Sandwich Wingman

A banner episode saw the guys award their very first taste scores of 10 -- at the same time. For their tomato sauce sandwiches, Rob had a lamb sausage sandwich on a baguette with parmesan and romano cheese (ENTICE: 31) and Ryan had a pepperoni, bacon and sausage sandwich on ciabatta with mozzarella and ricotta (ENTICE: 27). An unusually long episode accommodated a fulsome conversation on Deloitte's new performance review and management system and the company's motivations for change and its changes. The article itself is highly recommended: https://hbr.org/2015/04/reinventing-performance-management

The guys remake and revisit some sandwiches from the last nine episodes, and talk about one of their favorite tools, "Plans A," regarding the need to act committed to backup plans.

The guys tried out berries for sandwiches this week, Rob combining blackberries with turkey and cream cheese on a toasted English muffin (ENTICE: 25), and Ryan mixing raspberries with crab cake, spinach, julienned radishes, feta, and crumbled bacon with pineapple balsamic vinegar in a wheat pita (ENTICE: 22). Turning back to the Edge yearly question series, they also discuss David Eagleman's essay "Silicon Immortality: Downloading Consciousness into Computers," from the This Will Change Everything volume.

The guys took on pesto this week, Rob making his own oil-less version for a smoked turkey, mozzarella, and tomato on a baguette, Ryan putting his on sandwich flats with popcorn shrimp, walnuts, and tomato. Fun times were had by all as they worked their way through two short pieces from What Is Your Dangerous Idea?, one of Edge's yearly collection of thoughts.

The guys had fish as their common ingredient this week, and both chose cod: Rob wrapped it in prosciutto with egg and fig jam on crunchy ciabatta (ENTICE: 22), Ryan put it in wraps with cole slaw, wasabi seaweed and a spicy lime tartar sauce (ENTICE: 27). They then talk about a New Yorker article by John Cassidy putting the late John Nash's game theory contributions in context, and talk about game theory in general.

The guys take a break from their normal format to talk through a few sandwiches they had at The Parish Cafe in Boston: the Lumière, Mexican Meatball, and Zuni Roll. The then turn to a recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education by Russell Jacoby on a growing (pseudo?) academic field: the study of objects and the role they play in our lives. Link: http://chronicle.com/article/The-Object-as-Subject/229587/

The guys, surprisingly, stayed unwaveringly committed to their choice of "waffle" as the common ingredient for this episode, with all of the tortured puns that entailed. Rob took the cake with a Waffle Jambalaya sandwich, with andouille chicken sausage, diced red pepper and tomato, green onions, baby zucchini, and green onions on wheat waffles (ENTICE: 29). Ryan went a simpler route, with baked beans and a quinoa burger with some maple syrup on blueberry waffles (ENTICE: 27). They then use an essay-ish excerpt from Slouching Toward Bethlehem called "On Keeping a Notebook (try here) as a jumping off point for conversation on what note-taking means, the purposes for which we do it, and how it's gotten easier in the Technology Revolution.

After a few weeks' hiatus, the guys return with a small math error for their 14th episode. Sweet potatoes (potatos?) were the common ingredient, Ryan trying out a sweet potato, seasoned chicken, pear and Boursin sandwich on a pita (ENTICE: 25) and Rob using soft tortillas to make sweet potato, avocado, pineapple and rosemary ham tacos (ENTICE: 25). After talking out those scores and discussing the merits of microwaved sweet potatoes, they turn to several parts of Khalil Gibran's The Prophet, a pseudo-religious pseudo-prose pseudo-verse text with more than a few genuine thought nuggets.

The guys went a little crazy, trying out chicken nuggets as an ingredient. Rob led the way with a spinach, tomato, red pepper hummus and chicken nugget sandwich on French bread (ENTICE: 29), and Ryan followed not too far behind with a popcorn chicken and red pepper jelly sandwich on a sesame bun, with a splash of Tobasco (ENTICE: 27). The guys then turned to a lunch hour discussion of Michael Pollan's 2006 essay "The Modern Hunter Gatherer."

The guys tried salami this week, Ryan with a salami, mozzarella, tomato and spinach dip open-faced sandwich on crumpets (ENTICE: 24) and Rob with a record-setting salami, tomato, Fontina, and quinoa pesto sandwich on tomato basil focaccia (ENTICE: 32). They then launch into a discussion of Malcolm Gladwell's "The Ketchup Conundrum," umami, and learn a thing or two that is directly translatable to the craft of sandwich building.

In keeping with the St. Patrick's Day holiday, the guys had corned beef as their common ingredient, and discussed a few essays by John B. Keane -- the most preeminent Irish essayist that Google has to offer. It just so happens that the classic reuben was the inspiration for both of this week's sandwiches: Ryan's corned beef, sauerkraut, pepper jack and Brussels sprout sandwich on rye (ENTICE: 28), and Rob's corned beef, kale, hummus, fried egg and chipotle sandwich on pumpernickel dubbed "the Robert" (ENTICE: 28). They turn to the Keane essay "Humble Pie" before discussing essays "Foul Talk" and "Fear."

As arranged all the way back in their third episode, the guys reach back to try a new take on some of the sandwiches they've made for the podcast to date. Rob reached back for a new take on the hummus-based chicken salad from Episode 6; Ryan added some spice to the egg and Canadian bacon combo from Episode 2 and the replaced fig jam with honey for the PBBB&FigJ from Episode 8. But more importantly, instead of digging into a written piece this week, the guys dig into their own cognitive toolbox for a treasured favorite they call "higher goals and medium sized obstacles." Yeah, we haven't come up with a better name for that in some fifteen years...

