These crazy girls will eat anything!
Today marks the first solo book release by my colleague Lauren Mechling—you know, the one who was delivered by the same obstetrician as me. It hasn’t been out for 24 hours yet and already Dream Girl is challenging my poor battered gender stereotypes (I think they’re part of my decrepit worldview). So remember the relatively recent post when I was like, “Oh, girls would be embarrassed to talk about the gross things they eat made out of peanut butter?” Well, I was really wrong, because check out this excerpt from the “Lauren Mechling extravaganza” on the blog YA New York, in which Lauren and the author of said blog, Sabrina Banes, take turns asking each other twenty questions:
Question Sixteen
LM: What’s the embarrassing thing you regularly eat by your lonesome? It has to be something that no sane human would ever serve in a restaurant.
YA NY: Oh my God. You’re really trying to torture me, aren’t you, asking questions like these? Okay, here’s the thing I eat when I’m sick: Peanut butter rice soup. Basically, you take leftover rice (the kind used in making sushi, which is short-grained and what Koreans eat on a daily basis) and you cover it with water and let it boil. Add two tablespoons of peanut butter, and simmer until you get a weird brown porridge. It’s like chicken soup for the crazy half-Korean girl.Question Seventeen
YA NY: Fine, Ms. Lauren. What embarrassing food do YOU eat on your lonesome?
LM: Oh, I was hoping you’d ask! I like instant couscous, boiling hot water, worsterschire sauce, a pat of butter, and a sprinkle of salt.
I mean, true, confessing these “recipes” is described as “embarrassing,” “torture,” etc… but if the discussants were really embarrassed, they could always have said “ice cream sundaes.” In short: if you can figure out gender stereotypes, dear reader, may they bring you much happiness; personally, I give up.
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| Instant couscous in the perfect pantry… | …peanut butter on a messy baby! |
Some months ago, however, before I had made this resolution, I was interviewed by Women’s eNews for a gender-related article, which also just came out today, so why don’t I link to that? And encourage you to read to the end of Anna Clark’s otherwise interesting article, ”Women’s Book Prizes Fire Up Literary Canon,” where you will find some particularly inane remarks from your faithful correspondent? At least I didn’t tell her I’m using all $25,000 to perfect my recipe for the peanut-butter martini… which I just Googled, and it actually exists.
These crazy girls will eat anything!
Tags: comparative literature, Lauren Mechling, politics, publications, recipes, YA fiction
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Hey! I just stumbled upon this entry when obsessively checking my blog stats. FYI, my mom invented peanut butter rice soup for me when I was, I don’t know, four years old? I was a very picky eater, but the bliss of peanut butter rice soup has never once failed me. I did indeed make it when I was a poor college kid, but mostly because there are few recipes one can make in an illegal dorm room rice cooker. And also, sometimes I’d get a cold and need some crazy half-Korean chicken soup. Nowadays, it’s just comfort food. Hopefully when (and if) I have kids of my own, they too will enjoy its wacky wonders.
… but that peanut butter baby is kinda gross.
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Dear Sabrina,
Thanks for your comment! I actually just received an email from a reader who went to high school with you, with the subject: “My YA colleague interviewed your YA colleague.” I thought that was pretty amazing, although not as amazing as if she and her YA colleague (viz., you) had also been delivered by the same obstetrician.
Speaking of babies, the peanut butter baby is result #3 when you search Google Images for “peanut butter”. Perhaps if the peanut butter had been served to the baby in the form of a delicious soup, the baby would have eaten it, instead of using it for taking a bath? An interesting experiment we could all conduct when and if we have kids of our own (or gain access to the children of others)…
July 27th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
If I had a baby who smeared him or herself in peanut butter, I would take the child out and leave it on someone’s doorstep. Actually, I wouldn’t, but I would be much too distressed to take a photo. And put it on the interweb!
And it’s funny, because the gal with whom I went to high school actually got in contact with me as a result of your post. Lovely!
I hope she didn’t tell you what a massive dork/know-it-all/general weirdo I was in high school, though. I’m saving all that for a future book about an anal retentive band nerd.
Seriously, dude. Try my recipe for peanut butter rice soup. You will not be disappointed. Unless you are …