When I was a kid my dad always made loose leaf sandwiches. Loose leaf sandwiches are basically Sloppy Joes without the tomato base. It’s a mixture of diced onions, sometimes garlic, salt and pepper.
Very simple…..
You can eat it on a bun, you can eat it in a bowl. You can add you favorite condiment and you can even melt cheese over it. Though my dad never put cheese on his. He would say it isn’t Kosher.
My dad made it a glamorous event when it was loose leaf ground beef night. On occasion he would pick up the small Hawaiian rolls and make loose leaf sliders.
Sometimes my dad would make hash browns as the side dish, but most of the time he’d put a handful of Jays on my plate. I would always put a half dozen chips on my sandwich to make it crunch. We called that Catholic school lettuce.
My dad would take whatever was left in the skillet for himself and pour Open Pit on top. He would sit in his chair in the family room and shovel the bits of ground beef in his mouth like he was late for work. The bowl was no further than ten inches from his face. Spoon after spoon after spoon until that spoon scraped across an empty bowl.
Occasionally I’ll make loose leaf in memory of my Oldman. The kids don’t like it so after I make my bowl I turn the rest of the ground beef into either spaghetti sauce or taco meat.
I used this Walt Whitman quote recently made famous by Ted Lasso. It simply means the judgments we make can be better if we ask questions before we make conclusions. Questions spark our curiosity and make better conclusions.
My dad said that everyone is prejudice, it’s just human nature. It is the weak that turn prejudice into hatred and racism.
We must ask questions before we come to a conclusion on what we are judging.
Seems nowadays everyone is skipping the stereotyping and prejudice and going right for the hatred.
If you were to say that Don Shepley was a big man from Iowa, he must like Loose meat sandwiches you’d be prejudging and you’d be correct.
If you were a little more curious you would find out that Don Shepley made loose leaf most of the time because it was cheap and money was tight.
Ask questions, be curious.
Today is Don’s eighty eighth birthday. I’m probably going to make loose leaf in his honor tonight. I should go over to the Joyce and have a Tullamore DEW to really honor the old Hawkeye.
Our mid November Indian Summer is coming to an end today. The weekend will be cool and seasonal.
Speaking of Indians… a week from today they get together with the Pilgrims for the TurkeyBowl.
“Keep your face always toward the sunshine and shadows will fall behind you.” Another Walt Whitman quote
Put the smile on the sun and be kind…. That’s a John Shepley quote.
