Try it, You May Like it.

On a recent blog I discussed a tea that celebrated the 100^th anniversary of the Ladies Aid at our church. We had skits, stories, fun, food, singing, and a history lesson. All of the stories were extremely funny and even more so when we found out they were all true.

One story in particular struck a chord with me. We were probably all taught to never judge a book by its cover. But how many times have we been somewhere and have either seen an odd offering of food on a menu or have been presented some food which we consider to be different at an individuals home? Do you politely decline? Do you become an adventurous explorer and go for it?

Growing up, we were always encouraged to try different foods. That help this last Sunday at the Ladies Aid tea. There was a cute story about an elderly woman who would just make do with what she had. You know, necessity is the mother of invention. When this woman would run out of regular bread (and she didn't drive either) she would substitute Stollen for her sandwich bread. Stollen, is a German bread that contains dried fruits and can also contain marzipan. Sometimes it has powdered sugar or icing sprinkled or drizzled on top of the bread, while other times it is plain. 

Now there is nothing wrong with having Stollen as sandwich bread, as long as it has something like Nutella or peanut butter on the bread. But the woman in one story took it to a whole new level. This woman would take a ground bologna spread and spread it on her Stollen to make a yummy sandwich. Personally, I was trying to keep an open mind to this combination, but....

To our surprise, the tea committee had put together open faced sandwiches of ground bologna spread on Stollen and gave everyone a taste. You know, it was quite tasty. In thinking about it, the sweetness of the dried fruits went very well with the saltiness of the bologna spread. 

Since Sunday, I've tried different Stollens with different types of bologna spread.  Essentially, you have to mix and match until you kind your favorite combination that is suitable to your palette.

In the end though, all of the Stollen went well with English Breakfast tea. Because of the different fruits in the Stollen and paired with the saltiness and meat flavors of the bologna spread, a straight unflavored black tea works best.

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