Story Hour
Steven's Silly Sandwich
Written by Gene B. Williams
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Steven's Silly Sandwich
Before we get to the story … March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day. This is an Irish Holiday, of sorts. One of the symbols for it is the shamrock. According to the legend, St. Patrick taught about Christianity in part by using the three leaves of the shamrock for the trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) of Christianity.
You can have some real fun learning about St. Patrick, about Ireland, and about shamrocks. Let me use this to introduce to my own shamrock.
His name is “Paulie the Personable Purple Plant from the Pampas of Peru.” He is purple, and he is a shamrock, but … well, he gets confused about where he lives. Shamrocks don’t live in Peru, and the pampas are in Argentina. (Go ahead. Look it up!) But, he IS personable.
You can get your own from easytogrowbulbs.com. Kathleen McCarthy is the nice lady who sent us the bulbs that made Paulie the personable purple plant possible. She and the others there will take good care of you! (Tell them that Nicker sent you.)
These plants are SO much fun. At night they fold up their three leaves, like umbrellas. In the morning they open up and then follow the sun. The next night, they go to sleep again.
Keep watching Nicker Stories. Coming soon will be his first adventure, when he meets Daisy Dandelion. For now, here’s a picture of some of his Paulie’s close relatives. Remember – coming soon will be the REAL stories, and the adventures that Paulie has.
Paulie’s Family Reunion
For now … don’t forget to wear something green for St., Patrick’s Day.
As Princess Vicki would say, “But wait … there’s MORE!” (If you don’t know who Princess Vicki is, it’s time for you to become a better Nicker fan?)
Kathleen is more than just an expert with plants. When you click on the speaker icon, not only can you read the story, you can hear Kathleen read it along with you.
“But wait … there’s MORE!!!”
When you’re done with this story, go to the Story Archives and to the story Tater. She will read that story to you, too!
You can also visit Kathleen’s own website, yourwordsmyvoice.com.
Now to the story about how a boy named Steven decided to make lunch for himself – and for all of you. Everyone is invited to Steven’s for lunch!
Steven's Silly Sandwich
Steven made a silly sandwich
It stands about two feet tall!
And if it gets much bigger
The sandwich will probably fall.
He started with a piece of bread
And a slice of cheddar cheese
Then added some tomato
And a dab of bacon grease.
He piled on some peanut butter
A little jelly, too.
The sandwich began slipping,
So he poured on a bottle of glue.
Next came a can of spaghetti
Some corn flakes and some meat.
Steven topped this with old sweat socks
That smelled like dirty feet.
To make the sandwich chewy
He spread on tar from the road,
And stuck fast in this
Was a great big slimy toad.
Some paper from the cupboard,
Some fur from his cat,
Some soap from the bathroom,
And a feather from Grandma’s hat.
Some dog food and some cat food,
Just for added crunch,
Then some rotten brown bananas.
He used the entire bunch.
And then a piece of bread,
Was used to top it all,
And just as I predicted,
The sandwich began to fall.
It fell off of the counter,
And slipped across the floor,
And it just kept on sliding,
’Til it slid right out the door.
So, listen to me children,
But this is just a hunch,
Never visit Steven,
When it’s almost time for lunch.
Sandwiches
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Visit Lunch With Nicker for some interesting ideas. Danny’s favorite, the double-double cheesy-cheesy melt-melt, is there along the chuco dog and some other neat stuff.
Sandwiches can be just about anything. Use bread, or something like bread. Fill it, roll it, layer it, cover it, with just about anything. Then eat it (or give it to someone else to eat).
A very common sandwich, at least in America, is to put peanut butter on one piece of bread, some kind of jelly on another, and put them together. Sometimes I like to use mayonnaise instead of jelly. Other times I use peanut butter and sliced banana. The famous American singer, Elvis Presley, made his with peanut butter, sliced banana and slices of fried bacon. (Naturally, this sandwich is called “The Elvis.”)
What do you like?
Ham and cheese is popular all over the world. Sometimes it’s slices of ham, sometimes the ham is fried first, sometimes it’s thick, and sometimes it’s sliced very thin. What kind of cheese do you like? American, cheddar, Swiss, feta? You can eat the sandwich as it is, you can toast it, you can fry it.
Maybe you prefer beef. In South America there is a country named Chile. If you order a barros jarpa, you’ll get a ham sandwich. If you order a barros luco, it will be a beef sandwich. Not far away in the country of Uruguay, the chivito has both ham and beef, and the beef is usually steak.
Back in America is the Philly Steak sandwich. You can get ham on it, I guess, maybe even chicken. Usually it is made with pieces of steak, fried (or at least heated) together with green bell pepper, onion, then covered with cheese (often provolone) and served in a roll. It’s fun to watch it being made fresh because the cook will be flipping it constantly on the grill. And it smells GREAT!
