The other night I came home from work at my typical time around 10pm. After looking around my kitchen and realizing I had nothing to eat that could be made quickly, I remembered I had spent a small fortune on a tiny block of Scottish red cheddar in Hiroshima last week. Grilled cheese! As I took my first bite of a proper grilled cheese (non of this processed cheese slice crap), I realized I can follow the timeline of my life through various grilled cheese stages.
My earliest memory of grilled cheese is staying home from school sick as a child. My lunchtime meal would almost always be the perfect grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup, prepared by my dad. I was one of those kids who played sick quite often. Always the planner, at the start of every month, I would pick the day I wanted to be sick. I would begin the night before at the supper table by complaining my stomach hurt and not eating and then going to bed early. The next morning before my alarm went off I would hide under all my blankets to give the illusion of having a fever for when my mother came to wake me. Sometimes under my bed I would even hide talcum powder to put on my face so I looked pale. My mother would leave for work and my father would go outside to do chores and I was free until lunchtime when he would come in and make me the ultimate meal.
In university, it became one of my staple foods, along with Kraft Dinner, hot dogs, and instant noodles. Now, I enjoy cooking (as my waistline shows) but back then I hated it and didn't have the time to worry about proper nutrition so all I needed was a giant block of Cheddar from Costco, a freezer full of homemade bread from mom and a giant bottle of Heinz ketchup and I was set.
After my second year of uni, my true gypsy nature got a hold of me and I took off to Australia for a year. My boyfriend in Australia was obsessed with grilled cheese and he probably made the best I had ever tasted. I don't know how it's possible but I was addicted. Perhaps he sprinkled some crack into it? Or maybe the sandwich maker he used gave it a little extra something by sealing the edges and the flavour in, rather than the usual oven or stove top version.
Perhaps my most fond memories of grilled cheese (or cheese toasties as they're called in the U.K.) are of in Scotland and coming home to the hostel in Drum at a ridiculous hour with the munchies. Because it was Drum, there were no shops open at 3am to get the usual British drunk food of kebabs or chips. So it was up to us to feed our own cravings and it more often than not ended up being a cheese toastie (unless of course a tour group had just been in and then we would steal their leftover chicken). The whole gang would ascend on the outside kitchen and we would drunkenly slave over the stove making our cheese toasties, with more than a few accidents, leading us to the motto 'Cooking when drunk is a recipe for disaster'. At the festivals we would even sometimes serve various cheese toasties such as cheese and leek, cheese and tomato, or *WAIT FOR IT* CHEESE AND BACON!!!! How did I not think of such a brilliant concoction before? I do apologize to all my vegetarian friends, but this is literally the most amazing sandwich in the world and you don't know what you're missing.
Returning to Canada after any extended travelling I also have fond memories of Harry Potter days with my best friend while eating grilled cheese or my room mate bringing me a plate of greasy goodness as I lie in bed hungover after a very welcoming welcome back party. One of the few remaining happy memories I have of 'the ex' is even of cooking grilled cheese over the campfire at Pike Lake.
In Japan I've been making Japanese grilled cheese. The recipe is as follows: Squeezy butter, crappy processed cheese slices (or expensive imported cheese from shop in Hiroshima), and expensive Japanese bread. Make as you would in any other country but eat it in Japan. And there you have Japanese grilled cheese.
The history of grilled cheese, according to Wikipedia dates back to ancient times. Apparently it was a common food in the Great Depression of the 1920's, due to its cheap ingredients. It is common in cultures around the world, due to both cheese and bread being a staple, easily available, cheap(ish) food. I even like cold grilled cheese sandwiches. But this is coming from a person who prefers cold coffee and warm beer. Grilled cheese is the food that goes with me wherever I go, the ultimate comfort food.
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