Life Has (Many) Choices

Life always has choices. But has anyone noticed lately the choices you get when you go out for a quick sandwich? Ordering at our local Subway restaurant gets more complicated each time we go there.

Wendy and I visited a local Subways this past week. First time in a while. The young lady behind the counter asked me if I wanted a combo meal. No. Six inch or footlong sandwich? Footlong. (Those were easy questions). I wanted a "subway melt."

Double stacked?

I'm not sure what that means exactly but it sounds rather suggestive in any context. No, thanks. But now it gets tricky. What kind of bread did I want? If you check the Subway menu on-line, you'll not see "white" listed under bread types. Guess that would make it too easy for guys who like it simple, like me.

You WILL see listed among the breads "honey oat" and "Italian herbs and cheese." Honey oat? Maybe if I were a cross between a bear and a horse. Sounds more like cereal to me. And Italian herbs just sounds too mysterious. Who wants a sandwich on mystery bread? I took wheat.

Did I want it toasted? Well, yeah, I guess. It's a melt, right? So she took out a small stack of meats and stuck it with the bread together on a grill to toast.

I'll admit to being a little distracted at the time. I'm more easily distracted every year older I get. This lady ahead of me was ordering her sandwich toppings. "I want lots of vegetables," she said. The man behind the counter obliged, putting handfuls of lettuce, green peppers, hot peppers, tomatoes, etc. on her sandwich. He added more when she said it wasn't enough. This wasn't a sandwich. It was salad on a bun!

So my own sandwich was now screwed up. Why? There was no cheese on it. I had assumed that a "Subway melt" by definition included cheese. So why no cheese?

"You didn't ask for cheese," the counter lady said.

Gee, I thought she was asking ME the questions. So now what. If they put cheese on my already toasted bun with meat, it wouldn't be a true melt in my mind. Yet I didn't want it all toasted again as my bun would be too dark. My wife rescued me, suggesting they microwave it all, with my cheese.

So now what vegetable toppings went with this? *sigh* I don't like too many choices with my meal. I believe I inherited some of my father's genes in that regard. I remember going out to restaurants with him and when the waitress asked how he liked his eggs cooked or what kind of salad dressing he wanted, he would get this look as if he'd never been asked that before. Sometimes my mother would have to help him out. "He hates making decisions," she'd say.

So for my melt I picked out pickles and lettuce. Then some lite mayonnaise. You have to be careful here too with condiments. My son Scott asked us to pick up a sub for him and was very specific about what he wanted on it, even had it written down I think. But he asked for honey mustard as his condiment and the preparer drowned the sub with honey mustard. He essentially got a honey mustard sandwich. Wendy saw this and asked for just one pass with the lite mayo. Smart thinking. That lady with the salad sandwich asked for her condiments on the side. Also smart.

For all this, I wish I could say I enjoyed heartily my Subway Melt. But it wasn't that good. That's what I get for not ordering my usual cold cut combo. Now see that tomato at the bottom here? I took a picture of one of the tomatoes from our "garden." Here's what I'd do with it. Slice it up, put it on toast with a little mayonnaise, and that's it. I don't need any more choices than that.