Ann's Panini Press

Several days have elapsed since Ann's birthday.  The euphoria of being treated like a queen and being showered with love, gifts, etc., is now diminishing.  So it is time to bring up Ann's panini press.  Actually, to be honest, since I usually lie, I considered buying a panini press before I learned Ann had wandered the halls of Costco and stumbled upon one and took it home.  Thinking, ha!, I now have something that no one else has.  So now we are holding extensive discussions about Ann's panini press.  Essentially, the panini press is something Italians use to smoosh otherwise robust thick sandwiches into thin toasty and smooshy sandwiches.  Velna claims that I am not allowed to buy one.  Judy says use the household iron and smoosh it down in the frying pan.  Or use the George Foreman grill and smoosh lines into it creating a fake panini sandwich.

I might dismiss all negative remarks since I read Mel on Mel's Kitchen Cafe food blog, linked on the Professor blog, says that the three most valuable things she has when away from home awhile are a grill pan from Williams-Sonoma (go look it up, Ann), a panini press, and, oh! I forget the third one.  Oh dear.  I am now seeking testimonials and evaluations on the usages and virtues of the panini press and invite any and all readers to provide input.  According to Amazon, each panini press generates a zillion negative remarks along with some superlatives.  So, who to believe?  Will the panini press merely find its way into the Smithsonian collection of discarded kitchen appliances?  By the way, we have not yet discussed dutch ovens and cast iron frying pans.  But we will.  Ann says buy it at Costco.  They take everything back for any reason whatsoever.  So if you go through three panini presses in a year, who cares?  Happy holidays.