Monday, March 7, 2011

Peanut Butter Art

Happy Monday! Woody and I made it to the Nutropolitan Museum on Saturday, the first art exhibit of it's kind.

Neither of us had any expectations going into it. It featured one of our favorite foods, it sounded unique and was free. Plus, every family that went got a free jar of peanut butter. Why not go?

We got to the open gallery space in SoHo just after Noon and were greeted by a woman who works for Peanut Butter & Company and I know from working at their booth at the Chocolate Show. There were a good number of people already there, but it wasn't very crowded. It was still pretty early though.



I've been to this gallery space for a few other events and have seen it set up a few different ways. For this event, the main space was open with nothing in the middle of the large room and all the images were hung on the wall.





The interactive portion of the event was in the other room: create your own peanut butter masterpiece. Not only were kids getting in on the action, but so were the adults. Of course, after the masterpiece is photographed, the artist gets to enjoy it! Once I saw this, I quickly regretted eating such a filling breakfast as I wasn't hungry one bit and thought it would be a little silly to indulge. Looking back on it now, I have no idea really, how or why, I passed up this opportunity! These were smart people. The kids in the aprons and chefs hats were super cute.


Along the walls were photographs of peanut butter in all it's beautiful glory, intermixed with advertisements professing the health benefits of peanuts, created by the National Peanut Board. Large images were also being projected on the back wall, although the space is so bright that they were a little difficult to see.





It was an interesting exhibit, definitely different. I was a bit disappointed to see that the jar of PB we got in our bag as we were leaving was The Heat is On, since it's too spicy for me and is automatically reserved for Woody alone. It's just too spicy for me to enjoy, but he definitely likes it, so it wasn't too bad. The only thing we would have liked to see that wasn't there, was a film about how peanut butter is made. There were a few pictures of peanuts growing in the interactive room, but it would have been cool to see the process, from planting and harvesting to how it ends up in the jar. A different angle would have been to do a 'behind the scenes' video documenting the images being taken and how the ideas were developed.

But, this was the first time this had ever been held and I hope it was a great success. I have to mention the philanthropic portion of the event. I mentioned that we got a jar of PB as we left, well, for each jar they handed out, another was donated to the Food Bank for New York City! It's a great organization that not only provides food for those in need of help, but also nutrition and health education and tax assistance to New Yorkers. 


FYI - Skippy announced a limited recall of it's reduced fat creamy and super chunky peanut butter. If you eat this, check HERE to see if what's on your shelf has been affected. Then, I suggest you hit the grocery store and pick up an all natural PB without any additives. Oh yeah, and reduced fat PB isn't any better for you than the full-fat stuff. This is one time when you can just go for it.
  • Did you go to the Nutropolitan Museum over the weekend? What did you think?
  • What was the best part of your weekend?
************
Saturday's workout -
7mile run
lots of stretching

Sunday's workout -
60 minute elliptical
3x10 weighted side bends
3x12 hammer curls
3x12 tricep kick backs
3x12 lat pull-downs
lots of stretching

Today's workout -
3mile run
3x10 cable twists
3x10 tricep push-down
3x10 upright row
3x12 leg press
100 crunches
100 jumping jacks
stretching

13 comments:

Teamarcia said...

Crazy stuff! Gotta love me some PB. I was in Puerto Rico this weekend--saw a recipe for PB lobster sandwiches....the jury's out on those.

Katie @ Health for the Whole Self said...

Sounds like an interesting show. I haven't tried The Heat is On PB yet - I'm afraid it will be too spicy for me too!

jennifer said...

Have you tried the sweet & spicy chicken recipe for The Heat Is On? I don't like spicy food, but mixing the pb with honey takes it down a few notches.

AM! said...

Hi there!
So fun to read the cultural stuff going on in the East part of the US

My kids would dig this sort of exhibit! Very cool.

And I'm a big PB fan...well actually Almond Butter fan;-)

AM! said...

btw, nice new blog header. again, cool to see the East Coast;-)

Anonymous said...

I went on Saturday too! I thought it was really cute. I got the spicy pB too - am thinking of recipes to use with it - I kinda like spicy stuff!

gracekelle said...

I'm sad I missed it! Is it going to be an annual show?

Sonia said...

Its always fun to read ur post. Really inspired about starting my early morning walk by next month... !

Lisa said...

Jennifer, we haven't tried that recipe but it's a great idea! I never thought of adding honey to it.

Teamarcia, PB Lobster sandwiches sound horrible to me, but I don't actually like lobster to begin with, so I'm probably not one to say!

Gracekelle, not sure if it's going to be an annual thing, but I hope so! I bet they wanted to see how this went before committing to another.

Sonia, good luck with your morning walks! I bet you'll find them to be a great way to start the day!

Romantic Dinner said...

really tasty food. I like the all foods.

Travel Tourism said...

Really great story I love the post and image.

seo agency india said...

this is a very nice new blog header. again, cool to see the East Coast;-)

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