2008 Challenge

American Sandwich threw down the gaunlet when it reported that Americans eat an average of 193 sandwiches a year.
Ha! It won't take me a year to eat 193 sandwiches.
But how long will it take me? I propose to document the first 193 sandwiches I eat in 2008. If you're all not too bored by the time I hit the magical 193, I'll continue to keep track right up until December 31, 2008.
I am setting some ground rules:
1. I will not try to eat more sandwiches than I normally would eat.
2. I will not stretch the definition of what makes a sandwich to include questionable entries like tamales, spring rolls, and the like. I think I can make it without counting those tasty treats.
3. If I have a question about whether something counts as a sandwich, I will seek your opinion through the nifty sidebar poll. Popular vote wins. Unless I disagree.
4. And yes, there will still be Sandwich Night. Looking at the dearth of interesting television programming in the upcoming weeks, we may consider movie Sandwich Nights. Sound good?

Thanks Kate!

Look what Kate gave us for Christmas!
Ooey gooey deliciousness. Can't wait to try some of these crazy sounding recipes!

Merry Christmas!

And welcome family! My page for the family calendar this year (September) is all about sandwiches. Surprise! Come back and check my blog again--so you can keep up with what I am eating. It's fascinating, to be sure.

And I do enjoy reading comments...

Meat attack!

We had our muffuletta night on Sunday. For once, I actually followed a recipe (mostly) and I think we might have regretted it. There was actually too much meat on the sandwiches! Jane, Karen, and Kate came over. Jane had to take some meat out of her sandwich just to finish it. Karen had to take some out just to balance the ratio of cheese to meat to olive salad. Kate, Beth and I soldiered through but it took us a while to finish!.
I combined the recipes for muffuletta from American Sandwich and Roadfood Sandwiches. Each called for heaps of meat, some cheese, and the olive salad to be piled on a round Italian loaf. I made the olive salad with lots of green and calamata olives, plus celery, carrots, cocktail onions, capers, giardiniera peppers, garlic, oregano, red wine vinegar, and olive oil. That marinated for a day.

Then we had to make a trip to Cossetta's for the rest of the ingredients. We got Genoa salami, mortadella, capicola, smoked ham, mozzarella and provolone. They slice the meat so thin there, you can see through it. It's awesome. And they lay it out all pretty on paper. Luckily they had 2 Italian round loaves left for our feast. Armed with all of our delicious purchase, we pushed our way out the back door, like salmon swimming upstream against a current of girls and their parents grabbing a slice before the matinee of Disney's High School Musical on Ice. Fun.

The Roadfood Sandwiches recipe recommended slicing the loaf in half, then digging out about half the bread from the interior. Good idea, except you can't really tell just how much meat you have layered on the bread, when it's stacking up into a hole. I layered meats and cheeses, then piled some marinated onions (at the suggestion of American Sandwich) and the olive salad on top. I put the top of the bread on and squished it down. Then we went to watch the first half of the ANTM finale.

After bidding toothy sarcastic Jenah farewell--good luck, you might actually have a modelling career if you never speak or show your teeth--we cut into the monster. We were shocked at the enormous pile of meat that fit into the sandwich. Following the recipe, we cut those suckers into quarters and settled down for the second half of ANTM. (And the beginnings of gout from all the cured meat, most certainly.)

The sandwich was pretty tasty. Not the greatest, but tasty. Since I've been eating the leftovers for a couple days now, I will say that it improves with age. And it is better when cut into 1/8ths. We were sad that Angie couldn't make it, since this sandwich is right up her alley. Perhaps we can have a reprise, and make it two days beforehand, and cut it in smaller pieces. Oh, the possibilities!

Sandwich Night--change of date

I forgot to look at Beth's hockey schedule before we planned the muffuletta night. Whoops. Her team, Chaos, plays Anarchy at 9:30 on Monday the 17th. I love it when Chaos plays Anarchy. Anarchy usually wins. But Chaos has more fun.
I digress.
We can't send Beth to face Anarchy with a belly full of cured meats and olive salad. Nor can we exclude her from the festivities. So, we are moving the next Sandwich Night to Sunday the 16th. We will still eat muffuletta. We will still watch the season finale of ANTM on tape. Join us!

More Sandwich Cookbooks!

My friend Amy surprised me with this little beauty on Sunday. There's one sandwich from every state. It's a little more academic than Roadfood Sandwiches, but they make a nice complement to each other. And American Sandwich puts two kinds of cheese and more meat on its muffuletta, as well as the unorthodox addition of marinated onions. A book after my heart!
It also includes the statistic that each American eats 193 sandwiches a year. Now there's a challenge!

Eggy Cheesy Goodness

Karen hosted the first Sandwich Night on the Road last night. The fried egg sandwich was raised to new heights of deliciousness, due largely to her shopping spree at Trader Joes. There were so many cheeses and breads from which to choose! The big hits included mini bagels (genius), brioche rolls and cheddar cheese with Moroccan spices. Kate rummaged through Karen's herbs and spices and came up with the inspired addition of herbs de Provence to her sandwich. We all followed suit. Fantastic.
Beth channeled her days as a Denny's cook and cooked our eggs up right, including scrambling Kate's eggs. Hey, fried eggs aren't for everyone and Sandwich Night is about breaking the rules, man!
We did have a narrow brush with tragedy, however. When Beth and I went to Everett's to pick up bacon on Saturday, they had run out. What???? We weren't the only confused and disappointed customers in the store, that's for sure. When I stopped by after work on Monday, they had mercifully restocked. The cashier said people had been coming in all day just to get bacon. Kind of like a run on the bank. The salty smoky bacon bank, that is.

We all made two sandwiches--why not with all the bounty? This is my favorite: mini bagel, over medium egg, co-jack, brie, herbs de Provence, bacon. I also made the one pictured at the top:brioche roll, over medium egg, Moroccan cheddar, Canadian bacon, and Thai chili garlic sauce. Yum. Around the world on a bun.

I don't know whose sandwich this is, but isn't it pretty?
We gobbled our sandwiches down before Heroes started so we could focus on the shocking mid season cliffhanger. I wonder what will happen next? Will the writers reach an agreement on DVD and internet royalties in time? Cross your fingers!

And we could hardly take our eyes off the cover of Roadfood Sandwiches all night, so we're having muffulettas next. Monday the 17th at our place. We're watching the America's Next Top Model finale on tape, so we can heckle more effectively. Join us!

Oh yeah,

Eggs Benedict is not a sandwich.

Sorry Jane.

Look what I found

It was just sitting in the new books display at the library, calling my name.
Is it fate?