There are a few food things in life that don’t require a recipe. Grilled cheeses and cereal are two in particular. Yet… there are cookbooks on grilled cheeses, come to think of it.  Maybe I stand corrected on that. Anyway…guess what?! It was brought to my attention that several things on my birthday list can be crossed off:

#30 make a tiered cake

#27 make lots of cakes

#6) get a Nikkor 50mm 1.4 lens (this came from my mama as a “late” birthday check-ya-hoo!)

And,  coming up this weekend:

# 14) meet up with local food bloggers

Now… I’m thinking about adding more  things since there were some cross offs…hmmm. What do you think?

Back to food-now- this isn’t the white bread and American that mama made..although I won’t say a bad word about that one-it’s just a classic. This one is modernized; with whole grain bread and sharp cheddar and thinly sliced bell pepper in between. There may not be an actual recipe here- but there are a few tips and tricks I have read about making that perfect grilled cheese, You know the one, crisp buttery salty crust oozing with good quality cheese….mmmm.

Now: the “tips” I have learned… it think I read them in Cooks Illustrated…I think….

1) fresh bread- I used this because the dear folks at Foodbuzz send me free food sometimes. (thanks guys!)

I didn’t feel too guilty about indulging in a grilled cheese, since this bread was so healthy.

Another blogger deep-fried hers. Now… that looked tas-tee!

Tip 2: Use good shredded cheese. It melts more evenly.

Tip # 3: Brush the outside of the bread with melted salted butter.

and… tip #4 a HOT cast iron skillet

Finally, this is a tip for myself next time…

ummm, cut the peppers smaller so that they don’t come out when you separate the sandwich. Silly me.