It's that time of the quarter again. Spring break is less than three weeks away (insane!! In 16 days I'll be frantically packing up and heading home!!) and so is currently occupying a fairly large amount of my concentration. Of course, in order to get to that spring break, I need to push through some fairly significant academic hurdles which require more than a partially-diverted mind. So, I've been at a bit of an impasse these past few days. Add that in with the sinus infection/death cold that has been plaguing me since Friday, giving me such bad headache that I had double vision and actually couldn't read, and I've been getting a little stressed about my lack of productivity.
In the light of this stress, I was looking for a little home remedy. And what was the first thing I turned towards?
A little dose of comfort food. More specifically, grilled cheese sandwiches - my favorite 'home-for-a-rainy-day' food of all time (and and high in the running of all time favorite growing up food, right up there with mac n cheese, homemade pesto, and chicken/chik'n nuggets with stuffing and peas). As far as I can tell, the British don't really get the joys of the GC - they would probably call it a "cheese toasty" or some such hogwash - and so it's been months since I've even laid eyes on one of these beauties, let alone enjoyed one myself.
(nom nom nom nom)
So, a few nights ago I went out to Sainsbury's, bought my first loaf of bread in the UK (I don't really eat bread otherwise unless it's a baguette smothered in brie), and got cooking. I was a little nervous because Pa is the go-to grilled cheese chef of the house, and every one of my previous attempts has resulted in a smoking and charred mess - since I've already set off the fire alarm once, I was really hoping not to do it again!
(oooh ahhh - so buttery and delicious! A pretty damn fine GC if I do say so myself)
Fortunately I got it right this time and ooooh lordy it was good. Crispy and buttery on the outside, warm and cheesy on the inside, piping hot out of the pan and smothered in as much ketchup as I could get on every bite. It was a wonderful little taste of America, even when I'm currently feeling very far from home. Now back to studying!!
this is one of my favourites, too. the British love cheese on toast, which is really just a one-sided grilled cheese, but the concept of the American style grilled cheese hasn't quite made it over the pond to them.
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