My Best Bread Yet

Where? DG

With? Christina and Claire

Rating: 9.5/10

Details: Homemade Country French Bread with Cheddar and Turkey Slices

Count: 22/5000

This is easily one of the best Grilled Cheeses I have made thus far. Everything was incredible! Starting from the outside, the bread, which I made last night, was perfectly crisp on the edges and still light and fluffy on the inside. The Cheddar was the best that I've had here in Vienna, not a huge statement since it is difficult to get Cheddar here of any consequence, but it was very sharp and perfect for Grilled Cheese. I threw in a little of the meat I had, which worked out really well, because Turkey has such a light flavor it complemented the strong Cheddar perfectly!

The bread itself was one of the things that put over the top, and I got the recipe from All Recipes if you are interested in some good bread, it is a bit of a time investment, but if you plan well then you will have incredible homemade baguette in no time! As you may notice, I did one of the loaves in a bread pan, so that I would have sandwich bread, which worked out just fine, I think it just took a little bit longer to bake.

Grilled Cheese Activist

Where? A bench at the Schottentor U-Bahn Station

With? A bunch of protesters

Rating: 6/10

Details: Irish Cheddar and Käsewurst on Anker wheat bread

Count: 21/5000

This is the second time this week, I've made this Grilled Cheese in the morning and packed it up to take with me for lunch. The concept is simply, Irish Cheddar and Käsewurst, which ended up being an amazing combination, since the power of the Irish Cheddar evened out the Käsewurst, so it was a balanced sandwich. Only problem is eating it several hours later definitely affects the quality. Alas, a 6 is the highest rating I could give.

While enjoying my Grilled Cheese on the day I snapped this photo, I was on a bench waiting to meet a friend at Uni Wien. I also snapped the following photo of the protesters, who were voicing their concerns over immigration issues, a hot topic here in Wien, because a family - two young daughters and their father - was deported, while their mother was here in the hospital unable to be deported. Outrage ensued as efforts were made to reunite the family, which eventually did happen. Either way, it was an interesting lunch.

College Kid Meal

Where? Dürergasse

With? Meine Mitbewohnerin

Rating: 7.5/10

Details: Hausgemachtes weisses Brot mit Cheddar Käse und ein Bisschen Parmesan

Count: 19/5000

A real classic Grilled Cheese! The bread was great for Grilled Cheese and crisped up pretty well, but the cheddar wasn't too sharp, so it wasn't as good as it could've been, but with the side of pears, tomatoes and wurst (can you tell I am college student working with what's in her small section of the fridge?) it was pretty good!

Two Grilled Cheese in One Day

Where? Apt 15

With? Der Tisch

Rating: 8/10

Details: That same Gorgonzola-esque cheese, Parmigiano Geggiano, and a little bit of gouda to hold it all together on homemade ciabatta bread

Count: 18/5000

This turned out so well! A great mix of cheeses, with a higher proportion of gouda to the other stronger flavored cheeses, made it super duper awesome. The homemade ciabatta didn't hurt either. I enjoyed my meal with Käsewurst, a cheesy sausage and some grapes.

And then later today...

Rating: 8/10

Details: Gouda and Käsewurst on the last 2 pieces of homemade ciabatta bread

Count: 19/5000

Okay, so the lameness of the gouda plus the awesomeness of the Wurst created a godliness of a Grilled Cheese. If you are going to have Wurst, you might as well have it in Vienna! Wurst, for those of you who don't know, is essentially sausage, but here it is a million times better than in the US! All in all a great day for Grilled Cheese!

First Grilled Cheese in the new Household!

Where: My new Apartment in Vienna!

With: My new roommie Christina!

Rating: 4.5/10

Details: An Austrian cheese, which tastes similar to Gorgonzola, on a simple white bread

Count: 17/5000

I really need to figure out what different types of cheeses are called in german. This gorgonzola-esque cheese was very good, but strong, and the flavor alone on white bread, proved fatal. But the bread was amazing grilled cheese bread! It was the cheapest bread in the store and a basic butter white bread and it was perfect! It crisped amazingly and had a ton of crunch. Unfortunately my first Grilled Cheese in the Apartment was disappointing, but it is only the beginning!

Camp Update

Where: YMCA Camp Timbers, only the best place in the world!

With: A gazillion crazy campers

Rating: 3/10

Details: Sliced cheddar on white

Count: 16/5000 (Don't worry I didn't eat 11 in one sitting, this covers the whole summer of 2010)

Although I am currently in the Austrian Alps, eating schnitzel and dumplings, I had a conversation today with another student about Grilled Cheese - they weren't particularly fond of the schnitzel. As we discussed one of the finest things in life and the upcoming Grilled Cheese Parties we will be having, I remembered that I had yet to post about my Grilled Cheese experience at the incredible YMCA Camp Timbers. I must preface my review with the simple statement that almost all of the food at camp is delicious (cue "dun dun dun" music in your head). Unfortunately, the Grilled Cheese is subpar in my mind. The biggest problem isn't really the Grilled Cheese itself, which right off the grill, is actually quite good. It is the time which it takes to make 150+ Grilled Cheese and then serve them to all of the campers and camp staff. It just looses it's crunch.

In spite of the less than quality Grilled Cheese, it is still my favorite lunch meal! There is even at Grilled Cheese song at camp, which I believe is the only way to really begin a Grilled Cheese meal at camp and it goes a little something like...

Clap 8 times! (Short Long Short Long Short Long Short Long)

GRILLED CHEESE!

Clap 8 times! (Short Long Short Long Short Long Short Long)

GRILLED CHEESE!

Clap 8 times! (Short Long Short Long Short Long Short Long)

GRILLED CHEESE!

