Cubano!

We had a small sandwich night on Wednesday: Cubans and ANTM. And Karen!

We didn't chose Cubans in honor of Castro stepping down. Mostly I had a pork loin in the freezer and I've been a little Cuban obsessed lately.

I rubbed the pork loin with a mixture of crushed garlic, dried oregano, black pepper and salt. Since the loin was in two long pieces, I rubbed the mixture between them and tied them together. Then I spread the rest on the outside and roasted it in a 400 degree oven for about an hour. Boy oh boy did the house smell great!

I decided to buy a small ham rather than buy sliced ham from the deli. Sometimes deli meat can be so slimy. Yuck. (It was a good decision--the freshly sliced ham tasted so much better!)

On sandwich night I got out the slicer and sliced the pork loin and the ham. We sliced up swiss cheese and homemade dill pickles as well. I got out both yellow mustard and Dijon mustard to try. Most recipes call for yellow specifically, but Dijon is just so tasty. I got French rolls and a sourdough baguette, since that's all that was left at the New French Bakery by the time I got there.

We piled up the ingredients and squashed them in the panini press, of course! (That machine has truly changed our lives.) I tried a couple combos with the different breads and mustards and I'd have to say that French bread/yellow mustard was my favorite. Wow!

I made some tropical fruit salad to go with the sandwiches and we even made chocolate sorbet in the ice cream ball for dessert. Not a bad night!

TV was good too--we got to see my cousin's husband's climbing gym on Supernanny and then we watched the first real episode of ANTM. It should be an entertaining season, even though the dumbest of all dumb blonds kicked herself off before Tyra could do it. Waaa waa.

Bahn Mit!

I had to run an errand at lunch today so I decided to stop and pick up some Vietnamese sandwiches (Bahn Mit) since I would be driving past half a dozen purveyors along the way. I stopped at Saigon Restaurant where they have a counter set-up and an extensive sandwich menu. It had been awhile so I played it safe and got the "regular": roast pork, pork loaf, pate, mayo, veggies. One is never enough so I picked up a veggie one, too. They really are good--French bread, mayo, mystery meat (or not), cukes, pickled carrots, fresh jalapenos and cilantro. And the price is right. Those two sandwiches ran me $3.25. Nice!

Next Sandwich Night(s)

First: Cuban sandwiches this Wednesday for ANTM.
Second: Gyros for Kate on Wednesday, March 12, with ANTM.

I'll tape the show, so we can watch it at our leisure after 8:00, with as many pause, discuss, rewind moments as necessary.

Redeemed, a little

I had a good cheeseburger on Saturday at the Gunflint Tavern in Grand Marais. Yes, it was on the way home, but we didn't have the usual desperation for something good since we had just spent a couple days in the lap of luxury at the Gunflint Lodge. I can honestly say it was good! It's the Tavern Burger--try it next time you're up north.

Shamewiches

Last Thursday was a rather inauspicious day for sandwiches. We started the day at the crack of dawn, driving up to the Gunflint Lodge to spend a couple days of R&R with our friends Ben and Amy. We started way too early to eat breakfast (at least for me) which is how we ended up stopping at a Burger King (yuck) in Hinckley (double yuck) and eating a ham and egg biscuit (YUUUUUUUCK!!!!).
We continued on with that gut bomb in my tummy, my unfortunate choice for sandwich #50.
We stopped in Grand Marais for lunch before we turned up the Gunflint Trail. We went to My Sister's Place which we usually like. I had a mediocre cheeseburger on a cold bun, pressed preformed patty, not quite melted cheese. Ugh. I realize now that we have always stopped at this place after we've been in the woods camping or skiing and anything tastes good. I'm sure I'll be back there some day--remind me to skip the burger!
There it is--shamewiches. Empty greasy calories you wish you had never eaten. Not like the empty greasy delicious calories I usually like to devote myself to.

#49

Today I went on a field trip to St. John's University to see the St. John's Bible. It's really an amazing thing--the first hand written bible in 500 years. We got to see pages from the Wisdom and Prophets books. Our gracious hosts even set us up with lovely sandwich buffet where I made this sandwich:

They bake that bread at the Abbey. It was yummy. I copied an idea from my co-worker Joe, a true sandwich artist, and spread some of the red pepper veggie dip on the bread. Then I put on co-jack, pepper jack, turkey, ham, lettuce and tomato on it. Delish! A little chicken dumpling soup, chips, veggies, and a pickle completed the feast.

Sorry for the blog frenzy...

But our internet is out at home and I'm trying to squeeze these all into my one freeish lunch hour this week.
Today marked my final peanut butter and mustard sandwich. Yup, the apricot ginger mustard is finally finished. It helps with the not resolution to finish up condiments but I'm a little sad about it.
On the upside, I was able to share bites of it with all my lunch companions today (including Karen) and they all thought it was pretty good, too. Except for Mike, who filed it under "interesting". (Which is not as deadly as "different" in Minnesota-speak.)