My Family is Different From Yours

My family thinks differently than yours. I am a dummy surrounded by a lot of smart and gifted people. That becomes more evident all the time. Here's an example -

When the doorbell rang one night, my kids hurriedly disappeared, as usual. Social, we are not. When I answered the door, it was my friend Elenore bringing a bag of freshly made peanut brittle for us. She is a sweetheart, for sure. 

As soon as the door clicked closed, my whole family swarmed in like killer bees. "What did she bring? Can I have some? Elenore is such a good cook!" Sounds pretty normal familyish, so far, right?

Now, I don't make peanut brittle so this was going to be a real treat for everybody. You'd think they would have just eaten it with a few oohs and aahs and yums and that's that. Not so!

My rocket scientist husband - really, a PhD in rocket science - took off his glasses, because unlike real old people, he needs them only to see at a distance, and examined the edges of the pieces for clues to how the candy cracked before he ate them. "See this?" he said, pointing to the edge of a candy chunk. "This is a stress fracture." And he did that with EVERY piece he ate. His oohs and aahs came before he ate the candy.

Then my son, a geophysics major - don't ask me, it is hard to explain - picked up some candy and on it's way to his mouth, he stopped and began examining it. "Mom, how do you make this?"

"Boil water, sugar, and butter to hard crack stage. Stir in some vanilla and peanuts and pour it into a cookie sheet." Remember, I don't make brittle, but I think that's basically it. Don't judge me.

"This doesn't have a flat side," he replied, still turning it over and over in his hand in a methodical, scientific examination. Now everyone was looking at their piece of candy. "Wouldn't it have a flat side if it was poured into a pan?"

That was the trigger and everyone's theory finger started jerking.

"Maybe it was still bubbling and oozy as it hardened, like lava, or amoeba." - the microbiology major daughter.

"Maybe she poured it from the top of the stairs to a bowl at the bottom and it hardened on the way down." - 13 year-old brainiac.

"Maybe she used a bumpy pan." - me. Told you I was the dumb one.

"Hey, and why is it so light colored? Isn't peanut brittle usually a warm amber brown? This is barely toasted ecru." - my fashion designer daughter.

That started a whole new examinational barrage. The crystal structure, the fat circles on the surface, the shapes the pieces broke into, how the candy part clung to the peanuts.

Normal families play with their food occasionally. My family doesn't play with their food. They work it from every possible angle.

My family isn't much like yours.

Gotta love 'em.

By Janet Hudson (originally posted to Flickr as Peanut Brittle)