Thank You Mrs. Pinkerman

     
     More Letters From Paradise

     Thank You, Mrs. Pinkerman

Thank you for the tunafish sandwich. You see in 1955, it was still cool for high school seniors to carry their lunch in a brown paper bag. My friend Fritz and I carried our lunches. Our mothers would take turns  packing our lunches. Most other tunafish sandwiches I had eaten, contained a mixture of tuna,relish, and mayo. But Mrs. Pinkerman used chopped pimento stuffed green olives. It was wonderful, a really unique taste. I continue to use this idea when making a tunafish sandwich.

Right about here I feel that I must pay tribute to Wanda, the wife of my good buddy Pat. Pat and I taught high school together for a number of years, and we carried our brown bag lunches. When Pat had a meatloaf sandwich, Wanda would include a slice of American cheese. Pat would place the slice of cheese on top of the meatloaf and nuke it. Presto! Pat had a hot sandwich, which closely resembled a cheeseburger. I continue to copy this cheese topped meatloaf. I have named it a "Sheridan," which is their last name. Thank you Wanda.

And I would like to thank a  Greek immigrant family (unknown to me) who moved from New York to Detroit, and dressed up the lowly hot dog. Their idea was to cover the hot dog with beanies chili and chopped onion, topped off with yellow mustard. In Detroit it  is known as a Coney Island dog. This is another creation you could copy. It is really good.

       Aloha
       Grant