my childhood sandwich

When I was still young and living in Papua New Guinea with Papa, I would always come home after school to an empty house because Papa wouldn’t get home until around 5pm (our house was within the school campus where he taught). Usually by the time I got home at around 3:30pm, I was hungry. So what I would usually do was fix myself a sandwich to satisfy my hunger. Actually, it was just a quick fix of ingredients, but that was enough for me until Papa arrived and we would prepare dinner together (yes, back then I knew how to cook with his help; but when I moved to the Philippines, masyado na ako na-spoil ni Mama so I forgot the recipes Papa taught me).

Anyway, last night, I didn’t want to have rice for dinner, so after passing by Wow Pinoy on the way home to buy some stuff, I prepared the sandwich from my childhood. As soon as I sunk my teeth into it, I felt I was back in PNG again. Seriously! No joke! There wasn’t anything special about it and it wasn’t like something from a restaurant, but the taste just made me remember those good old days when life was so much simpler. I enjoyed it so much that I ate two! It was pure bliss! I must have really looked like I was enjoying my meal because Ate Cel also made one for herself, and she also liked what she ate.

Wondering how I prepared it? Well, these are the things I used:
• 2 pieces of sliced milky bread
• A dab of butter
• A tomato, sliced
• An onion, sliced
• A cucumber, peeled and sliced
• 1 (sandwich) cheese slice
• 1 sweet/smoked (sandwich) ham slice
• Salt & pepper to taste (optional)
I just put everything together and voila! my Childhood Sandwich was ready to eat. Simple huh?! No secret ingredient and no fuss.

Actually, you can remove, add or replace whatever ingredients you want (wheat or brown bread, mayonnaise, lettuce, boiled eggs, pickles, etc), and make as many layers as you want (if you want to make a club). You can toast the bread as well. And as for the ham, you can use it raw or cooked. Personally, I prefer to just slap it on the bread straight from the pack.

The thing I like about this sandwich is whatever combination of ingredients I use, it always brings me back to my childhood days in the country where I was born.