Well, neither is my son, but that’s how he fences. He even started fencing that way before I showed him The Princess Bride.

Now I know you all don’t need a recipe for this, but I thought it would be fun to include anyway, since I packed it for my 10-year-old’s first fencing competition. He kept trying to grab the bread and use it for foil practice.

According to my little girl, the trip up to Weber State was longer than the trip back. No kidding. Between the stop at Target (where we bought the stuff for the sandwich), filling up the tank, stopping at Wendy’s to prevent an accident, and a #3 traffic jam (my kids make me rate every traffic jam—”Is this a 10, Mom?” “How does this compare to the last traffic jam? Wasn’t that a 7?”), the trip to the competition was most definitely more hectic.

Which is why I am glad we packed something simple—I made it in the trunk of my car.

ham and swiss épée

1 baguette, sliced down the center
2 tablespoons salted butter
4 ounces of ham (thinly sliced would have been better than what’s in the picture)
4 ounces baby swiss

Spread the two halves of the baguette with the butter and layer with the ham and swiss.