The Bluffernutter - It blew my mind.

I am not among those who experienced the fluffernutter phenomenon as a child.  Fluffernutter?  Do you mean NutterButter?  You know, those cookies shaped and stamped out like peanuts – so clever those NutterButters - with the peanut butter filling in the…..no?  Not those?  Huh.  Marshmallow fluff you say?  Curious.

On a recent trip to Seattle, my husband and I did as we have been known to do:  prove that we have no shame being particularly skilled at eating and have no qualms about planning a day’s activities around food.  Please don’t interpret this the wrong way.  I’m no foodie.  I have no mature pallet.  I simply like to eat.  (I’m working on the whole portion control thing.)  My husband flipped through one of the freebie, locality-focused magazines in our hotel room and happened upon the sandwich that is the Bluffernutter.  Bacon, marshmallow fluff, and peanut butter all occupying the same space.  Yuck!  (insert image of scrunched up face of disgust here)  The things people are able to get other people to spend money on!  But as our time in Seattle continued, I became a bit more suspicious.  Reading the description again, the ingredients really were putting their best foot forward.  It wasn’t just any bacon; it was thick cut.  It wasn’t just your off-the-shelf fluff; it was homemade.  The peanut butter?  Crunchy of course.  And all within the confines of homemade potato bread (one of my favorites).  Even further, the restaurant specializes in using fresh and sustainable ingredients.  You might have to feel guilty about the calories, but not about anything else!  Suspicion turned into outright outrage when I saw that this Bluffernutter was on the kids’ menu!  Oh, so I’m too old to have it?  I’m too old to be interested in it?  I’m too old to realize how cool this sandwich is?  No way.  We immediately planned a pilgrimage to the home of the Bluffernutter, Homegrown.  

We first ordered normal, grownup lunch food to disguise that we had walked across town just for the kids’ choice.  This is me, impatiently waiting for my husband’s food to arrive so I can eat mine (remember, I like to eat; I don’t like to wait...in fact you can see I even started to eat before my manners finally kicked in and made me reluctantly stop.)

Whatever we ordered, it was really good.  But our heads weren’t in it.  We were thinking of what was coming next.  And that thing…..was this:

Looks better than you thought it would, doesn’t it? 

I took the first bite, and…

 

Food bliss!  I rarely have been so blown away by one bite.  It was amazing!

Then I said, “Why haven’t we had this before now??”  

Really.  That is what I said in that photo.  I can quote myself; it was that memorable.

So happy. 

I’m now determined to someday recreate that sandwich in my very own home.  I want to get that first bite of pure happiness back.  Incredible.  Thank you, Homegrown, for expanding my vocabulary and contributing pure, childhood joy to the food scene.