Pressed Cuban Sandwiches and a rant

There's different schools of thought in regard to Cuban sandwiches - whether they should be pressed or not, contain turkey as well as ham and roast pork, have tomatoes or not - well you get the picture, right? I figure since it's my kitchen, and I'm not in any contest to make an "authentic" cubano, I can make the darn thing whatever way my tastebuds dictate. OK, I admit it - so I'm a little growly today.

Thin slices of leftover roast pork, along with honey ham from the deli, provolone cheese, bread and butter pickles, mayo and yellow mustard are layered on soft potato rolls, then coated in olive oil and pressed in a panini maker till the cheese is oozing and the bread is crispy on the outside. Moist and succulent on the inside, kinda' sweet with the pickles, tangy with mustard and crispy on the outside - this sandwich was an explosion of flavors. I guarantee, every bite will make you groan. Oh, and I'll tell you one more thing - it is a heck of a way to use leftover roast pork (not that we have a particular problem with that in our house). It was an easy, delicous dinner after all the down home cookin' we've enjoyed the past couple of days, and cleanup was pretty darn quick too. We had our "oik out" along with a bag of mixed root vegetable chips from Trader Joes - num, num! A beer would have been good too, but we're on the wagon. AGAIN!

So what's got my shorts in a twist today you may ask (if you're brave enough to inquire that is). Well since you insist, I'm going to have to tell you. There's these food porn sites on the internet that we bloggers submit photos to and they post them on-line, if the photos meet their rigid sometimes impossible standards. For some strange reason, I'm obsessed with having photos accepted. You see, it's a way to market your site as a ton of people see your photo on the food porn site and click on it to forward to your blog, so it means substantially increased traffic, some of whom will become regular visitors. I admit it's kind of a stroke to the old ego too.

Well bloody hell, my ego's taken a beating because out of a ton of submissions I've had two photos accepted. There's been rejection after rejection after rejection till I'm questioning whether to continue with this blogging adventure at all.  I mean ya' get "poor composition, not sharp enough, lighting issues, or this is the kicker - "photo not posted on site" when it's there plain as the nose on your face. It's frustrating as all get out but stupid me, I keep entering them anyway until this morning had me screaming "hit my ego one more time, because you've missed a spot". 

Well screw 'em I say. I'm not gonna' take it any more. If they want my photos, they can buy the darn cookbook. So no more experimenting, worrying about angles, shadows, colors, highlights, lowlights, contrast AND photoshopping till the cows come home, which I know has made it darn hard to concentrate on the real reason for this blog - like maybe the FOOD! I mean how dumb is that - losing sight of the real reason for doing this anyway. Geez, thanks all you Dr. Phil's out there. I feel so much better. Now - do ya' think today's pic is good enough to send to...oh never mind.

Comments

[Mags]

Thanks for saying what I've been too chicken to say on my own blog. Wow... somehow just hearing you say it makes me feel better too!

Oh, and that sandwich? To die for! YUM.

[June]

Darn it all Mags, I've likely cooked my goose bigtime now. LOL Oh well - I'm standing by the post. There's gotta be another way. Stay tuned for more JBug's version of foot in mouth disease.

[Lea]

I wanna taste the sandwich just looking at the photo!!!

[June]

Thanks Lea. It is delicious, though anything with pork wins the prize in my books. Thanks for visiting my blog, and especially for leaving a comment. Hope you visit again!