Peanuts were part of Sky’s and Tara’s favorite lunch in the form of peanut butter with homemade strawberry preserves. They’re not nuts but a kind of bean or pea that thrust their flower stems into the ground after pollination so that the pods and seeds develop underground. First grown in pre-Inca times and probably domesticated in Argentina or Bolivia, it is one of the most important plants from the New World. Cultivation in North America was popularized by African Americans, who brought the Kikongo word nguba, which became goober. Peanuts spread rapidly, taken to Africa by the Portuguese. Now they are widely eaten as peanut butter, satay sauce, snacks, and in Chinese food. All of which I love. They’re a major food crop vital to nutrition since they are 30 percent protein and are packages of good-for-you elements such as niacin, antioxidants, and coenzyme Q10. Unfortunately, many people are allergic to peanuts and have such fierce reactions that even the aroma may trigger life-threatening incidents. I read that the widespread peanut allergies in the United States have been traced to our habit of roasting the nut, using peanut oil in skin preparations, and the intake of soy products.

Most of us learned in school about George Washington Carver and his discovery of three hundred uses for peanuts, but the nut became widespread when the need for the oil escalated because of a shortage of other plant oils during World War I. The U.S. Congress has designated the peanut as one of our basic crops.

5

Laurie

Hermit Cookies

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup margarine, softened

1/4 cup shortening

1/4 cup cold coffee

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cups raisins or other dried fruit

3/4 cup chopped nuts

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cream together the brown sugar, margarine, and shortening. Add the coffee, egg, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Drop the dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until almost no indentation remains when touched, 8 to 10 minutes. Immediately remove from the cookie sheet. Makes about 4 dozen cookies

WELL, I WANT TO go next,” announces Laurie.

“It’s supposed to be Jeannie’s turn,” Juliet says. “Hey, cookie bitch, can we switch like that instead of going in a circle?”

They love teasing me about the rules.

“Uh-oh. Are we gonna break the rules? No breaking a rule,” Rosie taunts as she pours wine into empty glasses and stands, her hand on her hip.

See. The rules allow for more jokes.

But then Rosie asks who wants more wine and her eyes meet Jeannie’s and Jeannie whips her head in a harsh no and then keeps her head turned away. Rosie doesn’t get it. She doesn’t accept responsibility and Jeannie finds it easier to blame her than her father.

“I’m going last, and I’m not sitting next to Rosie,” Taylor reminds us.