"virgin mary" news and stories

Obviously, a headline like that requires a little explanation. Here goes: 11 years ago, Diana Duyser (right) of Ft. Lauderdale made a grilled cheese sandwich and, upon taking her first bite, noticed what she said was a likeness of the Virgin Mary burned into the bread. She quickly put the rest of the sandwich in a plastic container padded with cotton for safe keeping in her freezer. Two years ago, Duyser put the sandwich on eBay, where internet casino and exemplar of good taste GoldenPalace.com snatched it up for $28,000, as well as the frying pan that birthed it, for another $6,000. The holy sandwich has since brought plenty of notoriety to Duyser (as well as Golden Palace), getting her back stage at a Hall and Oates show and elevating her to saint-like status among some South Floridians. Duyser recently had the sandwich tattooed on her chest to "keep it close to her heart," the Miami Herald reported. The Herald page also has a link to local video coverage of the story.

It's that time of year, the time to look back on the stories that made 2005 great. Our countdown begins with God, who appeared several times this year in food.

Grilled cheese, fish sticks and cinnamon buns.

This may sound like the lunch menu at the local high school, but in fact these are all food items on which people claim to have found the likeness of God. Suprisingly, God shows up in mysterious ways on a number of food items.