Thanksgiving Survey 2025: Sandwich - Responses

Just what the world has been waiting for: the Common Household’s responses to this year’s Thanksgiving survey.  Thirteen responses.  This is the first time participants sent in images.

Question 1 - What is a sandwich for which you are thankful, and why?

A. I am thankful for the Subway tuna and cheddar cheese sandwich, with lettuce and honey mustard – it has allowed me to actually have lunch when otherwise I would have gone without.

B. Large american cold cut sub with everything.  

...and why? Mmm.

C. The sandwiches made of peanut butter and jelly on saltine crackers that my mother magically extracted from the little suitcase.  I am thankful for them because there was no other food for miles around and I was hungry.

D. Noah Verrier's sandwich paintings. The uncrustable sold for $5000.

 

E.  This turkey sandwich 

because it tastes good.

F.  S'mores, for providing desert on camping trips

G.  Cheeseburgers, they're delicious and the large number of toppings available can make for great diversity.

H. A BLT on toast with crisp bacon, a flavorful tomato, and some mustard, because it is bursting with flavor.  It was also a special treat my dad would sometimes make us (without the mustard) when we were growing up. 

I. I am thankful for the brisket press at the 649, for feeding me during weekly trivia. 

J. Liverwurst with mustard on raisin bread.

K. The falafel sandwich on pita w tahini sauce. I am thank full for this sandwich because it has falafel in it and tahini sauce, which other sandwiches do not. It also uses flat bread which I prefer over “American” ultra processed white bread. 

L.   I am thankful for the banh mi sandwich, because it is delicious and cheap, and can be eaten for any meal.

M. Spam sandwich with lots of pickled onions.

2. Bonus: Provide the lyrics for your favorite song or poem featuring a sandwich.

A. There are songs about sandwiches?

- - - - - - - - - - 

B. [no answer]

- - - - - - - - - - 

C. The only song I can think of that features a sandwich is the Oscar Meyer wiener song: “I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Weiner…”

- - - - - - - - - - 

D. Buying bread from a man in Brussels

He was six-foot-four and full of muscle

I said, "Do you speak-a my language?"

He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich

And he said

[Chorus] "I come from a land down under…”

Those are only lyrics I can think of that include a sandwich.

- - - - - - - - - - 

E. Do you like peanut butter and jelly on your matzah?

- - - - - - - - - - 

F. Do you like Peanut Butter and Jelly on your Matzah? 

It's not about a sandwich per say, but the implication is one could make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with Matzah bread

- - - - - - - - - - 

G. “Hey panini, don’t you be a meanie

Thought you wanted me to go up

Why you tryna keep me teeny?”

- - - - - - - - - - 

H  "I like bread and butter!  I like peanut butter and jelly!  I like Schmidt's Blue Ribbon Bread, its my favorite brand!"

- - - - - - - - - - 

I.  Cheeseburger in paradise

Heaven on earth with an onion slice

Not too particular, not too precise

I'm just a cheeseburger in paradise

-Jimmy Buffett

- - - - - - - - - - 

J. Recipe For A Hippopotamus Sandwich by Shel Silverstein:

A hippo sandwich is easy to make.

All you do is simply take

One slice of bread,

One slice of cake,

Some mayonnaise,

One onion ring,

One hippopotamus,

One piece of string,

A dash of pepper--

That ought to do it.

And now comes the problem...

Biting into it!

- - - - - - - - - - 

K. In Baltimore where I was born

Lived a man who sailed the sea

And he told us of his life

In the land of submarines

We all love baloney submarine

'loney submarine, 'loney submarine

We all love baloney submarine

'loney submarine, 'loney submarine

And we live a life of cheese

Every one of us

Has mayonnaise

Sky of green

And sea of blue

In our yellow

Kangaroo

(perhaps to this tune)

- - - - - - - - - - 

L.

[Verse 1] Tried to amend my carnivorous habits

Made it nearly seventy days

Losin' weight without speed, eatin' sunflower seeds

Drinkin' lots of carrot juice and soakin' up rays

[Verse 2] But at night I'd have these wonderful dreams

Some kind of sensuous treat

Not zucchini, fettuccini, or bulgur wheat

But a big warm bun and a huge hunk of meat

[Chorus 1] Cheeseburger in paradise

Heaven on earth with an onion slice

Not too particular, not too precise

I'm just a cheeseburger in paradise

[Verse 3] Heard about the old-time sailor men

They eat the same thing again and again

Warm beer and bread, they say, could raise the dead

Well, it reminds me of the menu at a Holiday Inn

[Verse 4] But times have changed for sailors these days

When I'm in port, I get what I need

Not just Havanas or bananas or daiquiris

But that American creation on which I feed

[Chorus 2] Cheeseburger in paradise

Medium rare with Muenster'd be nice

Heaven on earth with an onion slice

I'm just a cheeseburger in paradise

[Bridge] I like mine with lettuce and tomato

Heinz 57 and french-fried potatoes

Big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer

Well, good god Almighty, which way do I steer?

[Chorus 3] For my cheeseburger in paradise

Makin' the best of every virtue and vice

Worth every damn bit of sacrifice

To get a cheeseburger in paradise

[Refrain] To be a cheeseburger in paradise

I'm just a cheeseburger in paradise

[Bridge] I like mine with lettuce and tomato

Heinz 57 and french-fried potatoes

Big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer

Well, good god Almighty, which way do I steer?

- - - - - - - - - - 

M.  (no reply)

3.  Additional commentary:

In the US, a court in Boston ruled in 2006 that a sandwich includes at least two slices of bread...

        -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandwich

If the law supposes that," said Mr. Bumble..., "the law is a ass -- a idiot."

