December 11, 2011
Prompt:
Best Meal
What is the best meal
or best food that you have eaten all year?
A story about my favorite sandwich;
Good food and a gracious cook can lead to being
unceremoniously removed from a perfect living situation if you are not careful.
One thoughtless comment about a fabulous dining creation is a dangerous
utterance. When you are a freeloader who is clueless to all socially acceptable
behavior and you are living among civilized people there is bound to be
misunderstandings, and questionable behavior. Regardless of your unique
inability to live with others, when a culinary sensation is being raved about
by your host you should be in agreement.
Let me set the table so to speak. We heard of a young man who attended OIT and was doing an internship at ADEC the local
largest employer here in our home town, of Newberg, Or. He was from Greshem Or. and felt it would be
a rather lengthy and costly commute to Newberg daily. He was looking for a
place to stay free or cheap. He came from a rather large family and money was
tight so, we were feeling generous, we had a nice home and room to spare so why
not help out a kid who is trying to get a head, we would want someone to extend
that generosity to our kids.
The agreement was he could live here for free if he would
take care of our two, beautiful, like one of the family, standard poodles, when we went to
Spokane for a week for our sons college
graduation. Turns out he is afraid of the dogs, hates the dogs, refused to let
them in the house, and could not bring himself to touch the raw chicken that
they are fed. I brought in another house sitter for that week, much to our
house guests surprise at a bonus cost to me of two hundred dollars.
We made numerous accommodations for him; cleared out space
in the garage for his bike, finished a guest house in the back yard, which he
promptly told me he would not have painted it the soft yellow color I had
chosen, nor would he have put an entire wall of dry erase board in the
structure. Ok opinions are good to have. We left our back door unlocked for him
to gain access to our home. He used my sewing machines, no one is ever allowed
to touch my sewing machines or my sewing scissors, but I graciously granted him
permission. He was making jeans. He made jeans no bigger than a 34 inch waste
but they were custom designed and he had a target market in mind. Skinny ass
boys if you ask me but that did not matter to me. No one in our family has worn
smaller than a 36 in the past 7 year.
There were other things, he wanted; an air conditioner for
the guest house, no problem we can accommodate, if we were lucky we could find
a narrow one that would fit the window. No such luck we would have to buy a
free standing one. They run about $300. He was ok contributing half if we were
to purchase a $100 unit, but he was not interested in contributing toward the
expensive one. Mind you he is making $10 an hour working 40 hr a weeks and not
paying any kind of room and board. You might think out of a sense of gratitude
he might want to contribute. We chalk it up to immaturity; we are willing to
accommodate him.
He loved to sing, he would bring out his guitar and sing
beautifully, it was calming, much like when David played for King Saul, I truly
enjoyed it during waking hours. But he also sang at the top of his lungs, at
7am as he was getting ready to leave for work, he had a beautiful voice, but it
was 7 am. We politely asked him to take into consideration those still sleeping
in the house. He came home at 11 pm and did the same vocalization; once again,
we had to ask in to refrain from singing.
The La- Z- Boy chairs are focused directly in front of our
big screen HD TV. These are “mom and dad’s” chairs, yes we have the best seats
in the house, we own the house and we bought the chairs so why shouldn’t they
be there? We ask you to respect that they are our chairs and not sit in them.
This was the discussion that we had prior to his moving in. There are two
couches and a plush glider rock in the same room as our chairs. Either of those
sitting arrangement are comfortable and not ours, so make yourself comfortable,
enjoy! But where did I find our house guest every time I came home? His size 32
plunked in my chair, with my purple La-Z-boy pulled forward 3 feet and a plate
of food, that I had cooked earlier, placed in his lap. No one eats in my chair
but me! But I was willing to tolerate I mean accommodate.
Food preparation was something I worked hard at, two months
of being a contentious cook and preparing meals that were balanced per the
government standards I was really getting in the groove. For the first time in
years, there was a meal on the table, or served up buffet style every night.
Always including a lean meat, two vegetables, a starch be it a grain or flour
product, it was there. Several times our guest requested or hinted could you
maybe make some more vegetables, you might want to add some spinach to this, or
you might want to have some broccoli with that. There was an aggressive attempt to make a fare
that had plenty vegetables and was sumptuous and low calorie so as to enable
that 32 inch waste to remain, who knows maybe we could benefit too, I was
willing to accommodate.
But the meal in reference was a wonderful night of creation.
Winco grocery in Tigard, sells a fantastic roasted garlic deli turkey. The rich
savory flavor was something I had never experienced, so flavorful, distinct in
all flavors, salty turkey, pepper, and garlic, so tender and juicy, it made
your mouth water. They also sell a wonderful, firm, pink Italian roast beef
deli meat. The mingling flavors of rosemary and basil is exciting. With the
desire to be creative and blend the flavors of some of my favor things I
created a sandwich that I felt was outstanding. Fresh tender Cibatta bread,
sliced through the middle horizontally opened up to show its tender holy sides,
so butter could be bathed over it, then pushed in the oven to warm up so it
would be ready to receive the meat. Then there was a succulent layer of garlic
turkey, an aromatic layer of Italian roast beef. Caprazia inspired alternation
of thin sliced fresh vine ripe tomato, sliced fresh tender, water packed,
mozzarella and fresh from the plant, basil leaves. Gently placing the side’s
together completing the sandwich.
Our house guest was not home once again, at dinner time to
receive my heart filled creation. So there was a selfish debate in my mind that
then it slipped out my mouth. Should I cut this loaf in fourths or thirds? It
looks and smelled so fresh and good, I was leaning to the thirds. But in an
effort to accommodate, I cut it in fourths. We sat down in our respective
chairs in front of the TV, and sunk our teeth into my creation. Spilling out of
the corners of our mouths were raves of how incredible, delicious, amazing and
wonderful this tasted. It truly was a new creation that would make a repeat
visit to my kitchen. I had made a hit and that did not happen often.
Upon our guest late return, he sheepishly and rather effeminately
asked if the remaining sandwich was for him. In my cheeriest June Cleaver voice
I chimed, “yes it is, I think you are going to enjoy this, it is really out of
this world”. He made his plate and
joined us, we were still raving about how amazing this sandwich tasted. A
simple inquiry of his opinion on the sandwich invoked a sense of indignation in
me. His response was, it is ok, but I think it needs some sort of crunch, I
think I will add some cucumber.” He stood up to walk in to the kitchen.
This was the last straw, I had run out of accommodation. I
could not imagine trying to please this ungrateful person for a minute longer.
I told my husband he must go, tonight! The notice was given for him to be gone
by 4pm Saturday. He had the nerve to ask if he could stay until Sunday evening.
He had no idea what he had done, and I think that was pretty much the problem
for the past 2 months and I could not stomach another minute of it.
