The Peanut Butter Falcon Edition

In honor of the movie, The Peanut Butter Falcon, we had a peanut butter themed dinner. We had been wanting to see the movie since it came out, but never seemed to have the time. Thanks to a tip from Melissa, and the universe clearing our calendars, we finally watched it. What a great movie! Ben started out watching it with us, but there was a violent scene in the beginning and he said, “This? This is not my thing.” He retreated to a different room to watch Curious George. 

Does Ben know he has Down syndrome, like the movie’s protagonist? Good question. I don’t know. As his parents, we are grateful to have a clear diagnosis, because it helps inform decisions we make about his daily life and his future. While the term certainly comes up frequently, we have never sat him down and explained it to him, because I’m not sure what purpose it would serve. It seems to me that the very act of describing DS would highlight differences that he may not have known existed. Ben’s picture of himself has been formed by those around him. You are his mirror, and he likes what he sees! We are grateful for a community that embraces him, includes him, and celebrates his unique personality. Thank you so much to all who are part of his world, and who show him daily that you love and value him.

We know that we are lucky. Not everybody with special needs receives positive feedback from others. Some parents have to spend a lot of time advocating for their child’s needs to be met. We are grateful that this has not been our story, and I would never presume to advise other parents on how to navigate systems and services. Everyone’s different. If you have to greet the world braced for a fight, that’s probably what you’re going to get. Ben, for one, is ready for this whole social distancing thing to be over, so he can greet the world, as always, with a hug!

As for our peanut butter themed Ben’s Day Wednesday, the planned salad course was diced apple with a dressing of equal parts peanut butter and lemon yogurt. It sounds weird, but it is actually pretty good – not that we have evidence of that today, however, since somebody ate the lemon yogurt.

For the main course, we had chicken sate, which Ben sometimes calls “stick chicken” because it is an Indonesian version of a shish kebob, with a peanut dipping sauce. Our recipe is adapted from Extending the Table, (Schlabach).

Shish Kebab with Peanut Sauce

1 teaspoon garlic, finely chopped

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 clove minced garlic

3 cups chicken, cut into 1-inch cubes

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients but chicken. When blended, add meat and turn to coat. Marinate for at least 30 minutes and thread onto skewers. Grill or broil until crisp and brown. Dip in hot peanut sauce and serve with rice.

Hot Peanut Sauce

3 tablespoons chunky peanut better

3 tablespoons milk or water

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 cloves minced garlic

1 small shake of cayenne (or to taste)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 bay leaf

Make paste with peanut butter and milk (or water) in small sauce pan. Add remaining ingredients and bring to simmer. Remove from heat and let stand up to several hours to blend flavors. Remove bay leaf before serving.

For dessert, we baked classic crisscross peanut butter cookies from the first cookbook I ever owned, Betty Crocker. 

Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 egg

1 1/4 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix sugars, shortening, peanut butter and egg. Stir in flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Shape dough into 3/4 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Dip a fork in sugar and make a crisscross pattern on top of the cookies. Bake until set but not hard, about 8 minutes.

Cool slightly before removing from cookie sheet.

If you both saw the movie, The Peanut Butter Falcon, and you know Ben, you’ll know the line that made me and Phil smile at each other was, “You’re invited to my birthday party.”