Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup (not what you may think...)

Grilled Cheese is a classic. The classic comfort food (feel free to dispute!). And like all classics, whether it's a Led Zeppelin song, Beethoven's Fur Elise, or the grilled cheese sandwich, putting your own spin on it-making a cover of it, so to speak-is not only welcomed but encouraged in my world.

Yours truly enjoying an American Grilled Cheese
@ The Grilled Cheese Grill Food Cart in the Alberta Arts District, Portland, Oregon

(Yes, if it ain't broke don't fix it. But, you see, I'm not trying to fix anything, or re-create it, or say that something was inherently or at all wrong about the original. I'm just doing my thing, inspired by the one and only original. That's what I call respect.)

Anyways, my mum and I went out for a detox spa treatment today and I decided a few days ago that I was going to treat her and my boyfriend to a homemade special lunch.

The Hungarian Grilled Cheese Sandwich
courtesy of  all you need is cheese 

The menu: Tomato Fennel Soup & Hungarian Grilled Cheese Sandwich. Yum!
Total Ingredients: 10 and 4, respectively
Cost: low
Difficulty Level: 5/10 (easy!)
Deliciousness Level: 8/10 (yum!)
Customer Rating ("customers" being my mum and my boyfriend): 4.5/5 (grand success!)

Even on a summer's day (perhaps not a plus-30 one) this meal would make for a great lunch! Making soups and sandwiches are seriously fun for me; they always seem less daunting than grand dinner dishes that I take one look at and turn away from in disdain. (I was looking at a Thanksgiving cooking course the other day and as soon as I saw that a recipe for a whole oven-baked turkey was going to be part of it, well, let's just say I'm not considering that class anymore.)

The soup recipe is from Company's Coming Soups cookbook and the sandwich is from the 2010 Fall Issue of all you need is cheese. The former you can easily find in any bookstore (or Zellers, or Home Outfitters, etc.) and the latter is free in many grocery stores. I will include both recipes in a following post for your thorough enjoyment.
P.S.: This issue of all you need is cheese is dedicated to the grilled cheese, so eat your heart out from the basic Italian panini to the more decadent Curry Me Brie by Chef Paul Rogalski or the seriously luxe French Toast Grilled Cheese by Chef Melissa Craig of Bearfoot Bistro in Whistler.

The Fledgling Basement Foodie is Back!

I can't believe it! It has been nearly two weeks since I have posted on my blog. I guess I wasn't feeling the creative foodie juices, plus I have been in Portland for the last five days.

As for the results of my FBF's second poll, looks like we are a divided people when it comes to where our preferences lie for favourite comfort food, but Grilled Cheese is ultimately the winner!

Bread, Butter, Cheese, Victory!

There is much more to come on Grilled Cheese on FBF, as I did make it to one of my chosen food hot spots while in PDX: The Grilled Cheese Grill food cart on NE Alberta. And my grilled goodness, it was worth it. A low-down of my foodie experience in Portland will also be on the blog, spread out over the next few days. 

This post is more to let people know that I am back and that I am still in love with food.

Also, there is a new poll going up today. The topic being...drum roll please...what is your favourite mexican food? Mine? Well, that'd have to be tacos. With mole, salsa, lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese, and maybe some chipotle sauce for good spicy measure. Ground or shredded beef is best, but fish tacos are very refreshing. Crunch, drool, yum!

JapaWhat? JapaWho? Japa-Dog!

Japadog: Destination point for both visitors and residents of Vancouver alike. Has been on my culinary must-have list for years. Finally, today was the day. I came, I saw, I ordered, I ate, I loved. I didn't actually know until today that there are two Japadog locations, luckily for me I was close to the Pender stand today. It seems they've upped their prices a bit, but hey, why not? Get as much money as you can from the dumb Olympic tourists who are already flooding the city. Plus, they are worth it. I ordered the Ume dog: pork hot dog with layers of criss-crossed white and red onions, topped with Japanese plum sauce. Delish! Hot dogs don't normally sit well in my stomach, mostly because of the high salt content of the dog and the wheat of the bun. However-Hallelujah!-this was not the case with The Ume. It felt pretty damn good. And it was really tasty. (The lone young man working there was super sweet too!) I didn't add any extra condiments, but I think I will next time. The Ume just seemed perfect on its own, with plenty of sweet and delicate flavour, which likely would have been marred by ketchup, mustard, and the like. One more culinary goal checked off the list. One more item had on Vancouver Magazine's 101 Things To Taste (Before You Die).
On a foodie side note here: I just read about The Milk Truck, a new and upcoming mobile food service in the city of cities, New York, that will be serving gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. Oh...My...God. That may be the very first place I go when I go to New York (which is a hypothetical trip, but one I will go on in the next year I have promised to myself). Wow. This is the best idea ever. New York, New York. A faraway lover that I have never met, only known of through others who have loved you as well. When will we meet? When will my unrequited love be exchanged for a full-on affair? Ahhh. Until then...

The Grilled Cheese

The Grilled Cheese. A classic. The classic. Everyone loves a grilled cheese. Maybe there are some GC lovers out there who aren't too picky or discerning about their grilled cheese; what bread, cheese, condiments, sides, and grilling methods are used to produce this very North American of foods might not matter to some. The simple combination of heat, cheese, and bread is enough. But for those like myself-no snob culinaire by any means-the type of bread, the kind and amount of cheese, and any extra ingredients or sides or flair matters. Thick, heavy rye bread? Not so much. The focus should be on the cheese, period. But let's make a point here, I don't want no Wonderbread grilled cheese. White bread is not bread; it's nutrient-less fluff. A good solid multigrain or Squirrelly bread works nicely. But, having a gut that is adverse to wheat and wheat gluten, I make my grilled cheese with European Breads Bakery Spelt Bread. And it works wonderfully. Now, to involuntarily prove the point that I am not a snob culinaire, I prefer my homemade grilled cheese with thin Kraft Singles (Lucerne variety is fine)-three of them to be specific-and maybe some ham or salami as well. Ketchup on the side? Sometimes, depends on my mood. Ewww, gross, you must be thinking. Kraft singles? That isn't even cheese. Yeah, you're right. But I can't help it. It's just like my taste for Coca-Cola. Toxic shit many would say. Yeah, I don't care though. I fucking love that toxic shit.
However, I have an open mind when it comes to most things in life, and that of course includes food. Delicious grilled cheese sandwiches can be had with real live cheese. Andrew Morrison's recent description and rave review of Au Petit Chavignol's Croque-Monsieur is luring me ever more each day to that East Hastings establishment. Also, another foodie article in The Westender on the best winter comfort food in town  has been yapping away in my head at my gut telling me to get my ass down to Deacon's Corner on Main for the one of the best grilled cheeses in town. Other recent honourable mentions in The $20 Gourmet's article just on grilled cheese include: Hub Restaurant & Lounge, and The Templeton. To be honest, neither appeal to me. But Deacon's Corner and Au Petit Chavignol are calling my name. Calling, calling, c-a-l-l-i-n-g, calling, c-a-l-l-i-n-g.