Making Grinders

Do you know what those are? A long bun with filling of any kind - meatballs, sausage & peppers, cold cuts. Most people call them subs, but in New England or at least in Western Massachusetts, they are called grinders. Where I worked many years ago, Mass Mutual made the best cold-cut grinders. El Rancho (a drive-in) in Springfield had the best hot sausage grinders. Another great place for hot coldcut grinders was across the street from AEtna on Farmington Avenue, in Hartford - Vito's. We used to head over there for lunch. Wonder if it's still there.

This question was posted on Yahoo!

Please describe the New England grinder sandwich?

Best Answer - The perfect grinder is made with a crusty bread. Meat is a soft salami, Provolone cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, olive oil, salt, pepper, red pepper, and a little oregano. Absolutely NO mayonnaise. In parts of New England, especially Connecticut, this is referred to as a "regular grinder." Regular being the salami meat. The important part here is the bread - it can't be that soft crap like from Subway. It's also acceptable to use capicola meat, mortadella, or a hard salami.

The name "grinder" originates from the Italian immigrants who sold these sandwiches to the boat dock workers. The workers were called "grinders" by the Italians.

Today our menu consists of hot cold cut grinders with potato salad. Since I'm not 100% yet, I'm planning easy meals for the next couple of days.

Taking My Pills - seem better, but tired.

Bruce is home with pictures - looks like they had quite an adventure. Third young fellow is a friend, BJ. At the end of the day, they finally had to call for help. Note last picture!!!!

Finally on the Mend!

I haven't previously mentioned this, but since our LV vacation, I haven't been feeling well. If I do anything other than just sitting, I lose my breath! After a chest x-ray, it was determined that I have pneumonia and now have a bottle of anti-biotics to take over the next ten days.

The pills seem to be upsetting my stomach, but that isn't as bad as not being able to breathe, right?

Bruce and his three sons are planning to head out on their ATVs today. Temperature is mild so they should have a fun time.

Photos

From Rick's 40th birthday bash at Charlie's Pub.

Back to Normal Blogging . . .

Today is Rick's 40th birthday, Bruce's oldest son. His family is planning a surprise party for him at a local pub. I'll have pictures tomorrow.

This morning, Bruce was scheduled to bring the truck in for a checkup since we were having a problem with it a few weeks ago. When he went outside, the four brats who catch the school bus on our street were throwing snow onto the driveway - Bruce asked them what they were doing. Their answer was 'making snowballs.' Then he asked them who broke the branch off our tree in the front yard - they all denied it, but looked at one kid who seems to be the ringleader. His answer to Bruce was that he couldn't hear the question because there was some machinery making too much noise. Might be time to find out who the parents are . . .

Air Flights Home!

We had a few scheduled flights for the trip home. Our flight into Detroit was delayed by de-icing and once at the airport, our 'slot' was filled by another plane having maintenance problems. By the time we finally left the plane, we were too late to make our next connection - our rescheduled flight left two hours later. Finally in Albany, the staff of Cape Air (our connection to Ogdensburg) was friendly and helpful - I watched as one gal tried to make connections for a solder trying to get back to Fort Drum. He too had missed a connection somewhere in his travels. I also noticed he was carrying his favorite pillow.

Finally, it was time for us to climb into our little Cessna and head to Ogdensburg - the plane was cold inside, we sat in the last row - there were six passengers, a pilot and co-pilot. We arrived safely, rushed to get inside the terminal where it was warm and noticed our two suitcases were there waiting for us. It took us another two hours to drive home. Home again - Smoky was happy to see us. We got everything inside, found something to eat, then crawled into bed - we'd been up for 36 hours.

Our Last Day . . .

By now we've done everything on our 'list' of things to see and do. Bruce came up with the idea of driving the "Extraterrestrial Highway." The only problem with that, it wasn't on my GPS and I didn't have my laptop to look it up. What do you do in a case like that - call my good friend Shirley in Texas so that she can Google it for me. She found it and gave us directions - Hwy 318 and 375. With that plugged into the GPS, we started out. What desolate country. Bruce thought this area bordered on "Area 51." We found the junction, took pictures then proceeded across Hwy 375. From there we picked up Route 6, stopped in Tonopah at the local McDonald's for lunch - it was just as cold inside the place as outside. Our little tour covered over 465 miles. And from the pictures below, you can see we were just east of Death Valley. However, we never did get to see any Aliens or UFOs.













































Back in the city, we filled the car with gas, then headed for the airport. Our flight flew out at 12:50a.m. on February 14th.

It's All About the Strip!

On Thursday, we decided to spend time in the city, riding around taking pictures.