Spiedie Sauce and a Bit of Carole History

Bonnie from Mama K commented in my last post that she wanted to know what "Spiedie Sauce" is that I mentioned.  So for those of you who are unfortunately unfamiliar with this regional favorite, from Wikipedia:

"The spiedie is a dish local to Greater Binghamton in the Southern Tier of New York State, and somewhat more broadly known and enjoyed throughout Central New York state. Spiedie consists of cubes of chicken or pork, but it may also be made from lamb, veal, venison or beef. The meat cubes are marinated overnight or longer (sometimes for as long as two weeks under a controlled environment) in a special spiedie marinade, then grilled carefully on spits (if steel skewers are used, they are called "spiedie rods") over a charcoal pit. The freshly prepared cubes are served on soft Italian bread or a submarine roll, skewer and all, and sometimes drizzled with fresh marinade. The bread is used as an oven glove to grip the meat while the skewer is removed. Spiedie meat cubes can also be eaten straight off the skewer or can be served in salads, stir fries, and a number of other dishes. The marinade recipe varies, usually involving olive oil, vinegar, and a variety of Italian spices and fresh mint."

DH and I lived in Binghamton, NY for the first two years of our marriage and that's how we met the spiedie.  For years after we left, when we'd go back to visit, we'd stock up on Spiedie Sauce, however, nowadays, there are at least two local places I know of where I can get what is probably the best known spiedie sauce, Salamida's State Fair Spiedie Sauce, pictured above.  We don't usually do the whole skewer thing - we just use it as a tasty marinade.  If you have a minute, go check out http://www.spiedie.com/aboutus.htm - it has a great story of how the company started - a true American entrepreneur.  Or order a bottle to try!  Or you can try checking in your local grocery store by the marinades, you never know.

So what the heck were DH and I doing in Binghamton, anyway?  Well, when we got married, DH still had two years left on his Computer Science degree and had been accepted as a transfer student to Binghamton University.  So pretty much as soon as we got back from our honeymoon in early June of 1994, we packed all our stuff and moved to a tiny apartment in a not very good area of Binghamton, later we moved to Vestal.  We were very poor the whole time we lived there.  My Dad used to joke that we lived on bread sandwiches.  We tried to make the best of it though.  I think as a big treat we even went camping for a "vacation" one year for a weekend in some local park that cost like 2 cents a day to camp there or something (in tents, not luxurious rv camping!).  I have some funny stories from this time in our lives, but that will have to be another post since this one is running long.

So be on the lookout for another post on how we survived those years, AND I also have my very first giveaway coming up!  Stay tuned...
  
The end.

P.S.  My friendship bread has been faithfully "mushed" and cared for and is making good fermenting smell.  Better yet, my SIL agreed to take one of my starters, woo hoo! :-D