Panini

One thing the A to Z Challenge is definitely good for is making me finally get around to writing posts and looking things up.

Nick’s mom gave me a panini pan for Christmas a few years ago.  No, it wasn’t a “you need to cook for my darling son more” type of gift.  I asked for one.  

Shortly after that Christmas, I began my adventures with the panini pan.  We love panini!  

There seems to be as much difference between a panini and a regular grilled cheese as there is between a cold cheese sandwich and a grilled cheese.  I’m not sure why squishing it makes such a difference,  but it really does.

Every time we have panini I always say I’m going to look up the history.  I’m very curious what made someone say, “I bet this grilled sandwich would be even better if I squished it while I grill it.”  I know sometimes I come up with food ideas, and I’m not sure how, but I was hoping that there’d be an interesting story to panini.  Squishing a sandwich while grilling it seems very deliberate and specific.

I didn’t get a satisfactory answer.  It appears that there was mention of a panini in a 16^th century Italian cookbook, though nothing I read said anything about how or why.  They became popular in Italy in the 70s and made their way to the U.S. sometime after that.

There’s also mention of a sandwich grill from the 30s, though it sounds more like the appliance was popular and panini was a way to use your sandwich grill. 

I did learn that most of what we call panini isn’t technically panini since it seems that the real thing isn’t made with sliced bread.  Ours may not be authentic, but they are delicious.

I found nothing on why someone decided to squish a sandwich while grilling it.  My made up theory (since I can’t find a real answer) is that someone was grilling a very stuffed sandwich (because lots of toppings/fillings usually mean a very good sandwich) and was concerned about getting everything melted/warmed, so they squished it into the pan to help the process along.  It seems plausible, right?

Regardless of why, I’m glad someone came up with the idea.  Cooking a sandwich in the panini pan always makes it taste better and seem like a more exciting meal.

Do you enjoy panini?  Do you know how they got started?  Or care to make up your own theory?   

What Would You Really Like To Read?

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions.  I never seem to stick with them, and I’ve read a few different places that’s it’s not the best idea because we tend to be vague – “I’m going to lose weight” (how much, how, etc.) or not realistic – “I’m never going to drink soda, or eat sugar, or junk food, ever again starting today” (only to binge on a two-liter bottle of Coke, a bag of Cheetos, and a tub of ice cream a week or two later).  So, no New Year’s resolutions for me.

That being said, I can’t help but get drawn in by the idea of a fresh start, a clean slate, etc.  It makes sense, the beginning of the year can be a great starting point, and having some goals kind of helps with the post-holiday letdown.  I always find myself setting goals for the year, and this year is no exception.  A few of my goals are writing related.  I really enjoy blogging, but it seems to be one of the first things to go when things start getting hectic.  I’m trying not to let that happen so much this year.

Of course that begs the question of what I’m going to blog about.  I don’t seem to have much of a theme, and I did that on purpose.  I’m interested in a few different things, but none of them seem to merit their very own blog.  That’s why I post everything from recipes to pictures of adorable fur kids to my attempts at flash fiction, and everything in between.  I try to keep it varied.  I get bored easily, and if you’re kind enough to spend part of your valuable time reading what I write, I certainly do not want to bore you either. 

One way to attempt not to bore you is to just ask you what you want to read.  I’m not good at guessing.  Sometimes I post something that I think will be really popular and it gets very, very few page views.  Other times I post something, somewhat reluctantly, that I’m not so sure about, and it camps out on the side as a popular post.  Like I said, I’m not good at guessing. So, what do you want to read when you visit?

Let me take this opportunity to clarify that I’m not trying to be lazy here and ask you for content.  One of my other goals for this year is to actually post all of the things I write and intend to post, but never actually do.  I write lots of posts, email them to myself, and then they’re lost in the black hole that is my inbox.  (Organization is an ongoing goal for me.)  But I’d still like to know what you actually want to read.

Two blogs I really enjoy asked for questions last year, and it made for some interesting posts. Maria at Just Eat Your Cupcake answered questions from readers in a few posts, and Anna at Herding Cats & Burning Soup let readers interview her.  The topics were interesting, and it was nice to be allowed to ask questions.  

So I’m trying it myself.  Is there a topic you’d like to read more about, a fur kid you’d like to see more pictures of, a type of recipe you’re interested in, or something else entirely?  Just ask.  I will endeavor to come up with something worthy of your time.  The only things off limits are controversial topics.  I’m just not going to get into my views on politics, religion, etc.  There’s enough nastiness out there without my creating yet another forum for name calling.  So, other than that, ask away.  And if you like a question or topic and want to answer or expound on it as well, by all means tell us in the comments so we can check out your post as well.