Grandma's Icklegooey Sandwich

Dear Byron,

Yesterday your G-GMa and I were looking at some more of those old photos we have in albums and boxes here at our house. All that got me to thinking about my Grandma's Icklegooey Sandwiches. I thought you might want to ask your Grandma Cheryl to make you one some day.

Here's a photo of me holding your Great-Uncle Jeff, not long after he was born. You can tell he was still a very tiny baby. I'm standing between my Momma on the left and my Grandma Iva Turpen on the right. 

Grandma and my Grandpa Steve lived in West St. Paul, Minnesota on George St. in the same house in which my Momma grew up. Come to think of it, I don't know how long they lived there. At the time of this photo, 1958, my Grandpa had already gone to heaven and Grandma lived there by herself.

I spent many great hours in that house on George St. when I was a little kid. One of the neat things about George St. was the streetcar. I bet you've never heard of streetcars. Not many around any more. Most cities have fast mass-transit trains and subways. Those old streetcars were a lot more fun than the swift subways I've ridden on in New York or London. 

Interior of a Twin Cities Streetcar 

When I poked around on the web I actually found a site that tells all about those old streetcars in Minneapolis and St. Paul back in the days when I was a little kid. Here's their photo of one on the inside. Notice the seats covered with webbing instead of leather, cloth or plastic like modern day trains or trolleys. 

The driver collected dimes in that little box to his right. If you didn't have correct change he'd make some for you. Lots of times I'd ride with my Grandma to downtown St. Paul. In order to get there we'd have to get a piece of paper that said we could transfer to another streetcar that went right into the busy downtown streets. I'd follow her to the stores when she wanted to shop for a new blouse or  hat or some other such boring thing. 

The best part of those shopping trips, next to riding on the streetcar, was when we got back to the house on George St. where she would ask if I wanted an Icklegooey Sandwich. Yes! Bet you have never had one of those. Bet you don't even know what they are. Nobody sells 'em, you know. You have to make 'em in your own house. Here's how Grandma did it. 

Manual Meat Grinder

She'd get out her meat-grinder and attach it to the little kitchen table. It looked like this one that you can still buy today from Dinodirect. Next she'd find a couple hard boiled eggs, some pickles, several pieces of lunch meat, a couple radishes, slices of tomato and whatever else she found in her funny little refrigerator. She would grind it all up in her grinder and catch it in a bowl. Add some mayonnaise to the mixture and you're ready to make the sandwiches. By this time my mouth would be watering. 

OK, now pop some white bread into the toaster and when the toast pops up apply big globs of Icklegoeey and you're all set to go. We'd sit down at the little kitchen table with a big glass of orange pop to talk about the trip we had on the streetcar. Maybe we'd also plan to go to the movies in the evening when Grandpa Steve got home from working as an inspector at the South St. Paul Stockyards. Could anything possibly be better? 

I sure hope that you and your Grandma get to do some fun things like making Icklegooey Sandwiches. Just ask her.