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The Grilled Cheese Invitational, who knew?
Paul Sassone
Updated: April 16, 2012 3:04PM
I was watching “The Price is Right’’ the other morning because ...
Well, because I, um ...
Shut up!
I can watch what I want.
So, like I said, I was watching “The Price is Right.’’ And one of the prizes was two tickets to the Grilled Cheese Invitational, which will be held April 28 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
This contest has been going on for 10 years.
Why has this been kept from me?
A good grilled cheese sandwich is the best sandwich ever invented, narrowly easing out the BLT.
I thought that the love of a good grilled cheese sandwich was pretty much limited to me and all 5-year-olds.
Now I learn there is a whole contest — a 10-year-old contest — full of hundreds, maybe thousands of people who love grilled cheese.
No, I am not going to the contest, either as a spectator or participant. I can’t afford the trip. And besides, I already make a good grilled cheese sandwich. Even my wife thinks they are good. Though I often wonder if the praise she lavishes on me as a grilled cheese maker is just so that she won’t have to make them.
I learned how to make grilled cheese from my father, a down-to-earth kind of cook. You take a well-used frying pan. Melt a goodly amount of butter in it.
The sandwich should consist of white bread and American cheese. I prefer Land O’Lakes yellow American cheese from the deli counter, where I have it cut thick. I think thick-cut American cheese melts better than thinly cut cheese.
Insert sandwich into frying pan. Flip sandwich frequently until bread is crispy dark brown and cheese is beginning to ooze.
Remove sandwich and eat — or give it to your wife, who is giving you that look, and then make another for yourself.
This is not the only way to make a grilled cheese sandwich, merely the best.
But I have an open mind. Do you have a better way? I’d like to hear it.
Meanwhile, I’ll keep my eye on the Internet for results from the Grilled Cheese Invitational. They may have some good ideas I can try at home.
After all, they are grilled cheese lovers and thus my brothers and sisters.
