Be Excellent To Each Other

I just made some cheese and tomato sandwiches, and some silly thoughts whilst making them. I thought I'd share with the rest of you.

1) The first thought was about storage of them, I keep mine in the fridge, I know apparently they taste better if kept at room temperature, but I prefer them cold (possibly because my mum used to do that), does anyone else do/prefer that?

2) When I got the tomatoes out of the fridge I noticed one of them was mouldy, beyond redemption mouldy. In the past, I might have thrown away the whole bag because of this (the spores will be all over the others), but I had already buttered the bread, and sliced cheese, and really wanted cheese and tomato sandwiches! So I washed the rest of them and used them in my sandwiches

3) When making a sandwich which involves slicing something, how do you do it? I often end up with 2 or 3 plates on the go, but do you use one plate? a chopping board? the side? I've never really been a chopping board type, and would never use the side to chop something, so it's always been a plate for me, I don't recall having to use three plates when making sandwiches even 5 years ago, but now it seems to be more common (one for chopping, one for the base of the sandwiches and one for the tops of the sandwiches)

5) I don't like cheese, apart from in 3 specific situations 1) cheese and tomato (or cheese and other salad things too) 2) Cheese on Toast (the cheese has to be starting to go brown) and 3) Dairylea on crackers (or individual triangles is fine too) Even then, when I have 1 or 2 it has to be the mildest cheddar you can get. My wife gets very annoyed when I say that I don't like cheese because of those exceptions.

6) I thought I had one more, but I don't, however I also jumped from 3 to 5, just because I once saw someone do that in a magazine and every time I do a list, I think about skipping an entry on purpose because of it!

At first I thought you meant you store your sandwiches in the fridge, which was bad enough, but then I realised you meant tomatoes and this is blasphemy! Cold tomatoes just taste of ... cold. They are definitely better at room temperature.

I only ever throw away the affected tomato if one goes bad.

I use a chopping board for everything.

I only really like cheese when it's melted - so toasties, pizza, on burgers etc. Not fussed otherwise, and could live without it.

I do keep bread in the fridge as it lasts longer

I don't like fridge bread it's somehow drier and soggier at the same time

Why is the other party planning pony (voiced by Weird Al) called Cheese Sandwich?

Use a chopping board dude, three fucking plates!

I don't know when I started using a third one, but unless I was making one sandwich (2 slices of bread) I really can't imagine how I ever managed without doing that.

Do you use one plate and a chopping board?

Actually today I used two plates, but I perched the top slices of bread on the butter tub, which isn't ideal

Malc, have you even considered that you may overcomplicate things unconsciously?

Chop and build on the board, cut, transfer to plate.
On rare occasions I will chop on the board, but build on the plate.

Sometimes I even let the bread touch the counter, and don't even use a board, because I'm that much of a lunatic.

I keep bananas in the fridge (at room temp for a few days first if they’re green) as we buy 15 at a time and only get a shop once a fortnight.

Even if they go completely black on the outside they are absolutely fine inside, and I hate overripe bananas.

It has been pointed out to me in the past

I freeze them before they get over ripe. Peel and freeze, then blend with oatmilk, for a quick smoothie

I have some frozen ones too, usually for making protein shakes with powder using my nutribullet. I haven’t been running since July though.

Your knives hate you, man

I have never considered the impact of either using a crockery plate or a wooden/plastic chopping board. Does it dull them then? I guess it must.

That has made me remember what the other thought was, and maybe it's related to plate usage. I prefer using steak knives to chop my salad/veg, even for carving meat. I find I can get a much thinner slice with the steak knife, then I can with any of my non-serrated blades. I've always just assumed it's because I just lack the skill

(On a side note I am running out of steak knives, my brother bought me a knife set as a house warming present in 1998, and the handles have broken on 4 of the 6 steak knives, one is about to break, leaving just one left for useful work. All the other knives are still fine, so I find myself using them more frequently now, ending up with 5 chunky slices from a tomato, instead of 8 thin slices)

I love you Malc, but you’re a fucking maniac

Steak knives do work well for chopping tomatoes because they're serrated. Bread knives work too. Or, you know, a normal knife that hasn't been blunted from cutting on plates

Serrated knives work better for cutting tomatoes if your regular knives are shit and/or blunt. Sharp knives will work completely fine.

I'll use my knife sharpener and report back.

Malc comes back an hour later saying it doesn’t seem to sharpen the plates properly

I inherited a glass chopping board when I met Russell (they were a package deal) and I hate it, because it’s horrible to use, but does this mean it’s why our knives are always blunt? It’s like

It certainly doesn't help, the only thing glass chopping boards are good for is that they're easy to clean.

What knives does everyone use for chopping glass on?

Has anyone noticed that broken or chopped glass tastes of blood?

It's almost like that's what I said.

But he is a man so explains better (kidding before you hurt me)

I know where you live...

And her knives are sharp...

I will use a glass chopping board as a shield, or 3 plates

Cras said it louder with the misplaced confidence of a straight white male

Fucking Craster, tool of the patriarchy.

FTFY

Worse, I didn't even read the intervening posts when I posted. Actually I'm not sure if that's worse or not. Let's assume it is.

FTFY

I've just made a sandwich. No chopping board. One plate.

Monster.

People look at me like I have two heads when I say this!! I can also only deal with a thin layer of melted cheese.

It's okay to be confused and broken. It's okay.

Had weetabix in a bowl today, no need for a knife, a plate or a chopping board

Yeah you can break those apart with your hands

I mean, you can break tomatoes apart with your hands

All right show off

hands or knife wouldn't make that much difference with a weetabix, I'd like to see Craster break apart a tomato with their hands as neatly as someone cutting it in half with a knife.

As neatly as you, or as neatly as a non-lunatic

Craster can do both parts, so...

I take the tea bag out before I put the milk in.

I tend to use a chopping board for cutting the cheese, but sometimes I'll use the plate on which I'm going to place the finished sarny to slice the toms, rinsing off any residue before using it for the finished sarny. Somewhere in my subconsious this is to avoid getting tom juice and seeds on the wooden board. I dont know why I think this is necessary. Maybe I need therapy.

It's probably something unhealthy to do with my mother.

Huh. I thought the collapse of civilisation was next year.

Bread on the side board, spreadable butter applied with non-sharp knife, cheese cut on top of it's own plastic packet on side board, tomato (from fridge, now that I think about it) sliced with closest sharp knife in drawer... In palm of hand.