Pop quiz:

What three things do these movies have in common?

1) Blow
2) Million Dollar Baby
3) Brokeback Mountain
4) Gone Baby Gone

If you guessed: the last four movies Freakgirl and I have seen together in the theater, all quite depressing and all excellent, then you are a winner.

But if you're looking for a light comedy, I probably wouldn't invite yourself along to our next movie-going expedition.

Prior to the trip to the cinema house, Freakgirl and I hit a local diner. I knew this would be the first real test of my recent (and heretofore unmentioned) vow to not eat pizza or fries for one month.

Admittedly, I have my doubts as to whether I can accomplish this. I would estimate that one-quarter of the non-breakfast meals I have eaten in my lifetime have consisted of 1) pizza; 2) something with fries; or 3) peanut butter. But I just started a post-season diet-and-exercise plan and am thus getting up at 5:30 daily to hit the gym before work, so I figured the least I could do was try to complement the exercise with a better diet.

Not that I'm on a diet, mind you. I just wanted to see what would happen if I could eliminate two of the two less-than-healthy foods I eat most often. So while I wanted to order a grilled cheese and fries, I went with a grilled BBQ chicken sandwich with rice.

Of course, I was lured into McDonald's this morning thanks to a low-level hangover and the promise of a Sausage Biscuit (capitalized like the proper noun it is), so don't give me too much credit. But I'm trying.

And I'm going to a diner again tomorrow with The Sandman (because, quite frankly, if you're going to see Bon Jovi open The Rock, you might as well make it a totally Jersey night and eat at the diner) and expect to again be tested. I vow to be strong.

Speaking of peanut butter, I have had fewer relationships last longer than the one I’ve enjoyed with Jif Peanut Butter. Given my lifelong dislike of lunch meat, I ate the same sandwich for my 12 years of pre-collegiate education - peanut butter and jelly. I still eat them and in fact over the weekend had a rare but scrumptious fluffernutter. All made with Jif.

But given the diet-and-exercise plan, I decided it was time to try a healthier option. So after more than 30 years of loyalty to the fine folks at Jif, I turned to organic peanut butter.

Here’s a replay of how things went (and please note, I was having this conversation with myself) as I prepared my mid-morning snack of fiber-and-flax toast with organic peanut butter yesterday:

Me (upon opening the jar): "Hmm, it's very watery. And incredibly hard to stir the cement-like peanut butter underneath."
Me: “Hmm. This doesn’t taste great. Well, at least it's good for me."
Me (turning over jar): "Holy crap! This has 200 calories per serving. And it tastes like brown paste."
Me (heading to pantry): "Jif only has 190!"

So Jif, I apologize for straying. I have learned my lesson.