I recently hosted a tea party as a shower for a friend who is getting married next week; see post here

I got the idea some time ago for one of the items on the menu from a website, but can't remember where now.  They are easy, but a bit time consuming, so give yourself plenty of time to make them.

Be sure to have everything assembled on hand so that the bread doesn't dry out too much while you're working.

A bowl of cold water

Sea salt

A wide blade vegetable peeler

A sharp bread or serrated edge knife

Add the sea salt to the bowl of cold water and let it dissolve.

One slice of bread yielded 3 thin open faced sandwiches.  It took 4 cucumbers for 30 thin sandwiches -

Choose firm cucumbers, preferably long ones but not too big around so they don't contain many seeds.  Cut the cucumber in half, lengthwise.  Lay the cucumber cut side down on a cutting board and with a wide blade vegetable peeler, peel the first layer of skin off.  Discard to the compost bin.

With the same peeler, start slicing the whole cucumber in one long very thin slice.  You want to have a thin ribbon of green peel on the edges of the strips.  Place the slice, all in one piece in the bowl of water.  Continue slicing the cucumber in long, thin strips until you get to the harder center seeds, and put each slice in the cold water while working.   The centers where most of the seeds are can be discarded to the compost bin or saved for other uses.

After all the cucumbers are sliced, its time to start with the bread.

Take out 3 slices at a time and keep the rest of the loaf closed up - this is so the bread doesn't dry out too fast - Spread the cream cheese evenly, but thinly on each slice, then spread some of the Caesar or Ranch dressing very thinly over the cream cheese.

Start laying the slices of cucumber at an angle on each slice of bread, starting with a corner.  The sides will be too long, but don't worry.  Continue laying the cucumber slices at an angle over the edge of each previous layer until the whole slice of bread is covered.

With a sharp bread or serrated edge knife, cut the crust of the bread slice, all around to form a square.  Save the longer pieces of the cucumber slices, as they can be used for your short corners on the next slice of bread. 

Freshly grind peppercorns all over the surface of the cucumber topped bread slices.  Cut the square slice of bread into three thin slices.  Place a single leaf from parsley or watercress on top of each slice.  Place on a lined tray and keep covered with a clean, damp tea or kitchen towel.

Repeat to make as many sandiwiches as needed.  Remember to always work with just three slices at a time and to cover the little sandwiches with the damp tea or kitchen towel as soon as you complete them to keep them fresh.

You would never participate in slavery, right?

I know, it seems like a bizarre question in this day and age–of course no sane, civilized member of a modern society would take part in the indentured servitude of others. Lincoln ended all that 150 years ago, didn’t he? And of course you and I would never have anything to do with slavery in 2010.

The dirty little secret though is that millions of Americans are contributing to it each week and they don’t even know it. When you buy tomatoes at the local Publix, Ahold, Kroger, or Walmart, you become the last link in a chain that is attached to shackles in south Florida. We all know Walmart especially is well known for their tireless efforts to force suppliers to keep costs down for everything they buy. One of the results of this kind of business practice is that the wage that pickers are paid for those tomatoes has not gone up for more than 30 years. That wage is $0.45 per bucket of picked green tomatoes, or $0.0145 per pound. And that’s for the ones who actually do get paid.

Since 1993 the Coalition of Immokalee Workers has been working unstintingly to improve these situations, with much success (such as seven convictions for slavery in the last 13 years), but there is still a long way to go. Following on the heels of their victorious boycotts of Yum! Brands’ Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Subway, they also concluded successful negotiations with Whole Foods and BAMCO. Eric Schlosser called their talks with Compass Group “the greatest victory for farmworkers since Cesar Chavez in the 1970′s.” But the work is nowhere near complete.

Earlier this year the CIW launched the Florida Modern Day Slavery Museum, an exhibit mounted on the back of a cargo truck like the one used to imprison farmworkers in the 2008 US v. Navarette slavery conviction. It has been touring the country, and will be touring parts of the Florida, Georgia, and Alabama later this month.

Now the CIW is turning its attention to those big grocery chains in an effort to get them, like the fast food chains before them, to commit to paying an additional penny per pound for the tomatoes they sell and to verify that the extra cent goes directly to the pickers. To help spread the word about this campaign, IATP Food and Society Fellows Shalini Kantayya and Sean Sellers have collaborated on a video that sums up the situation nicely.

The migrant labor issue is the vital subtext of America’s ongoing immigration debate. You may have seen the recent attention paid to it by Stephen Colbert and the “Take our Jobs” campaign.  Some of the workers in and around Immokalee are undocumented, most are here legally. Either way though, surely we can agree that they are all deserving of basic human rights while Washington works (or not) on the larger immigration reform debate. You can play your part by spreading the word, and by telling the management of your local grocery that you’ll no longer be a party to slavery, and you hope they won’t either.

		Kurt Michael Friese, Gather Food Correspondent
	Gather ‘Round the Table is a regular feature of Gather Essentials: Food. Chef Kurt Michael Friese is a freelance food & wine writer & photographer. He is also the co-owner - with his wife Kim - of Devotay, a restaurant in Iowa City, serves on the Slow Food USA Board of Directors, and is owner/publisher of the local food magazine Edible Iowa River Valley. His book, A Cook's Journey: Slow Food in the Heartland was released in the fall of 2008. He lives in rural Johnson County, Iowa. Keep up with Kurt Michael's food series by joining his network, or subscribing to his content.

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The Publix Deli is now offering 5 different fresh, ready-to-eat kid's meals.

• Chicken tenders — Publix Deli chicken tenders on a honey wheat roll, mini carrots, kid’s yogurt and fruit drink
• Ham sandwich thins — Publix tavern ham on a wheat sandwich thin, mini carrots, kid’s yogurt and apple juice
• Peanut butter apple wrap — creamy peanut butter with apples in a multigrain wrap, string cheese, mini carrots, kid’s yogurt and fruit drink
• Peanut butter rolls — creamy peanut butter on a honey wheat roll, string cheese, apple sauce, mini carrots and fruit drink
• Turkey rolls — Publix oven roasted turkey breast on a honey wheat roll, apple and grape packet, mini raisins and organic white milk

As a Buzz Agent, I was able to try a Publix Deli kid's meal and review it. Actually, Angela was the reviewer, as she was the recepient of the meal. After carefully looking at the meals, I chose the Ham Sandwich Thins meal, with mini carrots, blueberry yogurt, and apple juice. 

Angela promptly took the meal out of the plastic, lunch box looking container, since there was no way to keep the yogurt cold. The yogurt went in the frig and everything else went in to her lunch box (with a pack of cookies). Angela said that the ham sandwich thin was good but a little small. She liked the mini carrots, which she does take in her lunch sometimes, and the Mott's Apple Juice.

Angela and I looked through the other Publix Deli Kid's meals, and we both decided that it would be nice if you could customize the meal. She wanted to try the Turkey Roll but wanted different sides and drink. She also would try the Peanutbutter Apple Wrap, but Angela wanted a different yogurt flavor.

Overall, for $3.99, I don't know how often I would buy the Publix Deli Kid's Meal for Angela. I find it a little too expensive, though it is a healthy option for a quick meal. Publix does have their kid's meal on sale this week (at least at our store) for $3.49.

The French Dip isn't French, but the inventor was. His name was Philippe Mathieu and he was the owner of Philippe the Original delicatessen in LA. The story goes that he was making a roast beef sandwich and accidentally dropped it into the roasting pan. The beef is easy (unless you're cooking for two in which case I go for a steak instead of a roast) but the jus is the secret.

Recipe here...