Bahn Mit!

Sandwich Night was a great success. Even though one of Beth's co-workers accused us of eating "viet-paninis" and even though our Bahn Mit weren't absolutely authentic, we did make some tasty tasty sandwiches.

I got several baguettes from the New French Bakery--they tend toward craggy and chewy rather than the French bread usually used for Bahn Mit: soft and white on the inside and crunchy on the outside. I do love the former, but I think the later is better for Bahn Mit. Live and learn! The New French Bakery bread was still delicious even though our sandwiches were chewier than desired.

We put together this spread:

Clockwise from the top: pickled daikon, pickled carrots, red pepper and daikon, pickled carrots and daikon, Vietnamese barbecued pork, basil ginger turkey and pork meatloaf, cucumbers, pickled cucumbers, sliced jalapenos, fresh cilantro, fresh Thai basil. Not shown: homemade lime mayonnaise.

As usual, we descended upon the ingredients in a creative frenzy. Karen's friend Susan (who came all the way from Philadelphia for her first Sandwich Night) kicked off the assembly by mushing her meatloaf on her bread so it resembled the pate which usually comes on Bahn Mit.

Here are my sandwiches (since more is always better!) One has mayo, meatloaf, BBQ pork, pickled cucumbers, cilantro, carrot, red pepper and daikon pickles and sliced jalapeno. The other has mayo, BBQ pork, carrot and daikon pickles, cucumbers, sliced jalapenos, basil and cilantro.

Both were mighty tasty!
We watched the very first episode of America's Next Top Model ever while we ate our sandwiches. What a show. Elyse Sewell was awesome from the start. And they had bikini waxes. On camera. Make sure you wince with pain fiercely!

Since it was Karen's birthday, we had chocolate cupcakes with mint frosting to end the night.