Cheese and jam sandwiches

[vaneramos]

Last month I saw a meme about strange sandwich stories, and I've been thinking about it ever since. Most people think my favourite sandwich is peculiar: cheese and jam. It's best with freezer strawberry jam. Mom said it was my great grandfather Poppy's favourite sandwich. As a kid I usually had it with Kraft process cheese slices, not those rubbery singles wrapped in individual plastic, but the kind that come in a slab. Now I use old cheddar. Havarti is good, too.

Friends at school made fun of them, everyone except John Vercruysee, a handsome chunky blond jock, who told me cheese and jam was a Dutch tradition. The Cruise is gone, fell asleep at the wheel one night in 1985, but sometimes I remember him at lunchtime.

When we visited Aunt Nancy in Nova Scotia this summer, she was surprised to see me making cheese and jam sandwiches for myself and Marian, who also likes them.

"They're my favourite," she said. "My whole family thinks I'm crazy."

Her kids went to daycare and never developed the taste. Nancy, being 13 years younger than Mom, had never heard the connection to Poppy. It's funny how family traditions pass, or don't.

Comments

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

Hm. I like cheese and jelly with egg...it's just a small step to remove the egg. Hm. I may have to try that. We have some lovely sharp white cheddar in the fridge...

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

A fried egg sandwich is another favourite of mine. And eggs go naturally with cheese. Funny, I can't get my head around the idea of eggs and jam. :-)

[that-dang-otter.livejournal.com]

I eat something similar all the time, except with apple butter, mango chutney, or something like that.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've made sandwiches with peach chutney and cheese. Maybe throw in some sprouts or lettuce.

Re: Now that you've posted this...

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Haha, in that contest it sounds more like dessert!

[queenmomcat.livejournal.com]

No stranger than cheese and pears, or cheese and apple pie.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I guess not. Maybe I'm just psychically scarred from taking school lunches that were made by my mother. ;-)

[dakoopst.livejournal.com]

LOL...so my jam-and-cheese creation with smoked turkey wasn't an odd combination to you at all! :)

Then again, perhaps my addition of mustard made it a bit more exotic...

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Turkey, cheese, jam and mustard? That one slipped by me! A little odd, haha. Oh well, it's not a huge stretch from serving leftover turkey with peach chutney.

[missprune.livejournal.com]

not strange at all - I love cheddar with marmalade. And you can even skip the bread part.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, marmalade is good, too. Cheese is a great match for the tartness of berries or marmalade.