THE WEEKEND CLUB pulled chicken + bacon + peameal bacon + guac!

I got 99 problems... and I'm trying to mask each one with a layer of this sandwich. And I think I'm like 96 layers short. 

Seriously though. Yesterday, I confessed to my new roommate that I've been pilfering his peanut butter, so the next jar was on me. His response? "That's ok, I'm post-food. I'm doing Soylent now." Like WTF? This, coming from the guy who makes his own kimchi. I know he's probly not serious about doing it longterm, but you literally couldn't pay me to not eat, and enjoy food. Sometimes, that's all I have. 

"But what if it was cheap, fast, and you never had to worry about nutrition again?" 

"Well, I can tell you, nutrition is barely in the top 5 reasons of why I cook food." 

"Well what if you knew you could end world hunger, but it only worked if everyone was on Soylent?" 

"Well. Well... well, I guess I'd probably be one of those assholes with a front lawn farm, and trading butter on the black market."

THE B-L-CHEESY double grilled cheese BLT

GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH MONTH POST #7

Let's all pretend it's still April, April being grilled cheese month. I actually made this sandwich, along with the last 10, and next 10 posts like WEEKS ago now, but hey, it's not like this is my day job. Looking for housing in this zero decent vacancy city kind of became my day job for a while. I'm finally out of my money haemorrhaging loft. I already miss that big space, those windows, the ceiling height you find no where else in Toronto, but hey, it's also not fun to watch your friends hopping on planes, and travelling, when you're like, "COOL, I'm gonna hold down the fort here... in my expensive-ass apartment, in this expensive-ass city, close to nowhere else good, and sacrificing food explora$ion for floor$pace. But you know it's time to move when you can buy a house in Detroit for less than your monthly rent. I'm way further west in town now, in a kind of perfectly shabby house, good enough to stay a while, but definitely giving me pangs to move. Far away. But it's also kind of great, because I feel like I'm in a totally new land. Quieter, cheaper, I don't know a single bar around here, and everything closes at fucking 9. It's almost like being back in France. Almost... 

THE HOGTOWN ham, just ham.

Sometimes I'm unimpressed with the sandwiches I post, or I spend an hour making a sandwich, and just never post it at all. Usually what goes wrong is it just gets overcomplicated, and loses focus. This post is all about simplicity, because appreciating food has very little to do with what goes into making it, it all comes down to whether it satisfies you. And I've been pretty good at applying that nugget of wisdom to life too lately. I don't overthink things too much, and the simple shit is really the best. Making new friends. Asking old friends how their day is going. Spending some time by yourself doing something that makes you happy.

THE WITH A TWIST bacon + lemon + plantain

Go start a personal project. Pick something you inherently love, and set yourself to work at it. I usually don't like being directive, but sometimes, you just need the encouragement and for someone to tell you, your personal interest project/hobby isn't stupid. Hell, mine is making sandwiches. It makes you happy, and that's really the means, and the ends of it. You do it for yourself, and maybe others will appreciate it, but that's not why you do it. And this isn't coming from a super go-getter self-starter either. Naw. Sometimes, the rest of all life's tribulations, and your own failings catch up with you, and you'll be glad you have that thing you work on, for no other reason than your own satisfaction. And it will give you that, every time. That which can only be accomplished by doing something, because you find it inherently satisfying. No amount of nights out, cat videos, or retail therapy can give you that. And maybe you'll even develop some skill at it, and have something to be proud of, and to share with others. Or not, 'cause that's really not the point.

But anyway, I really like making sandwiches. It's not my only thing, but it's one of them. And the other week, I got a really nice message from someone for whom sandwiches is also, his thing. As much as I don't care if anyone understands the sandwich thing, it was really nice to know there are people out there. He proposed doing a sandwich off. I'm always happy to test my sandwich making imagination, so I accepted, and here's the result. What's the twist? Details after the jump.

THE BLUE SNAPPER breaded snapper + blue cheese + brown tartar

Middle-class poor is when you haven't earned the things you think you deserve, but work out affording them anyway. Here's a sandwich that was straight up, out of my daily food budget, and FUCK, it was worth it.

Rant to follow, holler if you #relate:
"AND THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS!" ...is something that got said surprisingly a lot in some of my former households, and apartments with my friends through our early and mid 20s. Whether it was just being too drunk to take care of our stuff, or too drunk not to loose it, throwing hazardously crowded parties, or being too hungover to... I'm sure there was more to it than that. Cats? Was it... no, we didn't have cats. ANYWAY. I'm at a point now in life, where I'm realizing I CAN have nice things. I'm an "adult" now (sort of)... I can, have nice things. I just... don't really?

THE 10 bacon + portobello mushroom + maple + cheddar

This sandwich is a perfect 10. I wouldn't say that about really hardly any other sandwiches I've made, because I try to keep the hyperboles away from self-congratulations. But this sandwich is just perfect. There is absolutely nothing that could make it taste any more brilliant. It's the perfect sandwich. Read on, and if you enjoy seeing sandwich posts, tell a friend.

THE BRUSSELS DAY PARADE brussel sprouts + fries grilled cheese

I. Fucking. Love. Brussel sprouts. I eat them every day. I also have deep affection for Brussels. And if you didn't know french fries are actually Belgian, you know now. Here's my salute to Brussels. How I miss that twisted, ugly city. Also, yo Sybille, gardez-le bien à Bruxelles meuf.

THE MARCH BREAK chicken + tomato chow

Alright, I know it's only January, but this one tasted like March. You know what I mean? You know how some days, it just smells like spring? Well, in Canada, we have March break, where schools have a few weeks off in March, and like all the other jew kids, I always spent mine in Florida. Visiting the grandparents, if that wasn't clearly implied (and if you were wondering, I don't consider myself a jew, but for the hair, and various Seinfeld references the goyims don't get). ANYWAY. This sandwich, to me, tasted like Florida.

THE HUMPDAY ham + emmental

Posting this a little late, just imagine this is a Wednesday.

Happy Humpday you guys. You can lower your eyebrows back down. Humpday, or hump day, is what is better known as Wednesday, as Wednesday marks the middle of the week, that hump you have to get over, before you're leisurely strolling (or running, depending) downhill to the weekend. Glossing over that I'm posting this on a Saturday, and that I'm self-employed, work from home, and the weekend is meaningless, nothing says desperation like burning out on a Wednesday (which I totally did). Here's something comfortingly simple and amply sweet, to get you through the week.

the steak and egg

I. Love. Meat. Don't get me wrong, I would say the same about fruits and vegetables, just as someone who eats meat rarely more than once per week, I thought it apt to declare my love for eating animals and animal products. Ethically, and healthily raised, local animals, and their wonderful eggs and dairy. Thank you farmers, thank you cows, thank you chickens, sheep, goats. I love you all, and I consider it a treat, not a part of my diet, to enjoy these amazing offerings. Also it's nice to eat carnivorously sometimes. ARRR!

Check out this egg on animal sandwich, I even worked in an egg-cup! Good fucking way to start the day, if you ask me.

And never miss another sandwich again, join the Facebook page!

avocado + cabbage + tamari club

What's up friends? I decided to go out and buy a bunch of really lovely meat at the organic farmers' market last week, and then eat way too much of it all at the same time. What better way than with a classic Club!? But obviously not that classic. Enter tamari + avocado + cabbage + ginger + mint + lime + garlic + chili mayo. Sadly I only got a taste of this sandwich. I was still full from the chicken and egg sandwich made previously, but a hungry friend of mine came by and devoured it. Equally satisfying. Ok, that's a lie, but this was one mountain I was too full to climb.