Reunited With Captain Crunch

We don't eat a whole lot of cereal in my house. But, for some reason, Tina brought home a box of Peanut Butter Captain Crunch today. And although I haven't eaten this cereal since I was a kid, the sight of the box created an instant craving that I haven't experienced in many years.

As a kid, we use to practically live off of breakfast cereals. We always ate it for breakfast, but it wasn't that uncommon to occasionally eat a bowl for lunch or dinner. You have to remember, I grew up in a time when kids actually went outside and exerted energy. So, the sugary cereals would provide all of the energy that we needed to accomplish the task at hand.

I can remember a few times where my Mom attempted to substitute a less sugary, more "healthy" cereal. For example, one time the only thing that I could find in the cabinet was a box of Cheerios. Now remember, this is way back in the day before the Honey Nut version. The plain Cheerios were bland and pretty much flavorless. And after a couple of weeks of Peanut Butter Captain Crunch, a bowl of Cheerios was like eating cardboard. So, what did I do to make it somewhat palatable? I doused the Cheerios with spoonfuls of sugar. By the time I was finished, my "enhanced" bowl of Cheerios probably contained twice the amount of sugar as the Captain Crunch.

I can also remember when the marshmallow cereals first hit the scene. Of course, Lucky Charms was probably the all-time most popular. Who can't love an Irishman who offers you pink hearts, yellow moons, orange stars and green clovers? Sure, Lucky Charms were nice. But, in my opinion, they were no match for Count Chocula. The chocolaty cereal with it's accompanying marshmallows was about as good as breakfast could get for an eight year old. As an added bonus, your leftover milk was naturally converted into chocolate milk. I must also give a shout-out to the Count's tasty friends, Boo-Berry and Frankenberry.

And then there was Trix, the colorful cereal brought to us by a rabbit named Tricks. Go figure. Now, I always thought that Tricks the rabbit got a raw deal. You probably remember the familiar tagline "Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids." For the record, if I had ever met the silly rabbit, I would have shared my bowl of Trix with him.

I was always disappointed with Rice Crispies. Snap, Crackle and Pop seemed like nice enough guys, but their cereal just didn't do anything for me. However, the cereal was eventually legitimized in the form of Rice Crispy Treats.

Does anyone remember Alpha-Bits? In an attempt to create spelling bee champions all across America, Post introduced us introduced letter-shaped cereal. The problem was that while you tried to spell different words, your cereal got soggy.

And who can forget Frosty Flakes? Tony The Tiger is one of the most beloved cereal mascots ever. Eating a bowl of these corn flakes was like eating directly out of the sugar bowl. But I have to agree with Tony, they were GRRRRRR-EAT!

After reminiscing about all of this, I think I am going to crack open that box and get reunited with Captain Crunch! It's been a while....

kw