Happy Elvis Day, my friends!
Today Elvis would have been 80. That totally blows my mind. Frank Sinatra died at 82 and performed and recorded almost right to the very end. Tony Bennett is frickin’ 88 and just released an album with Lady Gaga. Just think of what Elvis might be doing right now had he laid off the prescription drugs and the fried food.
Speaking of fried food, in honor of Elvis’ birthday, I made The Sandwich. The Fried Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich.
Would it surprise you to know that I never tried one before?
This recipe is from Are You Hungry Tonight? Elvis’ Favorite Recipes. It’s one of my favorite cookbooks.
Here’s what the cookbook says:
Elvis made it famous. He made it part of American folk cuisine. He referred to it as a peanut butter and ‘nanner sandwich, and his love for this treat helped to transform this simple delicacy into his signature dish. He loved these sandwiches and would ask that they be prepared for him at all hours of the day and night.
- 1 small ripe banana, mashed
- 2 slices white bread, toasted
- 3 tbsp peanut butter
- 2 tbsp butter
It’s extremely easy. Just make a grilled cheese, but with mashed banana and peanut butter as the insides. Look:
Banana? Good. Butter? Good. Peanut Butter? Hell yeah!
Did I mention that this was fucking delicious?
Seriously. I am pissed that I just discovered it because I am at the point where I need to lose 10+ pounds, like, yesterday. No room for PB&’nanner sammiches there!
A little bit of kismet: on my first day back from work after the holidays I found a mint-condition issue of the now-defunct Weekly World News in the office kitchen.
And there, one of the best stories is ELVIS IS ALIVE!
Lord knows where it came from. It’s the BEST OF dated August 20, 2007. It’s amazing. It may be the last issue ever. I want to frame it and hang it in my new abode. I miss the WWN.
Anyhoo, Happy Birthday, Mr. Presley, where ever you are!
(Well, according to WWN in August of 2007 you were in Paris, but whatevs).
I took this picture when I was at Graceland last year. It’s Elvis in heaven.
Or, in the Turn Back the Hands of Time sequence from Grease 2:
I mean, totally.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNsIf-rO0ZE
Oh! In case you missed it, here is the phenomenal Elvis lamp that I bought for the new house:
I’ve wanted one for years and finally got one at Retrofurn here in Baltimore. Elvis now lives in my bedroom. And it freaks me out if I fall in his direct line of sight.
But totally worth it.
I am not even going to look up the WW points for that… no one wants to know. Lamp shaped like a man in my bedroom would freak me out every night and eventually I would hit it with my cat bat and that would be the end of poor Eli.
What is a cat bat???
A wooden sculpture once finds at good will that is shaped to look like a cat and has the silhouette of baseball bat. It is the kind of thing one buys because one is a nut and one keeps next to her bed when her BF is gone just in case one would need it even though one would be to afraid to do anything about it if someone broke into one’s home.
That sounds amazing. I want to see pictures!
Oh wow – Here in Australia we have the Bacon n Nana Sambo – Same concept but crispy bacon and Banana. A friend then likes to drown it in Lingham’s chilli sauce and cracked black pepper. Has also been known to be enhanced with Mashed Avocado.
Oh myyyyyyy. I am appalled yet intrigued.
I feel like adding bacon would make it kind of like this: https://dinnerisserved1972.com/2012/06/08/bhg-cooking-for-two-peanut-butter-special/
Which I didn’t like at all.
Graceland is surrounded by strip malls. So, it’s not the nicest of neighborhoods. But well worth a visit if you get a chance. My Mum and I did some sort of VIP tour so we were there earlier than the the massive crowds, and we got to see some extra buildings. SO FUN! I am so happy I got to go.
It was like my pilgrimage to Mecca.
Awww…ugh! I totally forgot about that sandwich! Apples on non-toasted bread?! Drugs had to be involved. (Quaalude cocktails with an Old Smuggler chaser, I guess…)
HA! My older sister went on a trip with a couple of friends to Atlanta, and before they left, I made sure to ask them to go to Graceland. Since it was June, I didn’t think there’d be THAT many people there (duhhhh…). When she returned, she said the crowds were ungodly and that it didn’t seem like it was in the best of neighborhoods, which seemed odd.
As for the sandwich, it sounds like those things that would be better with bacon and a good roll. Thinly spread banana mash and peanut butter, butter (of course!) and assloads of bacon. Just assloads. (I say “assloads” because I love bacon and haven’t had it in 7 years. Stupid heart! Be less stupid!)
Oh, Weekly World News…you amused me many a time in the supermarket when I’d go to the tabloid section to liven up what were horrendously dull outings. I guess supermarkets weren’t that interesting in the early 80s. I’d kill to look at an 80s supermarket now, but I’d super-kill to look at one from the 70s–did people REALLY eat that many almonds?