Spaghetti Sandwich?

During the sixties, Buffalo, NY was somewhat segregated. Not by race, but by country of origin. With only a generation or two removed from entering our country, immigrants settled in neighborhoods that spoke the same languages and had the same cultures. As the languages melded into English and cultures expanded outside each respective settling point the families stayed close. I remember my Grandfather living in the upstairs section of the duplex I was born in.
OK, history lesson over. I needed this preface to help you understand that I grew up in a neighborhood bordering from what I saw three different communities. German, Polish and Italian. Because of this, I became privy to the most amazing, authentic Euro-American food before my taste buds could walk! My Mom tells the story that after my folks were married, an Italian neighbor stopped over to show her how to make sauce. Any self-respecting wife needs to know how to make sauce, right? The thing I like about this that our neighbor did not just give her a recipe and say ‘Via con dios’. She showed her. Cooking (too me) is not following a recipe to the dram. It’s working. Measuring, combining, sifting, stirring, chopping, peeling, heating, cooling, watching, smelling, tasting, creating and loving.
That said, my university attending son Andrew made some killer spaghetti sauce the other day and just like Mrs. Collins, my childhood neighbor, the only way to make sauce is to make a boat-load. So after the pasta was long gone, I still had a hankerin’ for some for lunch. So the first thought was (and usually is) sandwich. So I soon collected the pieces of the puzzle.
2 slices of sturdy bread (I had some oatmeal/nut bread that worked well).I should have toasted it for stability, but I was hungry and the 2min 15sec was an eternity.
Deli-sliced Roast Beef (your usual sandwich amount – I use too much for most people)
2 slices of Provolone cheese.
A ladleful of Andrew’s Killer Sauce.
Make the sandwich and cover the sandwich (and the surrounding space on the plate) and eat with a knife and fork.
It’s a beautiful thing.

Gotta Start Somewhere

How are ya? GuyFood may be a new word for Webster, but for me it’s the kind of stuff us guys like to eat. It may not be nutritious, it may not be appropriate for the time of day, heck, it may not even be recognizable. But it’s the food that seems to give guys some level of satisfaction leaving the women in their lives scratching their heads in amazement.

Please allow me to introduce myself and my intentions for this blog. Me? I like food. All kinds. Please don’t consider me a ‘foodie’, because although I like to pair the right wine with the right meal, I also want to find the ultimate peanut butter and jelly sandwich. While I love my God, wife and son more, I want to write about food. My goal of this blog is to bring to light the enjoyment of all foods whether gourmet or home-made, store-bought or hand-made, organic or lab-created is ok. I’m not a nutritionist or diet guru, just a guy with taste buds who isn’t afraid to use them. There will be anecdotes, recipes, special occasions, pictures and eating. Oh, there will be eating.

Since I’m a guy, I’m going to talk about foods most guys like to eat and how we like to eat them. Why we like cold leftovers. Why we never nibble anything. And why we feel it’s necessary to eat ‘a little something’ before we go to a friend’s dinner party. I hope to validate men and educate women on what goes on in most men’s minds when it comes to food.

Will I be biased? Sure, I’m a guy. Will I point out differences between men and women? Yup, look at us, we’re different, get over it. Will I be chauvinistic? No, that’s not right. Vive la difference!

So sit back, relax, put your napkin in your shirt and let’s go taste something.