The Variety Pack

I first saw single-serving cereal boxes at age 9 at scout camp, and you could lay the box on its side, clip the cardboard, slit the wax paper, pour milk in, and your box was the bowl. Was that true, or did I dream it? I vowed that when I grew up I'd buy cereal only in those cool little boxes. Yesterday, 45 years later, the Kellogg's Variety Pack at the store caught my eye. Three dollars. Bought it. It is fascinating. Ten cereal boxes are packaged back to back. Facing out on one side are all the good-for-you cereals, including "Crispix," a contemporary cereal as strange to me as contemporary art; the other side marshals the candied cereals we grew up on: Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops, Corn Pops, Sugar Coated Sugar Cubes. And also the Raisin Bran, sweeter than one might think. This two-faced packaging sends a cultural message I can't quite decode. Is it giving me a choice between being a kid and a grownup, or a sinner and a saint? Omnivorous vs. orthodox? Duty or decadence? Or--is it all random and meaningless? Good Lord, the Kellogg's Variety Pack is a moral problem and a spiritual exercise! And then--oh wow, man, blow my mind--both sides have Frosted Mini-Wheats!

So which to eat first? I chose Raisin Bran. It filled a teacup, not enough for breakfast, so I also ate the Corn Pops. Eating the Froot Loops I think will require extensive psychological and spiritual preparation.

True Grits

Grits are like a cross between mashed potatoes and cream of wheat -- warm, filling, milky (if you put milk on) and buttery (if you put butter on). Can't do without em.

These are Quaker but aren't instant. I put em in the bowl with water/milk, and microwave for 6 minutes, 66 seconds (easy to remember, easy to key in). Dab the butter on last for maximum butter buzz. The other brand I eat is Jim Dandy.

Hot grain cereals in general, for breakfast, plus some fresh fruit, can fuel you pleasantly all morning. Makes me feel like Wonder Woman. Try it; don't turn up your nose. Grits are corn and good for you. It doesn't remind me of a bowl of vomit the way oatmeal does. I can handle oatmeal only rarely, and prefer it baked with milk and egg into a sort of pudding, with raisins or other dried fruit in it.