Monterey Melt Sandwich

Hello fellow gourmands and fellow foodies:-) I'm presently living in Bloomington, IN home of Indiana University of which I, my DH and one of my daughters are all alums. I also have twin girls who are second semester juniors at IU who will be graduating next year. I'm originally from Sioux City, Iowa but my family moved to northern Minnesota when I was about 7. I've always wanted to return to MN because I really detest the heat and humidity of this area but that's just not in the cards for me. At some point my husband and I hope to have a small cabin in the woods up there so we can go up in the summers and fish fish fish. In the winter we hope to retire to the west coast of southern Florida. My family has a home down there and I try to spend as much time there as I possibly can, usually with a fishing line in the water out on our dock:-) To say I like to fish is an understatement! LOL. I am addicted to it and I'd rather be fishing if I can't be in the kitchen cooking and baking!!! The fishing in Minnesota is excellent as well as in Florida whereas here in Indiana I am hard pressed to find a decent lake let alone catch any fish in one of them. I grew up in the restaurant business learning at a very early age that dirty dishes have to be washed by someone:-) All kidding aside, spending that time in the kitchen alongside my Grandmother Ang in her diner/cafe/tavern taught me what hard work is all about and it is there that I began to develop a good work ethic as well as a deep and abiding love for all things having to do with the preparation and presentation of food. I've also had some professional training as well and spent many years cooking in some fairly good restaurant kitchens. My DH and I grow all of our own fruit, vegetables and herbs and I put up somewhere between 500-800 jars of jam, jellies, salsas, sauces, vinegars, chutneys, vegetables, juices, pie fillings, fruit etc to help us eat really well thru every winter. I also give a lot of what I preserve away to family and friends. I am blessed to have a very generous brother who bags us a nice sized deer every fall and has it processed and my Mom, bless her heart, pays for it to be shipped to us here from MN. Now that's a really nice gift isn't it? We make venison and sausage from the deer meat as well as all kinds of marinated meat dishes, grill it, and we especially love to make venison stroganoff, stews and chili. It's wonderful to not have to buy so much at the grocery store too!! And the quality of fresh preserved foods can't be beat!