Sandwich Pundits

Desperate for something--anything--to get back to some form of presence on The Web, I was set to do a post titled "Uma, we found your nametag" in lieu of the shrinky-dink ornament our own Jeff Kriksciun found outside the Half & Half yesterday:

There is something sweet and yet sad about the newest addition to our front counter collection. My guess is that someone out there is has lost the nameplate to their beloved bike, Uma Thurman, which just so happens to be the name of a semi-talented actress who was once married to the unholy Ethan Hawke, who needs to stop publishing literature.
Note to Self: Host a Half & Half Arts & Crafts Hour, featuring Shrinky-Dinks. Participants will create unique Half & Half-inspired tchotchke for us to sell. I just have to figure out what's in it for the participants. Personal satisfaction? All the deviled eggs you can eat in one sitting? --lemme hammer out the details.

So yes, the shrinky dink thread was going to be it until I got an 11th hour phone call for some lunch catering from good old Mary at the ILWU Local 5, located upstairs from Half & Half. Would I be able to fax over a menu for Democratic Presidential Hopeful John Edwards? Well, no, because my fax machine is at home turned off and our menu changes just about every day, but hey, we can make John Edwards and his staff great sandwiches! Mr. Edwards, I learned, really loves turkey. Although the Half & Half was featuring "Blue Monday," a turkey sandwich with avocado and buttermilk blue cheese, I was working in the kitchen, where we were making chicken salad sandwiches for the Acorn. Luckily, we had some turkey, and a kitchen full of sandwich possibilities. In the end, John Edwards feasted on roast turkey with pickled onions, avocado, swiss cheese and oregano aioli. No doubt he is mindful of his diet but I hope he tried my ginger-molassas cookie. I do believe it's the best in the country.
Had I a little more time, I might have come up with a different turkey sandwich for Mr. Edwards. Probably a chutney and sharp cheddar. Possibly with asparagus and lemon aioli, in honor spring and this year's stellar asparagus crop. At Half & Half, we always name our sandwiches, which is an endless source of both stress and amusuement for me (my naming system is complicated and obtuse therefore I name 95% of sandwiches myself). Usually the sandwich is created, and its name becomes what the ingredients evoke to me. Today, the Sandwich became the Man. I look forward to seeing what this new, oregano-aioli inspired John Edwards can bring to the table.