A-Z Munchin' Monday: Two P Foods

Not sure if that title sounds good or not.

Be that as it may, I have two items that I need to list for "Foods Beginning With A 'P'"
The first is an insane passion of mine: peanut butter. I have spent a career willfully carting off peanut butter sandwiches to work with me. Whilst others may enjoy dining out, or bringing something to heat up in the microwave, creating a fragrant aroma throughout the office, I just unwrap that sandwich bag and am happy to bite into the peanut butter sandwich.
I have gravitated to the PBJ variety, with a dash of Welch's grape jelly (yeah, we're talking pretty darn pedestrian tastes here) or, if I am feeling a bit puckish, jam. And, I mean, I'm a happy guy. Toss in an apple and a couple cookies and it's lunch.
Sometimes I don't even go the jelly route. For years, I have enjoyed the simplicity of a peanut butter and butter (or, more likely, margerine) sandwich. My wife points out that this combination is not optimal for cardiac health, so it's not like I bust out the PB-B every day. But once in a while, I go this route.
"Crunchy or creamy?", you ask. I do not have a favorite, and I am happy to mix it up a bit. I don't mind some of those "low fat", "low sodium" varieties, if it is still major label. Where I have not warmed up to the product is the case where you get the aging hippie in the whole food store to actually mash up real peanuts for you and stick the resulting paste in a container. Sorry; too bland. Needs some artificial chemicals or something. I need unhealthy processing, I fear. Perhaps some day when the cardiologist looks me in the eye and says "Change your ways or prepare to meet thy maker", or however they put it, most likely using a lot of large words they learned in med school, I will force myself to purchase this concoction.

OK, my second P entry is an historical cookie called the Penguin Cookie. I am not aware that you can purchase these in the 21st century. My buddy next door used to get them when I was growing up, or, rather, his mother did. They were a fairly regular staple over there, and it was always a good thing when the Penguins were offered, sometimes along with a Great Shake (refer to my "G" post).
Penguin Cookies were sorta like the valuable prize of a car at the end of "Wheel of Fortune", when we used to play a little game over next door entitled 'You Have to Eat it". We would take my friend's mom's Lazy Susan in a cabinet and give it a spin, sticking out our finger in a fixed position. When the Lazy Susan came to rest, we had to eat a sampling of whatever we found at the tip of our pointing, extended index finger. The item could be corn starch, or flour, or sugar; you get the picture. Maybe there were some spices in there; I either do not recall or have blocked out some horrible childhood memories. But the best prize on the Susan by far was a Penguin Cookie. Thus it eaqrns a place in what is becoming my Alphabetical Food Hall of Fame.

Find out what P Foods others find notable at Jen's blog...