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Crossing the Line: Toasted Cheese
10-23-05, 12:13 PM

Sure as hell, I thought my house would sting eyes to those who enter from cut jalapenos but a long run in the cold rain caused me to seek warm, comfort food � something I probably have once a year that just fills me with security. Last night, I made the classic toasted cheese sandwich with Campbell�s tomato soup.

With a previous girlfriend, this was something of a challenge and art because we thought we discovered the ultimate cooking process by toasting the bread in a toaster-oven then apply the cheese mid-stream after the bread was nearly brown. Finally, we would slap together the cheese goo slices. Sure, we tried the pan method but she was not a good cook and the result were often Cajun style cheese sandwiches. But, with the toaster oven, she could watch as the bread progressed to an orange glowing brown from the heating coils. In our eyes, this was simplistic perfection and something we could afford. The college girl who lasted a few years past school is now history. Perhaps, my tastes changed and grew more sophisticated?

Later, my toasted cheese sandwiches evolved with a stop in a diner next to graduate school. With my �worldly� new friend Carol, we entered the typical nondescript diner with red booths and white counters. Here, upon the menu, they served a $2.25 toasted cheese with the option of adding onion and tomato for a measly twenty-five cents more. When the dish arrived with the ever perfect golden brown, toast texture which transforms ordinary white bread into another gourmet food with gooey American Cheese, I pried apart the slices to spy the tomato slice and Bermuda onion. With my first bite, I knew I evolved as a person � goodbye memories of college girlfriend, hello sophisticated fellow graduate schoolmate with whom I have a crush. Later on, I learned my relationship with the graduate school girl and cheese sandwich with Bermuda onion and tomato was an infatuation. Post graduate school, my ties severed with the girl and I no longer visited the diner.

Last night I traveled down memory lane with my tomato soup and oven toasted cheese sandwich followed by another sandwich created upon the grill with slices of tomato and onion. I tried to recall what I missed about them.

This morning around 11 a.m., I opened a can of chicken soup and ventured to invent a new toasted cheese sandwich and wondered if I crossed the line? Has my cheese sandwich evolved into something creative and refined? By definition, is it no longer a cheese sandwich? In a pan, I sauteed onions and mushrooms then set aside. In the microwave, I heated turkey bacon because I have to watch what I eat now that I�m older and fat grams and cholesterol are my enemies. Draining the excess butter and wiping the pan, I placed a Sarah Lee�s Whole Wheat White Bread slice in the bottom of the pan to begin to brown immediately followed by two slices of 2% American Cheese and spoonfuls of the hot sauteed mixture, small pieces of turkey bacon pieces for protein, of course, and sliced tomatoes to allow the heat to rise through the porous bread and begin the magical melting of flavors together. As a side note, the Sarah Lee�s Whole Wheat Bread, is in fact the greatest invention since sliced bread because it allows us �old folk� to enjoy white bread once again.

In front of the coffee table with a dog to my left and a dog to the right, I wrapped myself in big green, goose down filled comforter to be self-indulgent in my creation and cocoon myself from the rest of the day. Within my cocoon and dogs salivating, I wondered what I have created has crossed the line of a simple toasted cheese sandwich? Tomorrow, I may emerge with a clearer idea.

Yesterday - Tomorrow

Here we go again... - 10-06-10
fuck you. - 07-02-08
A new blog - 04-13-08
New site: The Running Bob - 03-16-08
Tax Man Encourages Hobbies? - 03-11-08
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