Life Down Under

Almond Butter

Well, this is a really random, pointless post, but oh, well. I know there's at least one person reading this who will appreciate it....so here's to you, Dad!

When I was a kid growing up, my parents had a Champion juicer. You know, the kind that doesn't just juice a carrot and an apple, but also grinds flour, makes sherbet, ice cream, baby foods, and will even wash all its dirty attachments and re-assemble itself after being used. Anyways, one of the other things that it does is make nut butters, and this is the part my Dad liked best. I have many fond memories of him buying truckloads of almonds, roasting them to perfection in the oven, and them grinding them up in the Champion to make almond butter. At the time, I wasn't even a huge fan of the stuff (I've always preferred peanut butter), but it wasn't all that bad, and every now and then I'd have some. That was who-knows-how-many years ago, and truth be told, I've never even once craved it since.

Until a couple days ago. One morning, randomly out of the blue, I started craving almond butter. Don't know why; one moment I was thinking about something else, the next moment I wanted almond butter. Strange, I know. Maybe I was just missing Connecticut and my Dad. Who knows. Anyway, I didn't think anything of it until that evening when Nic came home from the grocery store.....with almond butter in hand. Now, she's lived with us for over a year now, and this is the first time anyone in our house has ever bought almond butter. I was so excited! It tasted as good as I wanted it to....but it smelled even better. Something about that smell takes me right back, however-many-odd-years ago to that kitchen in the home I grew up in, watching Dad make almond butter. Great memories.

Did I mention it's $12 a jar here? Don't think we'll be buying that every week.