I wish I could tell you that the guys fought the good fight, and the chocolate let them be. I wish I could tell you that. But sandwich making is no fairy tale world.Instead, let's focus on the positives: Rob and Ryan survived, long enough to relish one of the most thought-provoking essays they've addressed to date. Zadie Smith's Joy is about pleasure, about joy, and about the difference. And as the guys discuss, happiness is not a zero sum game.Here's the essay: http://youmightfindyourself.com/post/38624810934/joy-by-zadie-smith

Peanut butter was the common ingredient this week, and the guys went in some unusual directions. Rob made a PBBB&FJ: crunchy peanut butter, bacon, banana, and fig jam sandwich on fresh ciabatta (ENTICE: 28). Ryan was inspired by pad thai, making a sandwich with crunchy peanut butter, popcorn shrimp, pad thai sauce, bean sprouts and egg on Portugeuse sweet muffin (ENTICE: 27). It's the highest combined ENTICE score in Sandwich Wingman history, and the guys celebrate by dwelling on Forrest Gump before moving to the Joyce Carol Oates essay "Against Nature" and the nuggets of wisdom within. There is no miscalculation in nature -- but is that because there is no calculation in nature at all?

On Episode 7, the bacon force awakens. The guys sought effective bring-to-work ways to use bacon in sandwiches, Rob assembling one of the podcast's finest entrants to date, a bacon, smoked Gouda, jalapeno and pear sandwich (ENTICE: 27). Ryan experimented with a BLD (swapping tomato out for dragonfruit), ultimately submitting a toaster-and-microwave version of a bacon, Muenster and guacamole grilled cheese on white Italian bread (ENTICE: 22). The guys then dive into a few of Charles Lamb's very enjoyable essays, including "A Dissertation on Roast Pig," "Valentine's Day," "The Old and Young Schoolmaster," and "The Sanity of Genius." Finally, Rob has a cow when the guys select the next week's ingredient.

Something tastes like chicken, and it's probably the sandwiches that the guys made for Episode 6. That's not to say the guys chickened out of making some unconventional new sandwiches for the week, however. Rob turned in a sandwich on cranberry focaccia, featuring chicken marinated in soy, garlic, mirin and rice wine vinegar with feta cheese and chopped asparagus, chickpeas, lettuce, tomato, pecans, cucumbers, Kalamata olives, and shredded carrot stripes (ENTICE: 22). Ryan made a chicken salad of a kind using chicken sausage, diced onion and celery, and pomegranate seeds with red pepper hummus as the binding agent (ENTICE: 29). The guys then dive into one of their favorite nugget mines: Edwin Abbott Abbott's Flatland.

Avocado was the common ingredient this week, and Rob and Ryan joined their sandwiches with a discussion of a list of thirteen virtues in Ben Franklin's autobiography. Rob's steak tips, avocado, Swiss and spinach sandwich on pretzel stick bread set a new standard for Taste (ENTICE score: 24), whereas Ryan's psuedo hot dog of avocado rolled in turkey with white cheddar won points for ease and integrity (ENTICE score: 25). Starting first as Franklin did -- with temperance, and eating not to dullness -- the guys work through Franklin's list of virtues to which he aspired, talking about which ones they prized and which had some problem-solving utility.

Beef was the common ingredient this week, Rob using a ground beef, and Ryan sliced roast beef. Acknowledging Woolf's sentiment that a good meal is of great importance to good talk, the guys talk about their sandwiches: Rob, with his ground beef, Swiss, craisin and spinach on baguette (ENTICE score: 26), and Ryan, with his roast beef, tzatziki and water chestnut sandwich (ENTICE score: 23). The guys also muddle through Woolf's series of lectures "A Room of One's Own," attempting to extract, in Woolf's own words, some "nuggets of pure truth."

Ham was the common ingredient for self-proclaimed sandwich impresarios Rob and Ryan this week, and much experimentation led to some encouraging results. Despite the advice of Sun Tzu, the guys were completely forthcoming about their sandwich-making process, Rob with his habanero ham, mozzarella balls, tomato and spinach sandwich with a few extra mozzarella balls (ENTICE score: 22), and Ryan with his Hawaiian-inspired croque monsieur on English muffins (ENTICE score: 29).The guys also discussed Sun Tzu's The Art of War. In the general's own words, "those skilled at making the enemy move do so by creating a situation to which he must conform; they entice him with something he is certain to take." After this episode, we're certain that you will be ENTICE'd to try a bring-to-work sandwich this week.

The guys took on eggs as their common ingredient this week, Rob frying his up and Ryan pickling his. They discuss their finalized scoring system, "ENTICE," which combines the elements discussed in Episode 1 to make for a 35-point scale on which their bring-to-work sandwiches will be judged. They put their egg sandwiches through the ENTICE ringer: Rob's fried egg, Gouda, Canadian bacon, and spinach entrant (21 points), and Ryan's hard boiled egg, sweet pickle, carrot and sriracha mayo (23 points). Finally, they have a blast distilling Edgar Allan Poe's misconception-blasting essay on how writing is accomplished, and the process by which he created his poem "The Raven."

Turkey is today's theme, and Rob Hanna and Ryan Morrison discuss their takes on the lunchtime staple. After talking out the elements of what makes a good bring-to-work sandwich and how their turkey creations stack up, the guys tackle an even meatier subject: Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance."If you like sandwiches or wisdom, join us as we try to discover some of both.