeal. We'll discuss oatmeal. How does everyone feel about oatmeal? Personally it took me a long time to start eating it; I think I finally touched it in college, a time in which desperation for nourishment kicks in at 2am and one must learn to depend on dormitory stashes, i.e. cereal, peanut butter, stale crackers, soda from a vending machine bought with a collection of coins gathered from your neighbors. I started with the Quaker Instant Oatmeal packets, loaded with sugar, the apples & cinnamon variety as well as the maple & brown sugar kind. While I don't remember eating Quaker oatmeal as a kid, I do remember my brothers doing so, and I am pleased to see that 20 years later, there are still Dino fun facts printed on the packages. Stick with what works, Quaker, stick with what works.

This past year I decided to grow up a little and experimented with "real" oats, the kind that actually have to cook a little and have no specific taste. For a while I added cinnamon, but then quickly realized I could get them down by themselves. I find that regular oats are quite good. My dad tells me that his dad used to like oatmeal, and this has affected his liking of it. My dad says there is something comforting about the stickiness of oatmeal, the filling factor it provides. I have to agree. I also love that it lowers cholesterol.

Recently a box of "Lower Sugar" oatmeal entered our pantry. I took a couple of packets to work to eat on my morning break, and felt as if I had rubbed a piece of black licorice across my tongue. I love black licorice, actually, but when I eat oatmeal I would like to taste oatmeal. If I want black licorice, I'll buy a bag of black jelly beans, okay? (And I'll eat the whole bag.) I asked my dad about these mysterious low sugar packets and he immediately pointed the finger of blame away from himself. He asked me if they tasted like cardboard, indicating that his wife had smuggled them into the house and that while he may enjoy receiving senior discounts at restaurants, he for one will not be sampling the low sugar variety, nor any low fat/low salt products while we're at it. Not yet anyway. Not while he still has his marathon-runner pride. Point taken.

I bet pecans would be a delicious addition to oatmeal. Hmm...delicious and easy...