Thoughts about oatmeal
Preface: This post is not a metaphor for anything. It literally is just thoughts about oatmeal.
Growing up, I had two experiences with oatmeal (or, porridge as we called it at home). The most common was at home, where we would have instant packages of Quaker Oats. Usually we would love maple & brown sugar because we were kids and it tasted great. It still does, by the way. The second, least common version was when we were sent to camp with Cubs and they would serve some sort of porridge for breakfast and it was weird and lumpy and flavourless.
Can you guess which one I liked better?
As I grew up and hit my teen years I didn't eat as much oatmeal as I did when I was a kid. I wonder now if that's because Quaker Oats packets were cheaper than sugary cereal (but we had that too), or maybe they were slightly healthier than same said cereal. But as a teenager I'm pretty sure my breakfast of choice was usually cereal. Into adulthood, moving out on my own, I still didn't buy oatmeal packets.
In recent years I've dabbled on and off with overnight oats - buying a bag of quick or rolled oats and putting them in a container with milk & peanut butter & whatever else to sit in the fridge overnight. Occasionally I've bought a box of instant packs, and for fun sometimes I'd get the ones with "Dino eggs" (although looking at that link now, I think I'm thinking of a different variety, because I don't remember getting big eggs like that).
For the instant packages, I go back to maple & brown sugar or apple cinnamon. You can't go wrong with either of them! But as I had a multi-flavour box for this week, containing those two flavours and original packets, I thought I'd try something different.
I took a packet of the regular flavour, added some milk & peanut butter, and put it in the fridge. This morning what I got was not quite what I make at home. I'm not sure why! I don't think there's much difference in the quick oats I use at home and these instant packets, is there?
It was just okay but since I wasn't satisfied with the taste or texture, I still ended up microwaving a bowl of maple & brown sugar.