12.066

12 (Fri) March 2021

Setup Tray Sandwich

2.5

by me

at home

-Changchon, Seowon, Hoengseong, Gangwon, Republic of Korea-

with IZ and Mom

Newbery 100 Medals, 100 Meals (39) (see 100 NEWBERY M&Ms)

While reading the 100 books that have been awarded the annual Newbery Medal since 1922, I will also attempt to create one dish for every book, a dish that is directly referenced in or indirectly inspired by the events of the book.  The 100th Medal was recently announced: When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller – a Korean-themed book!  Food plays a strong role in many of the stories; not surprising as the characters in most of the books are faced with adversity of some sort, including poverty, so they’re often very hungry and thus grateful whenever they get a bite to eat – as we all should be at every meal, give us this day our daily bread.  The dishes will be featured as posts on Give Me This Day.

When You Reach Me (2010) by Rebecca Stead.  The book is about 6th-grader Miranda, a kid leading a normal life in New York City (1979), until she begins to receive a series of cryptic/creepy anonymous notes, which turn out to be from [SPOILER ALERT] a time traveler in the future (2009), who needs her help to avert a disaster in present time.

I loved this book.  Time travel, revealed only as a plot twist at the very end, would seem to establish the story’s genre as science fiction.  Miranda also reads A Wrinkle in Time – a classic children’s science fiction novel that won the Newbery Medal in 1963 – which sorta ties into the plot.  But When You Reach Me is essentially a coming-of-age story, as Miranda struggles to deal with the challenges of school, friends, and family, as well as social issues, such as class and race.  Written in snapshot chapters typically no longer than a couple pages, the book is paced like a mystery thriller – reminded me of reading The Da Vinci Code, which I finished in a single sitting, never able to resist reading just one more chapter, just one more chapter, one after another.

At one point, Miranda and her friends begin working during lunchtime in a sandwich shop down the street from their school.

[paraphrased in part]

It turned out that Jimmy didn’t intended to pay us any money.  Instead, he let us each pick a soda and make a sandwich from the stuff in the setup tray on the counter.  The setup tray was just lettuce, tomato, onions, American cheese, Swiss cheese, and pickles.  The other food – sliced turkey, ham, roast beef, and salami, a big tub of tuna salad, and meatballs in a plug-in pot – was off-limits.

When I made the sandwiches and gave one to IZ, who’s read the book and loved it too, his immediate reaction: “Where’s the V-cut?”

“You have to learn the V-cut,” Jimmy told us.  “Very important.”  Except he said “Velly important,” stretched his eyelids back with two fingers, and bowed down low – it was a classic fake-Chinese act.  I had never seen a grown-up do it before.  If Mom had been there, she would’ve whacked him on the head with a plastic tray.

The V-cut was Jimmy’s special way of cutting the sandwich rolls.  He was very serious about it, sawing down one side of the roll and then carefully sliding the knife out and inserting it in the other side.  The top of the bread was supposed to lift off in a perfect “V.”

It’s been awhile since I read the book, so I’d forgotten that the sandwiches were made on rolls, not standard sliced bread.  Well, too late now.  Anyway, sandwich rolls are quite difficult to come by in Korea, not really worth the hassle (see 11.263 A Zep, a Large).

Incidentally, Jimmy is in fact a racist, which becomes a minor plot point in the story, one of the social issues noted above.

I used to hate pickles, especially in sandwiches, but these days I’ve come to appreciate the tang that they contribute to the flavor profile.

In a sandwich like this, without any meat, the pickles were the star.

(See also FOODS.)

(See also PLACES.)