In Chicago is an interesting sandwich called “the mother-in-law.” Basically, this is a tamale in a hot dog bun. Ben’s “Chuco Dog” goes in reverse. It’s a hot dog in a tortilla. One of Danny’s favorites is the double-double-cheesy-cheesy melt-melt. He especially likes it with a puzzle cut.
You can use regular bread, rolls or buns of various sizes and shapes, pita pocket bread to stuff, artisan loaves, flat bread … anything you want. Inside, or on top, it depends on … what do YOU like?
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Typical Bread |
Pitas |
Now here are some sandwiches you might like to try.
MARCI’S FAMOUS STUFFED BURGERS
These sound easy but you might need some help. (I usually do.)
For most burgers, I will divide a pound of meat into four parts. For these, it’s easier if you divide it into just three parts. Then divide each part into two parts. Now flatten these very thin, with all of them being the same size. Salt and pepper as you wish.
Chop some onion. Put a small amount in the center of half of the patties and spread it. Don’t squeeze it in, just spread it – and NOT to the very edges.
Plop another pattie on top. Use your fingers to seal the edges.
Now bake, fry, grill – whatever you want.
GENO’S LAMB BURGERS
You can do this with ground beef, but I think it is best with ground lamb. They’re just like regular hamburgers except … you mix in a bunch of chopped fresh parsley, and a little extra pepper.
REUBEN
There are many ways to make this sandwich.
Usually, the bread is dark rye. Sometimes it is light rye. A restaurant near me uses a marbled rye, which is kind both at the same time.
The meat is usually either corned beef or pastrami.
The cheese is usually either provolone or Swiss.
Usually, “thousand island dressing” is there, but sometimes just mayonnaise, or even mustard, tartar sauce or some other things. (It’s just my opinion, ketchup would ruin this.)
My own favorite way is to also have sauerkraut on the sandwich.
Put down a piece of bread, then put on the layers, then top it with another piece of bread. With a little butter in a skillet, fry it on one side, flip, fry it on the other … EAT!
 Dagwood |
 Reuben |
DAGWOOD
I’m including this mostly because of “Steven’s Silly Sandwich.” There was, and still is, a famous comic strip called Blondie. Her husband, Dagwood, loved sandwiches so much that he would pile them high. He’d put in whatever he had until the sandwich was bigger than anyone could bite into. This is little like Steven’s Silly Sandwich, but it tastes good.
FLUTTERNUTTER
This one is SO fun. It comes mostly from the northeast United States. It starts by taking a piece of bread and smearing on some peanut butter. Now you have a choice. One way is to put little pieces of marshmallow on the peanut butter and heat until they melt. The other is to use marshmallow topping from a jar, like for ice cream. After that, you can eat it or heat it.
 Fluffernutter |
 Burrito |
BURRITO
There are many kinds of bread around the world. There are loaves, rolls, biscuits, pitas … all kinds of things. Something called “flatbread” isn’t always flat. A tortilla is. It’s Mexican. (Also from Mexico is the torta, which is more like a roll.) You can find all sorts of recipes to make tortillas, both from corn and from wheat. You can also buy them in many stores – although making them is great fun.
They come out to be a thin, flat, round circle.
Now comes one of the reasons why Boston passed a law to saw what “sandwich” means.
The tortilla is bread because it’s made from grain, but it’s completely different from what most people think of as bread because it’s so flat. It is almost always rolled around whatever the filler is, and that can be just about anything. But the tortilla isn’t the only kind of bread that gets rolled around a filling. That’s why I am including it here.
A common filler is refried beans, usually with cheese. Also common is chili (of various kinds). A breakfast burrito can be like scrambled eggs and other things wrapped inside. There are even dessert burritos, like an apple pie without the crust. The famous “Chuco Dog” is a hot dog that uses a tortilla instead of a bun.
CHIP BUTTY or CRISP BUTTY
It’s not quite accurate but, “What is known in America as a French fry is called a chip in England. In England, a French fry would be more like a shoestring potato in America.” As I said, that’s not exactly correct but is close enough. The American French is fairly large. Similar, and also nearly accurate, what is called a potato chip in America is called a crisp in England. The third thing is that in some parts of the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland …) when these are used on bread, the sandwich is called a butty.
So, a chip butty is like a French fry sandwich, and a crisp butty is like a sandwich made with potato chips.
It’s fairly common for a chip butty to have tomato sauce on it. For the crisp butty, sliced pickles are often used.
 Ulster Fry |
 Chip Butty |
 Farl |
FARLS
Elanna, the lady who Gracie owns, told me about the Ulster fry. It’s made with a kind of bread called farl. Farl is really interesting. It’s made using baking soda and buttermilk with the flour. Usually it is fried, but it can also be baked.
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