AHHH GRILLED CHEESE!!! (Loud cheers and chants)

Procrastination is the Key to a Good Grilled Cheese

Where: Home Sweet Home

With: My shadow

Rating: 8.5/10

Details: Dubliner cheese on thinly sliced ciabatta bread

Count: 5/5000

I am out of the dorms for good! I finished moving home yesterday and figured today would be the perfect day for a celebratory Grilled Cheese! I set out to make my Grilled Cheese and realized the only bread we really had in the house was the ciabatta my dad had bought for our spaghetti dinner last night. It wasn't really ciabatta, since it was bought from the local grocery store, rather it was more like a cross between italian and ciabatta bread, no where near the holiness you get when you make it yourself, which made it perfect bread for Grilled Cheese! I figured I would use my Dubliner cheese, which I treated myself to during finals, since ciabatta does have a flavor of it's own and I wanted a strong cheese flavor to counter that and it worked out very well actually. The bread browned beautifully and was incredibly crispy. I used thin slices of cheese, because it is so strong, which was definitely the right choice. It was a bit odd, because ciabatta and Dubliner didn't go perfectly together, but with the addition of my homemade tomato "soup," it was absolutely perfect!

I really wanted tomato soup to go with my Grilled Cheese once I had thought up what I was going to do, but I didn't want that processed Campbell's crap we keep on hand. This was going to be a baller sandwich, it deserved a baller soup. That and my 12 page paper I still have to finish was getting very tiresome and I wanted to prolong my time in the kitchen. My dad had just come back from the store with a thing of tomatoes, so I quartered four of them, threw some evoo in a pot, tossed in the tomatoes in on medium heat, added salt, pepper and basil to taste and voila! Fresh tomato "soup!" I say "soup" because I was too lazy, in spite of my looming paper, to pull out the blender and puree it, but the chunky worked out fine. The freshness of all the flavors worked out really really well, and if I were to rate the meal it would be a 10/10, but the sandwich alone was sadly only worth the 8.5, I guess I am still hunting for perfection.

Rachel's Quick and Easy Tomato and Basil "Soup"

Serves one bowl

Prep Time: 50 seconds

Cook Time: As long as the Grilled Cheese takes

4 medium tomatoes

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Basil

Pepper

Salt

After quartering the tomatoes, cover the bottom of a medium sauce pan with EVOO and turn on medium heat. Add the tomatoes and season with basil, pepper and salt to taste. (If I weren't so lazy today, I would have seasoned more and thrown in some garlic and a little bit of onion). Cover and let simmer until the tomatoes are soft and the skins fall off. Crush the tomatoes and continue to simmer for another few minutes. Remove from heat and either serve as is, which will be more like a sauce (in fact you could easily use doctor this recipe for a quick and easy marinara), or puree the soup until desired consistency. If you don't want to puree at the end like me and you want yours less chunky, you could dice the tomatoes or remove the skins when the tomatoes soften.

EQ Fail! Rachel Win!

Where: EQ Caf

With: Johnald and Meredith

Rating: 2/10

Details: Poorly and partially grilled white bread with rubbery American cheese

Count: 3.5/5000

Rating: 9/10

Details: A piece of white bread folded in half with cream cheese, cheddar, blue cheese and mozzarella in between.

Count: 4/5000

After a disappointing first attempt at Grilled Cheese day in the caf, I decided to make myself a grilled cheese. Making a grilled cheese for yourself in the caf is always interesting, because you never know what kind of cheese there will be lying around. Today, I found cream cheese, cheddar, blue cheese and mozzarella and figured why not combine them all?! Risks make life more fun. It actually turned out really really well, I think mostly because of the weird addition of cream cheese, which was surprisingly good. A little bit overpowering, I think the proportions could have been better, but overall a good decision!

4 Cheese Grilled Cheese

Where: Mi casa

With: Mi familia

Rating: 8/10

Details: 2 provolone slices filled with parmesan, mozzarella, and a touch of cheddar on whole wheat bread

Count: 2.5/5000

Gotta love an Easter Sunday Grilled Cheese! Since mi madre y hermana are out of town on Spring Break, we are having a pretty low key Easter celebration. Without our the typical big family meal, I had to fend for myself and of course the first thing I saw upon opening the fridge was the vast supply of cheese! So, I figured today would be the perfect day to make my own Grilled Cheese - especially since I just started this whole endeavor and it is on my mind.

The cheese combo in this was incredible, the only downside was the bread, which was too flavorful so the cheeses weren't the highlight. Since provolone was the basis of this cheese combo, it provided a stark contrast to Fridays all American Grilled Cheese. The subtle provolone was accented perfectly by the small sprinkles of parmesan and cheddar, and the mozzarella simply gave the whole mix a creamier texture and flavor. Overall, bravo self! I simply just need different bread.

Grilled Cheese Aspiration

On the first day, Rachel ate 1 and a half Grilled Cheeses. And it was good.

Where: EQ Cafe

With: My roommate, Meredith

Rating: 4.5/10

Details: American Cheese on Wheat Bread, undercooked

Count: 1.5/5000

My Grilled Cheese life aspiration began at a meal like any other; a meal in the East Quad cafeteria with good friends, lively conversation, and bland food. After a long discussion of the current food failure, the topic turned to the next day's exciting meal option: Grilled Cheese. Grilled Cheese day in the caf is a holy day for those with meal plans. This week the build up began about a week in advance when Grilled Cheese appeared on the menu, Meredith and I wasted no time making plans for the glorious meal. As the day approached , Meredith and I texted back and forth, I casually brought up Grilled Cheese in the Bell Tower elevator, and at that fateful lunch before, it was decided: I would begin counting my Grilled Cheeses until I reach 5000. So begins my epic journey. Please, enjoy.