October 18

I am always in a dilemma about what to fix for the institute snack.  I would like to use Fiji ingredients (oops, there goes peanut butter) and keep it inexpensive.  I can not, however, fix the bean sandwiches which I see everywhere.  Bean sandwich?  Yup.  They take a loaf of bread, cut it horizontally and stuff it with what looks like anemic baked beans which I am sure they make by soaking the beans overnight rather than out of a can.  It just does not look good to me.  Well, I was laying in bed at about 4 a.m. thinking about what to fix when it hit me.  Make cucumber sandwiches.  If you have ever read English novels they are forever having afternoon tea which consists of tea, biscuits (cookies), and often cucumber sandwiches.  I love the internet.  I just got up and googled cucumber sandwiches.  Yup there were lots of recipies from which to choose.  So I made them and they were soooo good.  Who would have thought?  I did not cut the crusts off the bread slices as these kids are hungry, so mine were not as nice as the English ones would be, but they tasted fine.  I added a little mayo and grated onion to cream cheese which I spread on both slices of bread and then topped it with slices of cucumber.  Next time I will cut the cucumbers thicker.  Cheap!  Good!   Mostly Fiji ingredients.  What could be better?

And my taste tester, Chris Manueli, who is in culinary school, said they were great.