Yes Dave, You Can Live On Peanut Butter...

I had a million different things running through my mind all day. And just when I decided what to talk about and was prepping for a late night post- I received a phone call. The call single handedly changed my evening. A friend of mine reminded me that one year ago tonight, my best friend Dave died. I immediately decided to cancel tonights post, then I decided to post anyway but could not do it on German Purity Laws or making Ratatouille.
David Sherman Zolotar (Feb 25, 1987 - Jun 18, 2008) was a great human. I would like to share one story with the world:
I moved out of my mom's house at age 19. I had met Dave when I was 15 but I ran into him again when I moved out-- now he was living on my neighbor's couch. We shared a Victorian house converted into a quadplex- which quickly became a home. It was awesome to move out for the first time and have a party animal like Dave as a neighbor (we called him a squatter then, he paid no rent), My apartment was downstairs on the right his was on the left, and no one knew or really wanted to know the people upstairs. But it was all good all the time; except the rent was high and were in the middle of Sacramento's “hood”-- 13th&E St. in Sacramento is home to crime, crack and meth and is known as Alkali Flat but is affectionately dubbed Crack-ali Flat.
So one month I was BROKE but Dave was always broke and very resourceful. One night he snuck into my fridge at 2AM. We had an on open door policy so I wasn't mad when I heard my fridge open at 2AM- I didn't think I had food anyway. When I asked him the next day he said he had snuck in the night before to nab a spoonful a spoonful of my peanut butter because he had no food and had eaten all of my neighbour's Skippy (I ate Jif, which was like a luxury to us then, because it cost more than Skippy and tasted better). He said he hadn't eaten anything else besides Peanut Butter for two days, he was intent on going at least a week, that was when he got his first paycheck. His logic was that peanut butter is one of the most nutritious and cheap foods a kid could eat- therefore it is excellent survival food. So I tried it. It worked. we lived on peanut butter for a week-- actually I think Dave stopped on day eight which would have been day six for me. By the time we quit we had both broke out pretty bad in pimples. I never ate Skippy or Jif again after that. I didnt eat peanut butter again until his the funeral- I WENT 2 WHOLE YEARS.
So the day of the funeral, I ate a tribute spoonful (except I ate Laura Scudders for the tribute not Jif, but Dave wouldn't have minded, he ate Skippy for Godsake and would have eaten the fancy stuff all the same).
I will never 4get being poor and surviving on Peanut Butter with my friend Dave. And for the record it can be done for up to a week, although I would not advise it.Though there are millions of tales- this is one of my most vivid memories. Ironically, it still pertains to food.
Since I'm all about good food, good drink and good health I would like to add that Dave died under the influence of alcohol and would be here now if he drank responsibly one year ago.
**please drink responsibly.**
[and if you are going to try living on peanut butter- do that responsibly too- dont use Jif or Skippy ;-) ]