Lunch with the Kid: A Wrinkle in Time Sandwiches

One of my favorite food blogs (Food Adventures in Fiction) wrote up a recent post that I knew I needed to make as soon as I saw the headline: "Sandwiches and Hot Chocolate from a Wrinkle in Time."

My son and I read A Wrinkle in Time over last summer and finished the followup A Wind at the Door this winter. Then, his English teacher assigned Wrinkle as their first big book assignment in school. It's safe to say at this point that we are very immersed in this series. At the beginning of the novel, there is a dark and stormy night and the main characters, along with their mother and the ever-important Mrs. Whatsit, sit down to some hot chocolate and their own personalized sandwiches. The recipes in question at Food Adventures in Fiction recreate these sandwiches and a no-sugar, rather authentic hot chocolate to go with them.

So on Saturday afternoon, when the boy announced he was hungry, I popped open the webpage and showed him the possible sandwich options he might have with his hot chocolate. The Charles Wallace features an open-faced sandwich with fruit preserves (that one was out--the kid doesn't eat jelly) and the Mrs. Murry involves liverwurst (not going to happen), so the boy and I quickly settled in on the Meg Murry for me and the Mrs. Whatsit for him.

We started with the Mrs. Whatsit, which we agreed would be amended to not include celery. There were still pickles involved and so, green things on the sandwich, so I wasn't going to press my luck by forcing the issue of green things that crunch. The boy added the tuna and mayo into a small bowl and mixed it up himself. The recipe called for diced pickle so we used dill relish, which really amounts to the same thing. I spooned in the specified amount and he swirled that in too, along with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Then, while the boy did the constant stirring of the heating milk on the stove, I put together my Meg Murry sandwich, consisting of cream cheese, tomato, lettuce, onion salt, and pepper on wheat.

We negotiated that the boy's Mrs. Whatsit could be on a hamburger bun. Then, with the milk heated, I added the cocoa, vanilla, and nutmeg, while the boy stirred it in. Then, mom poured the hot chocolate equally into two waiting hot cocoa mugs. (Yes, we have mugs specifically created to house cocoa, given to us by my generous Aunt Debbie. They are fancy and larger than coffee mugs with a decorative lip at the top. They are awesome. Deal with it.)

Of course, we both agreed that hot chocolate really prefers to be topped with whipped cream, which was dully added, and then we sat down to lunch.

The really surprising thing was not that the boy ate a tuna sandwich (he loves tuna), but that he ate a tuna sandwich with relish in it and did not even seem to bat an eye. There's no way that would have happened if he hadn't been eating a Mrs. Whatsit. On my part, I'd never thought to put cream cheese on a sandwich before, and, though the onion salt was a bit much, I loved me a cream cheese sandwich. I can also assure you that a friend of mine tells me cream cheese and pickles make a quite tasty sandwich. I can't wait to try it.

 

The kid also proceeded to have a Mrs Whatsit with Cheese. He claims it was even better. You be the judge.