When we last left New York Post writer Stephanie Smith, she was toiling to meet her boyfriend's demand for tribute in the form of 300 sandwiches, with a promise of engagement at the end of her Herculean labors. But lo, the merciful and studly king has granted her an early release for good behavior, proposing to her after a mere 257 sandwiches.

"Ten sandwiches or so in, I did the math," she wrote last September. "Three sandwiches a week, times four weeks a month, times 12 months a year, meant I wouldn't be done until I was deep into my 30s. How would I finish 300 sandwiches in time for us to get engaged, married and have babies before I exited my childbearing years?"

One answer would have been "don't base your relationship on the performance of an arbitrary number of domestic tasks based on a sexist joke." But another answer, the one that totally works for Stephanie, is "definitely base your relationship on that joke, but stop after a very reasonable 260 sandwiches."

"Words cannot express how extraordinarily happy I am. Not because I have a engagement ring, but because I'm going to spend the rest of my life having ridiculously amazing adventures with my soul mate," Smith wrote on 300sandwiches.com.

She didn't specify whether the 3-sandwiches-per-week regimen will stop now that she's "proven [she's] wife material," or whether making her man sandwiches for life will be part of their prenuptial agreement.

Update: Looks like she's finishing the last 43.

[Photo: 300Sandwiches.com]