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15 (Tue) December 2020

Bread Sandwich Deluxe

3.0

by me

at home

-Changgok, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-

with the Family

As I explore ways to better curate our inventory, I’m finding that the writing skills honed through 11 years of GMTD may prove useful in drafting pithy blurbs about the authors and their works.

David Walliams is an English comedian, actor, and – according to his own book covers – a “jaw-achingly, wickedly funny; multi-million, number one bestselling” author of children’s books.  As a writer, his imagination, wit, and style of prose have been compared to that of Roald Dahl.  Following his first book, The Boy in the Dress (2008), he has written numerous novels, picture books, and short story collections, many of which have been made into movies, translated into 53 languages, and sold millions of copies worldwide.

IZ is reading the David Walliams opus, which I am aiming to curate into exclusive book bundles.  The stories are satirical and perverse, full of tongue-in-cheek references, written in a very wry and dry style.  As exemplified a few years back by Mickey Mouse attempting to modernize his image by becoming more sarcastic, irony is increasingly becoming an essential theme in children’s literature.  For kids like IZ, who is already a smart-ass both by nature and nurture, Walliams is literary catnip.

In Ratburger, the protagonist Zoe makes a bread sandwich for herself.

The recipe* was simple:

BREAD SANDWICH

You will need three slices of bread.

Instructions: take one slice of bread, and put it between the other slices of bread.

The end.

(*My new cookbook, 101 Ways to Make a Bread Sandwich, is out next year.)

As IZ was first reading the passage, he burst into laughter.  The sound of an 8-year-old laughing hysterically out loud while reading is priceless.  He read it to me, giggling the entire time, barely managing to finish each sentence.  He then suggested that we eat one for dinner.

The Bread Sandwich Deluxe involves a thin layer of mayonnaise between the pieces of bread. I considered making the Bread Sandwich Super Deluxe with mayo and mustard or the Bread Sandwich Spicy Super Deluxe with mayo and mustard and sriracha, but kept it simple.

It was actually pretty good.  Even W and DJ liked it.  By popular demand, I made a second one, which was also devoured within seconds.

(For more details re foods, see WHAT)

(For more details re venues, see WHERE IN KOREA)