Karin's Italian Sandwich - Prosciutto Sun Dried Tomato Provolone

I am a retired disabled former government lawyer as well as a former businessman. Since I have difficulty standing, and only partial use of my left hand, I spend most of my time at the computer. I have been cooking an exploring cultures and cuisines for nearly 60 years. My mother first taught me to cook and bake. My first specialty was Nut Bread, but I lost the recipe 20 years ago. I used to make it for the neighborhood. At the age of 10, I received more or less formal training in Italian cooking from our Italian cook. We were hen living in Europe. My father, a scientist as well as an Air Force Officer was completing his doctorate in Aerodynamics at the Swiss Federal Instutute of Technology (E.T.H.) I attended Swiss public school at Ilgenschule B in Zurich near Roemerhof and we were taught by Fraeulein Uhrner. We lived at the top of the Zeilbahn next to the Hotel Waldhaus Dolder. I leaned German and Swiss German, which is truly a different language, (and later passable French and Italian). I have always been curious and I used such language skills as I had, and my travels throughout Western Europe, to learn more about people and their food. I had the privilege of eating at many first class restaurants and hotels, a real castle (in Belgium) and at a French Chateau near Grasse, France, owned by the perfumers who "adopted" my father during WWII. My introduction to fine wine occurred at Grasse and continued in France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany. When I returned to the States, I continued cooking, usually experimenting as much as I could. When I reached college, my culinary experimentation extended further from student specialties such as my spaghetti sauce for 50, a concoction called "Gub" which consisted of my my specal spaghetti sauce, pasta, lots of mushrooms, corn, olives, and whatever else was handy to a wide variety of fine French cheeses, wines, and smoked salmons and baked he night before in Paris. These items were flown back in empty cargo planes returning from delivering Tektronix oscilloscopes to Europe and they wqere available in a delicatessen run by a friend. I ahd more and better cheeses than I had ever experienced in Europe. It was a once in a lifetime eexperience and I have never had such variety and quality available since that time, even in the finest shops in New York and Washington, D.C.! I also made friends with Dave and Mrs Tannenbaum (who will always be in my heart). They were an elderly couple in the 1950s who taught me some of the finer point of Jewish cooking and who would make kreplach specially for me o I could have Mrs. Tannenbaum's famous kreplach soup (I wish I hasd the recipe) I also made friends with a famiuly of Japanese-American vegetable farmers who ran a stand next to college (and who ultimately put 5 children through Harvard!Z) They taught me much about Japanese culture and one of their sons, who was near my age, introduced me to some relaatives who rn a cafe type restaurant, where you sat on stools at a counter. They prepared mostly American short order meals,but they did have a small section of Japanese food. I went often and enjoyed the Japanese food exclusively. one time, my friend asked if I would like to try raw fish. I said yes, and I was served a plate of tuna sashimi. To their amazement, I ate it with enthusiasm and asked for more. I must confes I was a bit of a glutton. Therafter I developed an unlimited appetite for sushi. I also love oysters on the half shell (Blue Points and Olympias are best on the West Coast, Long Island and Chesapeake Bay on the East Coast and Louisiana oysters on the Gulf) fried Oregon Razor Clams, Dungeness and Blue Crabs (the blues are the nbetter), King Crab, ad many other things. One hobby I had during my younger years was to go to Trader Vic's in Portland and then create the recipe for ehat I had eaten by the next day. My success rate for the curries was 100%. I had to watch the number of Zombies I drank, however. Another favorites of mine at the time was the mixed grill in one of the better hotels and steaks in another. I have continued my culinary curiosity and experimentation ever since together with my historical and cultural studies (area studies) of several areas of the world. I tok and passsed the Foreign Service entrnce exmination twice as an undergraduate, but I did not, for some reason, accept an appointment. My interests remain to this day, although my ability to persue them ha nearly ended.