Cheesarific!

How can you pick just one kind of grilled cheese sandwich? We couldn't, so we made a bunch and shared them! We used sourdough bread as a base for all the sandwiches. The five kinds of sandwiches my co-worker Karen and I made were: 1.)mozzarella, tomato, basil; 2.)monterey jack, avocado, bacon; 3.)brie, green apple; 4.)sharp cheddar, hot mango chutney; and 5.)sharp cheddar, Swiss, bacon, red onion, avocado. We shared these with Beth who was late to Sandwich Night due to a hockey game. Since we were eating so many fancy sandwiches, I decided to make a fancy green salad with grapefruit and avocados. Yum! Angie made some crazy sandwiches, too. But I was too busy with my own to see what she put in them--let's say lots of sauteed mushrooms, Swiss, bacon, and tomato in one and tomato, basil, red onions, and a couple cheeses in the other.
I'd say my favorite varieties were the apple and brie, cheddar and chutney, and the Swiss, cheddar, bacon, avocado, bacon combo. My favorite part of the evening was listening to all of the crunching while we eating our sandwiches!

What do you make for dessert after you've gorged on a smorgasbord of grilled cheese? Thanks to Karen, you dine on a smorgasbord of grilled CHOCOLATE sandwiches! Using thinly sliced white bread we tried caramel filled dark chocolate(the winner!); raspberry filled dark chocolate(good, but not raspberry enough); dark chocolate and strawberry jam(a close second place); and peanut butter cups(good, but the peanut butter didn't melt). Yeah, I'm not going to think about the calories.


Sandwich Night will be returning to Monday next week. Only three episodes of Heroes left! Next week we will eat Grilled Vegetable sandwiches. Lefty--I know you are blurking out there--are you coming over?

Not exactly a sandwich....

But I can't really resist posting about the My Little Pony cake I made for my niece Lila's birthday last Saturday. A cake is sort of like a sandwich, right? Cake is kind of bready. I filled it with strawberry jam. That's sandwichy.

See:

That's strawberry flavored cake--thus the hot pink, 5-year old pleasing color. I was a little frightened of it myself!

Falafel in Paris...

I'm a little sad that I didn't have enough time to truly give my all to the falafel sandwich we had for sandwich night this week. They were delicious, no doubt about that. But they could have been even better So, indulge me while I write a little ode to Parisian falafel since I couldn't actually try to make one myself.

I've been to Paris twice. The first time I went I was in college and travelling on the super cheap. I was delighted to find such incredible street food in Paris. I was happily subsisting on crepes and cheese sandwiches when my friends took me to a place in the Marais for falafel. Falafel? In Paris? What? The falafel I had that time was as big as my head, full of tons of stuff and probably cost less than $5. I have no idea what was even on it, there were some many flavors melding together. It was a gorgeous sunny summer day and we stood on the sidewalk beside the take out window inhaling the sandwiches before they completely disintegrated into gooey deliciousness. Mmm..

A few years ago I returned to Paris with Beth. I knew I had to take her to that falafel place in the Marais. What I didn't know was that the street our hotel was located on, rue de la Huchette, is the main Greek restaurant and falafel stand street in the Latin Quarter. We kept returning to one falafel stand with a buffet of salads to garnish your sandwich. You could just point to as many of them as they could stuff in there. They had incredible pickled carrots. By the time we hit the Marais we were truly aficionados of the artform. And the falafel we had there did not disappoint either!

So, figure out how to get to Paris. Eat falafel.

Fala-full

It wasn't quite Paris, but it was still quite delicious!

We got pita and jalapeno hummus from the Holyland Deli. I just got a boxed falafel mix--which was pretty good. Not as good as falafel from scratch would have been, but I was pressed for time! I also made a couple of easy salads to top our falafel sandwiches. Thinly sliced cucumbers and onions with salt; chopped up tomatoes, parsley and onions; tahina, and this French carrot salad with lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, cumin and cayenne pepper. (Thanks for the recipe Kris!)

It turned out to be quite delectable. And we were all there together, including Mandy, who ate a sandwich again! Hee hee--we convert all to our sandwich ways!

And luckily, Heroes didn't get all gory until we had finished eating.

Next week we make a brief return to Wednesday night since we're all travelling this weekend. We'll make fancy grilled cheese sandwiches and watch ANTM, followed by Heroes on tape. Heaven! The choices! Beth and Angie are thinking bacon and tomato for their grilled cheese. Mandy's thinking Cotswald cheese and chutney. I'm thinkin I'll have one of each!

Mmmm...delicious bacon

I can't believe it's taken us this long to choose a sandwich with bacon on it. Especially since Everett's makes such good bacon. Yesterday Beth and Angie got their wires crossed and bought a pound of Everett's bacon each. That's a fantastic overbuy!!

The California Chicken Club lived up to its expectations. My friend Kate (who suggested the sandwich for the hat in the first place) came over to supervise. Mandy came and actually ate a sandwich! She brought her own vegetarian chik patty.

Angie marinated the chicken breasts in chipotle lime sauce. Then we grilled them. We also grilled mushrooms and jalapeno peppers for the sandwiches and asparagus to eat on the side. I made guacamole and we fried up the bacon perfectly. I usually get impatient and turn the heat up and burn it. But not for these sandwiches! I let it cook nice and slow so it got completely crispy. We stacked bacon (not for Mandy), peppers, mushrooms (not for me or Kate) on the chicken, then put Monterey Jack and Havarti (not for Kate) cheese on top and popped them in the oven to melt.

To assemble, Kate toasted sourdough bread, then we spread the guacamole on it and topped it with the melted cheese bacon chicken pile, lettuce, and tomato. It was fantastic. You should try it.

We taped ANTM so we could concentrate on the sandwiches, then we watched while we ate them. The contestants went to Australia, but I'm glad we didn't choose to have a Vegemite sandwich to celebrate. Eeww. I draw the line at spreading yeast paste on bread.

What's next? We have a short turn around because Sandwich Night is moving back to Mondays! And we're making falafel. Yum! I want to make weird pickled vegetable salads to stuff the falafel sandwiches with, just like they do in Paris. Yes, Paris has incredible falafel. Don't miss it if you ever go there!

First Angie, now Beth!

Beth just remembered she made plans for Sandwich Night (granted it was weeks ago, before we had sandwiches on Wednesdays) so she will be ditching us this week. Do you sense doom for Sandwich Night???? NO!!!!

Kate will be coming over to make sure the California Chicken Club is up to snuff. Angie will be here. Mandy will be here. She might even eat a sandwich if we get her a veggie chick'n patty. All is not lost. We'll even save Beth some fixings so she can make her own sandwich later.

Long Live Sandwich Night!!!

One Week to Heroes

One week until the end of the hiatus. I wonder what sandwich we will make to celebrate....only the hat knows!