*Warning, this edition of Jamz and Toast contains gratuitous amounts of capitalization of such terms like: Thanksgiving, Dinner, Gravy, and Sandwich. Viewer discretion is advised.

Welcome back to another grand edition of Jamz and Toast. I would like to announce that this week I had a successful first attempt at making bacon chocolate chip waffles. I hope you enjoy the pictures below. I will now let drooling ensue.

Photo by Steph Langan.

Now that I got that tidbit out of my system, let’s turn to the question that I am sure has been at the forefront of your thoughts this Thanksgiving Break. I imagine the dialogue as this:

Jamz and Toast’s #1 Fan: Erin, you write a food blog! Thanksgiving is one of the most important food traditions in the entire world! Why didn’t you write a blog post about Thanksgiving foods!?

Erin: Oh reader, I appreciate your undying devotion to my blog and I will answer your question thus. I’m writing a blog after Thanksgiving because the best part of Thanksgiving…is Postgiving.

Fin.

What is Postgiving you ask? It is a most wondrous holiday of my own invention. Before we define it though, let’s take a look at the holiday that precedes it. Thanksgiving is all about the anticipation. You wait for the potatoes to be mashed. You wait for the turkey to be carved (or in my case, stand in front of the cutting board while your dad slices the turkey and has slowly rising blood pressure out of sheer annoyance at your pilfering of delicious morsels.)You wait for the inevitable Thanksgiving toast, and then you get to feast.

But with Postgiving, there is none of this extra stress because there is really no waiting involved. You get to enjoy all the benefits of your subsiding food coma while planning out your sandwich. Truly, the best of both worlds. There is really no anticipation, just a vague feeling of excitement amongst the content nature of the dinner that is sitting in your belly. Speaking of the benefits of Postgiving, it is now time to move to another aspect of the ritual and talk about The Thanksgiving Sandwich. This sandwich is the king of sandwiches. I am a great lover of all things sandwich. I once waited in a line for twenty minutes just to get a sandwich. I even worked at a deli for two years and can still eat a sandwich every day. Do you know how hard that is? So, I feel as though I have some authority in proclaiming the importance of The Thanksgiving Sandwich.

The Thanksgiving Sandwich scores highly in the top three categories that constitute a great sandwich:

  1.  Individuality: The Thanksgiving Sandwich is everything you want it to be and more. No one can build The Thanksgiving Sandwich like you can. You are one with The Thanksgiving Sandwich. Want cranberry sauce? You got it. Maybe you are a fan of mayo (weirdo) and like a smear of that. Want a slice of cold stuffing on top? It’s all you baby.
  2. Convenience: Everything is at your fingertips. There is nothing outside the scope of The Thanksgiving Sandwich that is not strictly limited to the leftovers of Thanksgiving Dinner and a few standard condiments.
  3.  Deliciousness: On a scale of sometimes delicious to always delicious The Thanksgiving Sandwich as a success rate of 125%. Study conducted by my taste buds.

The method of The Sandwich is even easier. The structure follows as thus: Layer One: Bread (this is open to rolls, breads, croissants, or even slices of stuffing. Seriously, try it. It’s delicious.) Layer two is spread. Spread provides a whole new spectrum of possibilities. Mustard, mayo, butter, horseradish, cranberry sauce all of these are possibilities in The Thanksgiving Sandwich. The next layer is the meat, which is strictly limited to turkey or even tofurkey. We don’t judge here at Jamz and Toast. We merely eat in large quantities. Then next layer of the sandwich is the second filler. This can be mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, basically any side dish that you want. Follow it up with another quick smear of spread upon the top layer of bread and you have The Thanksgiving Sandwich.

I must admit, I was going to put a picture of my Thanksgiving Sandwich after that paragraph was done. But I only realized that I had devoured the sandwich. I also had to fight off my cousin who ate eleven whoopie pies and three Thanksgiving Sandwiches. This is a true story. So instead, I will put a clip from the riveting documentary that my grandma made everyone watch on Thanksgiving night: My Life As A Turkey. I’m not kidding, this guy seriously lived with turkeys for a year.

My Life As a Turkey

So there you have it, my views on Postgiving. Say what you want about Thanksgiving being better, but I would rather have my food coma and eat my turkey too.

Do your homework. Eat your vegetables. And as always, read Jamz and Toast.

Postgiving Playlist (a.k.a. Songs whose titles make me think of Thanksgiving.)
1. Give A Little Love- Noah and The Whale.
2. Forks and Knives (La Fete)- Beirut
3. Act Nice and Gentle- The Black Keys
4. Which One Of You Jerks Drank My Arnold Palmer- Blockhead
5. Satisfy My Soul- Bob Marley & The Wailers.
6. Killed By Birds- Cains & Ables
7. Every Night A Super Wine- Chet
8. Sleeping Sickness- City & Colour
9. All The Wine- The National
10. Honey Pie- The Beatles.

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