Spicing it up

"Variety is the spice of life" says a popular proverb. At first I thought the phrase was a cliche, but it is actually a proverb, according to Answers.com. "Draw the Line" uses the phrase to refer to visual art.
The phrase is also listed as an idiom, according to The Free Dictionary. To quote:

Variety is the spice of life: something that you say which means life is more interesting when it changes often and you have many different experiences.

"If variety is the spice of life, marriage is the big can of leftover Spam." --- is a Johnny Carson quote from Quote DB. If you visit this website you can get a free "quote generator" for your own site.
As with all proverbs and some cliches, there is a valuable grain of truth in the phrase. Mark Vogel wrote an interesting post about food varieties, using the proverb as his title. To quote,

Recently chicken broth was on sale . . . Can you believe every can of the regular broth was sold out? But there was plenty of the low-sodium, reduced fat, and herb flavored broths. Another time Mozzarella cheese was on sale. Even though the whole milk and the part skim milk mozzarella were both on sale, there was not one package of whole milk mozzarella to be found. It was equally exasperating rummaging through every tub of cottage cheese on the shelf in quest of one container of the regular kind. Oh there was low-fat, no-fat, whipped, and pineapple, but your everyday, run of the mill cottage cheese was an elusive quarry. Apparently “regular” is not so regular any more.

PB & J --In contrast, some of us truly prefer the same thing over and over. In the November 11 issue of Parade Magazine, Columnist and author Liz Smith gave the following quote for an article. Titled, "Mom's Best Meal," Smith said,

When I was going to school, I loved to have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I once read a story about a child who never had anything but a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to take to school. I thought, "that would be OK with me."

If I had been asked for a quote for "What I remember about Mom's Best Meal," This is what I would have to say: Mom's best meal began with meat loaf and baked potatoes and ended with lemon meringue pie. To be absolute heaven, homemade yeast rolls with fresh-churned butter, as well as garden-grown English peas would be included.
This is a grade school memory. When I got to be a teen Mom's gift to me and my sister was to teach us how to cook. I learned "Mom's Meatloaf and Baked Potatoes," but I could never master the baked goods nor the growing of peas. Still it is a treasured legacy as my mom celebrates her 92nd birthday this week. This meal is the one I will make 1200 miles away on this November 19.
Cross-posted at Southwest Blogger
My topical post today at South by Southwest and The Reaction is about California.
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