The F.U.N Quotient: Coke & Peanuts, or, that silly Catholic drinking game

Sometimes if it takes too long to explain it, you should probably just  leave it alone. But such random silliness rarely enters this blog, save on Fridays, so here goes...

Okay, I read a lot of blogs. And one day last fall I was reading Maria Johnson's post about Coke and Peanuts...  Seems that this was some kind of quirky Southern refreshment that Maria had enjoyed as a kid.

Well, I had read the same tweet that Maria refers to about Coke consumption from those classic bottles, but my memories were of Coke sans peanuts... so I put a little musing of my own in my pal's  combox...

Later that day on Twitter, Maria (aka @bego) invites the Twitterverse to join her in some coke and peanuts... and then it seems discussion rose up among Maria and Sarah Vabulas, (aka @CatholicDrinkie) (and whose inimitable blog is, well, The Catholic Drinkie, as in a send up to the Catholic Foodie. For more history on that go here).  as to the ritual consumption of Coke and peanuts in the South...  Sarah, a proper Southern young lady had never tried it. As you can tell from my comment above, neither had I. (But then again, I suffer from the liability of being born a Yankee, accordin' to my Southern pals, and I missed exposure to certain Southern comfort foods.)

Are you with me so far? I didn't think so. 

So it gets weirder, when in the course of twittering about same, the subject of a food dare comes up innocently.  

And hey, I like Coke. And peanuts. And its a lot tamer and lamer than jello shots or other crazy drinking games that one might be dared to try. (Note I'm much older and wiser these days.) So, no harm done. Sounds good for a giggle. 

Sarah is telling me we oughta do this drink-off on Skype given my northern clime and her southern location, and Maria, the instigator of it all, simply shakes her head at both of us. 

Meanwhile, Sarah tweets and brings @JenniferWillits into the loop, another cool Southern gal, who apparently had never imbibed the beloved C&P either...

A day or two later. I go shopping for Coke, just to see if I can find those glass bottles... and the legendary Lance's peanuts. Alas, the Coke is found but the Lance's were not. 

I report my findings to Maria, and mentally cross the Coke and peanuts escapade off my to do list. Figuring I would save it for some future day when I might  saving perchance one day take a trip down south. 

Days after the Twitter dare, I enter my winter hermitage --being laid up from surgery on my ankle and not going anywhere for 12 long weeks due to my cast, crutches, and much snow and ice...

Maria keeps sending me little get-well gifts by mail during my confinement, as the New England snow continues to fall. And then one day, a package arrives at my front door... with, among other things,  packages of Lance's peanuts.

And then it was game on... 

(Is this silly? Absolutely! Was this fun? Well for us it was for us!) (Especially if you consider F.U.N. to be Frequent Unbridled Nonsense.)

So just for fun... step into this little inside joke with us, and enjoy this little send up to Coke & Peanuts... 

Here's my tribute...

And yes, the successive chugs led to a certain amount of dribbling on my white hoodie... oh, and I couldn't help adding the Cuban-esque soundtrack for my Cuban-born pal, Maria.

Now here comes "the reply", or "The Retort"  I got from Maria, Sarah, & Jennifer. Oh, and Maria's daughter amazing college-aged daughter, Christy, who went along for the ride too... but somehow I think they had enjoyed a wee bit more than C&P, since they made this video on St. Patty's Day.

Oh, the taste-testing panel from left to right: Christy, Jennifer, and Sarah...

In the aftermath, I saw this tweet from Sarah:

Amazing women, indeed. 

Note well: One fine day, when I get down to Atlanta, I'll be the one with the martini, as I hand the C&P back to @bego. I think she still owes us one more memory.