Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Perfect BLT's On A Day Of Storm, With Tigers

There are long grey veils of rain sweeping through the late autumn day, but a friend and I have planned to go to the zoo, and we're going, by God. Ellen insists on bringing the same sandwiches she's always brought to Vernon Park, from childhood onward.

She makes your basic BLT's in my kitchen, adding red onion, twice the usual bacon, plenty of mayo, and luscious late tomatoes. This is all wedged between thickly cut slabs of toasted homemade bread. The bread is of the "noble brick" variety, which is important. Then Ellen puts her big strong palm on the assembled sandwiches and leans all of her majestic weight on them. The flattened product is then wrapped in waxed paper and allowed to grow stone cold as we drive to Vernon Park.

We watch bears cavort with delight in their daily shower, and it seems perfectly O.K. that we're standing in a heavy cold mist ourselves. We can live just fine in the day drizzling its grey pearls, we just have to put our hoods up. We watch tigers stalk and ripple with their lordly stripes. They chew their way through buckets of bloody treats. If we were more delicate people we'd be disgusted, but instead it makes us crave meat. So we open the waxed paper and eat our BLT's.

I hadn't expected much from these lumpy little doorstops, but I'm astonished at how good they are. The BLT is now a glorious mash with the silky tomato, salty bacon shards and onion bits all smashed together between the indestructable bookends of really good bread, still with the glint of grain. We and the tigers finish our perfect lunches. They lick their paws and we lick our fingers. As we walk away we go through all our various vowels of happy satiation:

"Ahhh...eeee.....I.....ohhhh.....UUUMMMMMMM!!!"

18 comments:

  1. I can virtually taste that squashily packed BLT on my tongue, as I type. What blessings to share rain drenched friendship amidst wet, ravenous tigers and soaked, cavorting bears!

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  2. That sounds like the perfect meal in the perfect venue.
    Be well, Margaret.
    xoRobyn

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  3. Shrinky--yes, that was my favorite BLT (and favorite BLT-eating place) of all time.

    Robyn--yes, it was a perfect meal in a perfect venue, except that it made me a little nervous to know a tiger wanted my sandwich!

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  4. You paint such a yummy picture. Happy turkey Day.

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  5. Copyboy, I did indeed have a happy Turkey Day. Here's to brown roasted gobblers and pecan pie and pinot gris wine! :^)

    Lemmiwinks, thanks for visiting my blog, and for your kind comment. I admired what you recently posted about the insurance industry on your blog.

    Tweeks Coffee, thanks for your good wishes!

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  6. I liked the description of Ellen's BLT-making technique, and the way you brought the tiger-feeding around to BLTs, red meat, etc. Good reads.

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  7. -and don't get me started on the insurance industry.

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  8. Thank you, Anonymous--it was fun to write about the excellent BLT's, the weather and the good friend and enjoy that day all over again!

    As for the insurance industry, I totally agree with you.

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  9. Mmmm my favorite sammy...Blt! Awesome story, thanks for sharing!

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  10. Yakoi, I just visited your blog. Enjoyed the great post about Sakoku, and many of the others. I'll be Following.

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  11. Thanks Margaret! I really appreciate you. =D

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  12. My favorite sandwich!
    What a great story Margaret!

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  13. Hi Pat, BLT's are my favorite too. And right after writing the story, I made one! :^)

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  14. BLT with homemade bread are the best!
    I tried to replicate the taste of a perfect BLT here, alas, never tastes the same as eating them back in the US.

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  15. Yes, the homemade bread with plenty of bacon adds a substantial crunch. So good!

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  16. well, I just love this one. That's all I can say.

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  17. Thanks for sharing these important information.

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