#19: It's Just So.

You take two slices of bread, brown or white, both work fine, but will have very different results. You make both, opinion is gained through experience.

You spread a thin layer of mayonnaise on both pieces, not too thick, just enough to coat the entire surface. You make sure its real mayo, not that QP salad cream stuff they try to sell in Japan.

You take some ham, and lay it on top of one of the pieces of bread. You take a butter knife and hold it over the mustard jar (gotta be Coleman's English) pointing straight down. In one fluid and swift motion you move the knife straight down a third of a jar length and straight back up and out again. The perfect amount of mustard. You spread the mustard directly on the ham, again making sure the coats are even.

You take two to three slices of tomato, cut two to three millimetres thick, and lay them on the other slice of bread. You peel the ham off the other slice of bread and lay it on the tomato, mustard side up. This is important.

You take two leaves of washed lettuce, still damp, lay them on the mustard. You take some cheese, and lay it on top of the lettuce. Again, grated, sliced or processed work just as well as each other. You remember to try them all in future.

You take the final, lone slice of bread and lay it on top of all.

You place the whole shebang in a flat-surfaced panini toaster. You heat the piece just enough - the bread is lightly toasted, but still soft on the inside. The cheese is melted to fuse the bread to the lettuce, but not that it breaks surface tension and becomes runny.

You close your eyes. You take a bite.