Hangin' with my PEEPS!

I love Marshmallow PEEPS! And I am not ashamed to say it. That's the thing about PEEPS! You either love them or you hate them. I love them. Really love them. The sugary goodness--the exclamation point in the name--the sheer whimsy. What's not to love?

However, I am a purest. I like the yellow ones and preferably the chick-shaped yellow ones. They taste the best.

I don't need heart-shaped PEEPS! I don't go in for all that flavored business. Peppermint? Oh good grief. And frankly after the blue PEEPS! fiasco of 1998, I am a little hesitant to branch out into new colors.

Oh, I had such high hopes, when one day on my lunch break, I saw them on the shelf in the CVS. They called to mind an Easter morning many years before when I found a tiny bright blue peep huddled next to the chocolate bunny in my basket. A real one. Alfie. I know what you are thinking, but that was before it was discovered that injecting dye into an incubating egg was incredibly inhumane. And to his credit, he did grow up into a chicken, until the cat got him.

When I saw the pack of blue PEEPS! on the shelf in the CVS, I had to have them. I brought them back to my desk and ripped open the package. I bit into one. Bleeech! Not only did the taste wrong, but my lips were all blue during the afternoon staff meeting. I tossed the rest of the package in the trash, brokenhearted.

While I was living outside of the US for a few years, one of the things I missed most at this time of year was my marshmallow PEEPS! My niece, Danielle, horrified with the lack of proper American Easter treats, always good for a package or two. Once she made the mistake of writing PEEPS! on the customs declaration. She told me they were on the way and I waited and waited. They never made it to me. Can you imagine? Stealing a person's PEEPS right out of the post. However, the Irish customs officials assure me that they are very close to making an arrest.