Indian Peanut Dip

Polaroids of Elisabeth’s circus bedroom at 126 Mallette St. Sadly, there are no photos of my rainbow room, the jungle bathroom, or the formal living room.

Mom approached everything creatively. What do you do when you want a posh formal living room on a dime? Well, if you are my mom you, among other things (like reupholstering your Empire furniture in yummy fabrics), paint an elegant stencil on the valance you sewed to go over the curtains. This same stencil was repeated as a border in our dining room. Now, when you think of stencil, you probably think of something tacky. This stencil was not. It was classical in style and it worked beautifully. Like the Dude’s infamous throw rug, it “really tied the room together”.

Mom took more liberties with our bedrooms. The upstairs walls in our house on Mallette St. curved to the ceiling, lending themselves to some inventive ideas. Elisabeth’s room became a circus with a painted pink striped tent and animals everywhere. There was a seal playing a trumpet, a bear balancing a ball, a poodle jumping through a hoop, a large elephant, and mischievous monkeys playing along the picture rail.

The story of my room breaks my heart a little. It started off just a basic yellow, but the night before one of my birthdays, Mom put me to bed and then moved me to my sister’s room when she was confident that I was asleep. She stayed up late and painted a rainbow up the walls and across the curved ceiling, and then created a bunch of beautiful, patterned butterflies scattered about. When she was done (probably early morning), she moved me back in so I could wake up under a surprise rainbow for my birthday. Thinking of her doing that and then proceeding with a normal day of Mom activities just blows my mind.

Our house had an odd little upstairs bathroom with those same curved ceilings, just on smaller scale. Here, Mom went for it and created a jungle bathroom. Unlike Elvis’ gross Jungle Room, this theme actually worked here! There was a painted palm tree over the clawfoot tub, all sorts of wild plant renderings throughout, and a very cleverly placed green vine detail which disguised an exposed electrical cord. I thought it was super normal to have a jungle bathroom, but discovered it wasn’t when friends would come over and freak out!

This bathroom was where I performed one of my more memorable acts of rebellion. I was having some sort of disagreement with my father and was super mad at him. I wanted to get him in trouble. So, using obvious kid logic, I scrawled “Daddy drew this” in pen on the wall just next to the toilet paper dispenser. I was just sure that when Mom saw it she would be FURIOUS with Dad for vandalizing the wall. Needless to say, my plan backfired. I’m not sure I even got punished because Mom and Dad found it too funny.

The recipe I’d like to offer up today is Mom’s Indian Peanut Dip. It has nothing to do with painted rooms or bad graffiti. But, seeing as the Super Bowl is tomorrow, I thought it would offer up a fresh alternative to the usual chips & dips (not that there’s ANYTHING wrong with those!). I say go ahead and double the recipe because you’ll want more. I’ve even stirred leftover dip into Asian noodles for a little extra flavor.

INDIAN PEANUT DIP

½ c. smooth peanut butter
¼ c. minced onion
¼ c lemon juice
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp ground coriander
¼ c. minced fresh parsley.

Combine all in blender or processor until smooth. 
Serve at room temp with veggies or crackers.