As I have said many times on this blog, MEtirement has provided me with TIME to actually think during the day. And by that I mean really focus on things that I never thought about before. Today I started with lunch. Thinking about lunch. It seems so simple and, some may say, so obviously routine and insignificant, but that isn’t the case when, for 40 years or so you went to the office every working day. I didn’t have the opportunity to fix myself lunch in my own kitchen. That has become now routine for me–a previously unrecognized joy.
It may not appear to be so exciting to someone young or someone who has been working from home, but when you have never had the pleasure of making your own lunch and actually eating it at home, this activity becomes bigger and more important to your life. Silly maybe. But it fits within my new perception that things I never had time to think about before are really pretty interesting, fun and enjoyable.
Take, for example, making the humble tuna sandwich. I ate them all the time when I was a child and from that, I became a purist when it comes to tuna sandwiches. A simple combination of finely chopped celery, Hellmann’s mayonnaise–it always and indisputably must be Hellmann’s–and Bumble Bee White Albacore Tuna. Packed in water. Nothing else will do for this masterpiece of a tuna melt.
Tuna Melt
Simple and to the point. But full of delicious flavor.
Ingredients
- 12 ounce Bumble Bee White Albacore Tuna in water
- 4 stalks celery finely chopped
- 1/3 cup cilantro finely chopped (optional)
- 1/3 cup Hellman's Real Mayonnaise I used the squeeze bottle
- 4 1/2 tablespoons butter softened and divided into 1 1/2 tablespoons per sandwich
- 6 slices Land O' Lakes American Cheese
- 6 slices fresh white or wheat bread
- 1 large tomato sliced into six slices
Instructions
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Chill can of tuna overnight or longer. Drain water.
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Put tuna in a medium mixing bowl and shred it with your fingers so it isn't in large chunks.
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Add celery, cilantro (if using it) and mayonnaise and mix thoroughly.
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Heat a heavy skillet over medium high heat until it is very hot. It will take a few minutes.
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Spread the butter evenly on one side of the bread slices and turn them over. I put them on a cutting board so they don't mess up the countertop which does not go into the sink!
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Place one slice of cheese, 1/3 of the tuna salad, a few slices of tomato, another slice of cheese and the other slice of bread, butter side on the outside on the cutting board.
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Put the sandwiches in the pan and let them saute for several minutes until they are toasty brown on the outside. Turn over and brown the second side. When the second side is brown, turn the heat down to low and let the sandwiches cook for a few minutes on each side until the cheese melts.
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Remove the sandwiches to plates and let them rest for a minute or two to allow the cheese to solidify a bit before cutting the sandwiches. On the diagonal. Always on the diagonal!
In all those years of working, not once did I make myself a tuna sandwich and eat it at home. That realization seems just crazy to me. I know that I have earned and deserve the time to rest now. Forty years is enough for anyone and that doesn’t even count all the babysitting I did from the time I was about 11 years old.
Really grasping all of the nuances of what a clean slate means is something that continues to thrill me every day. I am not taking the bliss of a tuna melt for granted. Not even a tuna melt. So that is what MEtirement means. After a long haul, working every day, I can take a breath and take joy in the simple pleasure of eating a homemade tuna melt that I have a lovingly prepared for myself and actively appreciating what it means to have nothing to do but what you want to do.
It doesn’t matter how old you are. Everyone should try to step back sometimes and look at the little details of their life because, when pieced together, you can find incredible bliss in what might appear to be mere routine, mere simplicity and mere minutiae. Pleasure is in grasping and understanding that commonplace is not a bad thing. Commonplace is security, nostalgia, routine, comfort and yes, bliss. Pay attention and enjoy the moments you live in. No matter what your age.
And now, to the tuna melt. The longer I am MEtired, the more I think about the connection between food and my past. The tuna melt which my mother made is like the madeleines from Proust. Evocative. Remembrance of things past. So you have to make the tuna melt exactly like my mother did. You open a can of Bumble Bee White Albacore packed in water that has been hanging out in your fridge for at least a day to get cold. You drain it and mix it with celery, cilantro and Hellman’s. Then you get the freshest, most delicious white or wheat bread and spread it with softened butter. When you are grilling a sandwich you DO NOT MELT THE BUTTER in the pan or on the griddle because the sandwich will never, ever brown evenly. I said I was a purist. The butter must be completely soft. You must spread said soft butter gently on the outside of the fresh bread slices. Since I don’t monkey around with perfection, I use the old standby Land O’ Lakes American Cheese sliced a bit thicker than usual. Buttered bread on the outside, cheese, tuna, cheese, buttered bread on the outside. In that order. Nice hot pan. Saute the sandwich until nice and brown which gives the cheese a chance to melt. You must slice it on the diagonal because it tastes better that way. Just kidding. My mother always sliced my tuna melt on the diagonal so that is just the way it is.