        -- Charles Dickens

Thanksgiving Survey 2025: Sandwich

Einstein enjoys a corned beef sandwich.

 At this season of thankfulness, I’m grateful for you, O blog readers.  

You, on the other hand, may or may not be grateful that it's time for the Thanksgiving survey! This is the Common Household’s annual tradition in which we express thanks for a thing.  This year we shall express thanks about that inimitable comestible, the sandwich, whether edible or metaphorical.   

Thanksgiving survey:  

Sandwich

Question 1.  What is a sandwich for which you are thankful, and why?

Bonus:  Provide the lyrics for your favorite song or poem featuring a sandwich.

Please participate by giving your answers in the comments.  If you want.  Participation is always voluntary.  Happy Thanksgiving Preparation Time!

Some past Thanksgiving Survey responses may be found here:

Letter

Wheel

Water

Felafel sandwich and tahini shake

Is a hotdog a sandwich?

The Impossible Burger

La-dee-da cucumber sandwiches

Everyone in the family knows
I can't stand mayonnaise.
Back in 2017, I took one for the team and 
bought mayo for the Lunch of the Resistance.

Unexpected gifts of joy

A friend gave me three peaches, which she had received from an entity called The Peach Truck. A good peach is a precious gift.   I waited two days and then cut up one of the peaches into my morning porridge*.  Deeeelicious.  I saved one peach for the Common Household Husband, who is suspicious of fresh fruit not being up to his standards.  This one was.

Late last week I had, in a fit of ambition, bought a pint of fresh blueberries.  And then lost the ambition and didn’t do anything with them for three days.  Didn’t even add them to my porridge.

On Tuesday I was so glum at having to spend megabucks to fix my car (the biggest cost was for the parts, which makes me wonder if tariffs played a role) that I just had to bake something.  What could I make with one peach and a pint of blueberries?  A pie!

No.  One doesn’t make a pie when one is bereft of ambition.  

Peach Quickbread, enhanced with Blueberry.  Yes.  Easy peasy.  I have a half-recipe for peach bread which makes the right amount for just me (the CHH no longer eats things made from refined flour; I, however, would go insane if I tried to make it through our current times without refined flour).  

I hauled the all-purpose flour from the top shelf and found there was only ½ cup of it.  The project suddenly became less than easy peasy.  The only other flours in the house were old bread flour, old whole wheat flour, and old cake flour.  Oh, and self-rising flour, which the CHH bought when I asked him to buy all-purpose flour 8 months ago.  I found that the self-rising flour has an unpleasant metallic taste.   

The internet advised me to add a little extra cake flour to substitute for all-purpose flour.  My flour measurements were imprecise (which seems appropriate for our era, in which nobody wants to count or measure anything, even items and people of importance), but joyful (it felt really good to be baking).  

All people are of importance and ought to count.  This is a very difficult thing for our society to carry out.

The Common Household Husband arrived home while I was in the middle of my little project, and in shock said, “WHAT are you DOING?” because I haven’t baked anything in months. He wisely announced he was leaving the kitchen for safer territory.  Good.

There was almost too much batter
for my little loaf pans.

The original peach bread recipe calls for a glaze, but the unambitious baker opts to scrounge around and find the decorator sugar instead, you know, the kind with bigger crystals than table sugar.  Ain’t nobody got energy to make glaze, I mean, come on!

It turned out okay, I think.  And it’s stored in the freezer, pre-cut, for me to enjoy when glum times ahead call for a taste of summer.  I am grateful, even joyful, for the gift of three delicious peaches, the old cake flour, and the unambition to bake two tiny loaves.

* Steel-cut oatmeal.  My uncle, who was Canadian, called it porridge, and so do I sometimes, in remembrance of him, and of all things Canadian.  The very existence of Canada gives me hope.

Still life of peach-blueberry bread 
with sweet onion

Easy Peach Bread, recipe ingredients halved, 

to make 1 8x4 loaf or 2 3x6 loaves.

1.5 cups all-purpose flour

½  tsp baking soda

½   tsp baking powder

½   tsp salt

½   tsp ground cinnamon

¼  tsp ground nutmeg (optional)

½  cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup granulated sugar + 2 Tbsp

1.5 eggs

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 15-oz can diced peaches in juice, drained and juice reserved (OR about 1 ¼ cups fresh peeled and chopped peaches) - up to 1 ½ cups of fruit.

Glaze ingredients: 2 TBSP peach juice, ¼ tsp vanilla extract, ½ cup powdered sugar

Optional, if not using glaze. - decorator’s sugar (coarse sugar)

On July 23, made with a fresh peach given to me by S.M, and fresh blueberries from the grocery store. 

I didn't use the mixer. I had to use some cake flour because I didn’t have enough all purpose

flour.  I used 2 eggs because 1.5 eggs is a pain.  I used ¾ cup diced peach, and ¾ cup

blueberries for a total of 1 ½ cups.  It was almost too much fruit.  Sprinkled

decorator’s sugar on top before baking.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease two 6x3" loaf pans (or one 8x4 pan).

2. If using canned peaches, drain the juice, reserving it if you plan to make the glaze.

3. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and (nutmeg). Set aside.

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together vegetable oil and sugar on medium speed.  (Forget all that.  I stirred everything with a fork or a wooden spoon.)

5. Reduce speed to low and add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

6. Add vanilla extract and diced peaches, mixing to combine.

7. With the mixer still on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing just until fully incorporated.

8. Divide batter among prepared pans. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

9. While the bread is cooling, prepare the glaze, if using. Begin by adding 2 TBSP peach juice and vanilla extract to the powdered sugar, whisking well. Add more juice as needed to achieve your desired consistency. Drizzle over bread that is still warm.

The original recipe for Easy Peach Bread.