Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Robbie sent me an email this week with only the words "interesting article on nagging" in the subject line and then a link to this article from the Wall Street Journal. I then spent the next two hours trying to remember when I last nagged him, wondering if this was some passive aggressive way to tell me how I was getting on his case to much. Then I remembered that Robbie is not a girl and only girls would do something like that. So I read the article and had to admit it was interesting. And he assured me that he sent the link only because he knows how much I worry about nagging him too much (sure . . .) and that I am not nearly as bad as the individuals used in the article as examples.

But it got me thinking. It got me thinking at how Robbie and I seem to be doing ok for two people who had very independent lives (read - long-distance for the vast majority of our relationship) until August when we crammed a few of our possessions into a teeny apartment and tried this whole 'married-people-live-together' concept. It also made me realize how incredibly stereotypical coed living is. Yes, Robbie can't find anything in a cabinet/refrigerator/closet even if he is looking right at it. Yes, on trash night, I get super-annoyed when we take the trash out and then Robbie throws away a piece of paper when we Just. Took. The. Trash. Out. I even forced him to not throw a magazine away for an entire night so that we could have a clean trash can for at least 12 hours. But that's not nagging. Crazy, yes. Nagging, no.

Here's another pretty typical moment in the Samuel household. Let me set the scene for you. I am standing about 8 feet from our trash can in the apartment breaking down some boxes (a NYC rule - or maybe a building rule - who knows?). Robbie is standing between me and the trash can reading. (Robbie stands up to do almost everything. I am constantly ducking around him while he is standing up to eat, drink, read, write, etc. It's something I never noticed until I lived in a place with only five square feet of empty space which, when someone stands in it, takes up two square feet of said space leaving three for me and a 20+ pound cat around which to maneuver.) I finish breaking down one box, throw it at his feet and say "Can you throw that away please?" I may or may not have added the please but I find that fact a moo point (Friends fans, you've got that reference*). Robbie doesn't move. In the meantime, I finish breaking down the other box and he still has not picked up the first box and walked the four feet to throw it away. So I storm over with the second box, I'm sure making some combination of a human sigh and a horse's snort, pick up the first box, and throw them both away as if I just had the biggest I-am-a-martyr moment since Joan of Arc. Robbie just looks at me and says "You should've left it. I was going to get it." Which launches me into a discussion on, not his ability to throw the box away, but the fact that he could have done it ten times over again and just done what I asked him to. He claims I have no argument since it didn't inconvenience me that much as I clearly was going to throw the other box away anyway. Oy. Lawyers.

Now, what does this have to do with Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars you say? Nothing. Except, if I keep making these peanut butter and chocolate goodies, Robbie will always be at my mercy. Because I can get my way anytime I'm holding something chocolaty and peanut buttery. MJ - 1, Wall Street Journal - 0.

*The Moo Point - A Friends scene where Joey claims a point someone has made is a "Moo Point" because "It's like a cow's opinion -- doesn't matter."

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

I couldn't remember where I first saw this recipe but I found basically the same recipe here.

1 stick butter, softened

1 cup chunky peanut butter

1 16-oz package powdered sugar

1 1/2 cups Nilla wafers, crushed (about 45 cookies)

1 regular bag of semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup of whipping cream

Beat the softened butter and peanut butter together until well blended. Add the powdered sugar and Nilla wafers until blended. I recommend using an electric mixer here as your arm will get tired otherwise. Press the mixture into a greased 9 x 13 inch dish lined with wax paper. In a medium saucepan, combine semisweet chips and whipping cream. Heat over low heat until melted. Pour the liquid over the mixture in the pan and smooth it out. Put in refrigerator to chill for at least one hour and then cut into squares.