Grown-up Grilled Cheese

I recall a time in my younger days (since I'm so very old now) when my eldest sister took great pleasure in feeding me. On one occasion, I got paid to eat a spoonful of ketchup. Another time, while she was working for a Chinese restaurant down the street, it was the some sort of sesame sauce. There were variations on the theme of boxed macaroni and cheese. And I have become forever wary of tofu based on my first exposure that, to the best of my recollection, involved firm tofu squares slathered in peanut butter. The list goes on.

In all fairness, my memory of these experiences is hazy at best. For all I know, my sister was the greatest adolescent cook this side of the Mississippi and my youthful pallet wasn't mature enough to appreciate such delicacies. Anyone favored enough to eat with her now certainly wouldn't find the claim too far off base. However, more realistically, she was as good an experimental cook as anyone else her age, but was unfortunate enough to have a little sister permanently embed her early misadventures into long-term cranial storage.

Despite all the flops, there is one flourish that became a family hit. My big sister opened my eyes to the world of grilled cheese simply by adding some mayo and tomato. I remember standing in the kitchen as she added slices of tomato to our pre-grilled sandwiches amidst a tutorial on the virtue of black pepper in tomato soup ("you can never have too much pepper" she said, which I can now tell you is entirely false, but that is beside the point). At that precise moment grilled cheese became exciting again.

We had grilled cheese for lunch today and as I cut a tomato I reminisced about the many lessons I've learned from my sister. I was even inspired to add a grown-up twist of my own . . . spinach and avocado.

That's a little bite of heaven right there.