Last night, over a dinner of thinly-sliced lamb in a small, round piece of bread with tomatoes and onions, we wondered what we should call this sandwich. According to Wikipedia, here are our options:

1. Gyros – this is the Greek term, ‘jeeros’, and the first time I had one at Drag’s Pizza in Rice Lake, WI about 15 years ago, I ordered a ‘yeero’ – no ‘s’. In Belgium, you’ll find french fries in the bottom of it.
2. Döner – this is the Turkish term, and what I lived on in Germany. There, it’s served in fladenbrot with cabbage.
3. Schwarma – is the Arabic word for it. I ate some of these while in German as well – I’m sure it depended on emigration. Of the 3, this seems like the easiest to pronounce correctly.

One of the primary reasons we headed to Chicago last week – aside from friends, family, and Millennium Park – was a couple of food items we last found there.

• Mister Mustard Hot Mustard
• Paula’s No Oil Cilantro & Lime Salad Dressing

Grocery store after grocery store. No luck.

Thankfully, the Mister Mustard is available at Amazon.

Today, Jen slow-cooked some pork loin and when it was fall-apart with a fork tender, we drained it, smothered it in BBQ sauce, and ignored it some more.

After ignoring it good and long, we forked it onto some sesame-topped buns, threw on a scoop of ‘slaw and called it dinner.

Yeah. Tasty goodness. Worth staying in for.

The only thing that could make it better is if the BBQ sauce didn’t have High Fructose Corn Syrup as the second ingredient. I’m pretty sure a sauce exists without HFCS in the ingredient list – let alone first or second. Unfortunately, SuperTarget didn’t have it on their shelves.

Anyone know where I could find it?

I’m a big fan of the leisurely Sunday morning; reading the paper, drinking good coffee, having a Krispie Kreme or two. Over the weekend, my internal clock was off and I picked up the donuts late Sunday afternoon.

Yesterday, I returned to the home office from an afternoon meeting needing a little something.

I grabbed the box of Krispie Kremes and started on the afternoon to-do list.

5 hours later; everything was checked off the to-do list. Inspired, I; cleaned up the junk pile in the corner of the basement, consolidated the multiple boxes of hand tools, and touched base with my parents. On top of that, the rest of the evening was unusually giggly and joke-filled. Everything seemed just slightly happier and more positive.

I couldn’t quite figure out what was different until Jen asked where the last 4 donuts went.

Growing up, I remember my grandmother and her sister making homemade lefse. Jen knew of lefse and knew that it went really well with butter and sugar. Huh? Butter and sugar? I suppose you could.

In my world, lefse is filled with far more interesting flavors than sugary butter. Like a layer of mashed potatoes (yes, even more potato) topped with a layer of salmon all rolled up like a Norwegian tortilla.

My grandmother when asked why she did this, responded something like;

“We needed something that would keep the men full on the farm.”

I was reminded of this family history as Jen and I pondered our first bite from Joey D’s. I suspect the same reason is behind Chicago-style Hot Dogs and deep dish pizza.