Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Bachelor Padding



'Tis the season, and I got an inclination for s sandwich but I am frankly not crazy about the store-bought kind. So, I rode the bike across town to the Co-Op (which has everything), and invested in a fresh loaf about two feet long.
Bread is about half the secret to a very good sandwich of any kind, and Boise is blessed with at least a couple of the best bakeries in the world. That makes the rest easy.
For this particular project, I used about a half-pound of sliced baked ham, a similar amount of pepper salami, a half-pound of Mozarella, of which half was sliced and the rest shredded. I added two sliced Italian tomatoes, half a red bell pepper, a handful of basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary and ataragon, four thin-sliced cloves of garlic, and a couple of splashes of balsamic vinegar over the tomatoes. The technique for making this is not really a technique: a couple of splashes of virgin olive oil over the bread, then a base of mozarella slices, then layers of meat, tomatoes, peppers, and the shredded cheese on top, a few shakes of parmesan, the garlic slices, and some pepper on top, then into the oven on a baking pan at 400F for 15 minutes.
Since the portion control is over the top for even a serious sandwich craving, I cut this in half, wrapped one half in aluminum foil for later, and ate the other half with most of a bottle of Cab.
It's just one of a bunch of possibilities for fine solo dining I plan to expand upon in a screed I am working on called Bachelor Padding. The point of Bachelor Padding will be to show that a person who is single, specifically an old fart like myself (although similarly unattached females could surely do it too), can survive happily on a minimal income. I'd be glad to address any questions on the finer points or take any helpful hints anyone would care to pass along for the general good of all. Cheers.