Day 45: The best grilled cheese

Recently I haven't been cooking very much.  Once in a while I'll do a cooking night with a friend, and we make an attempt to try something new each time.  So far we have only had great results, leading me to believe that cooking is nowhere near as hard as I think it is -- but somehow I always find that come dinner time, hunger has found me all of a sudden, long after I should have in theory started to prepare a meal.

All of this goes to say -- sometimes when you want a grilled cheese sandwich (even though it is perhaps one of the easiest hot meals to prepare, ever), you gotta go find one in the urban jungle, and not in your own kitchen.  And by sometimes, I mean an embarrassingly high proportion of the time, in my case.

I try to keep this blog thing upbeat, but the story of today is that after having purchased and eaten a perfectly delicious grilled cheese at Charlie's, our crew relocated briefly to the Cellar, and this gal was faced with a sad fact: the best grilled cheese in Cambridge had evaded me for the evening.  I find the Cellar to be one of the most charming pubs in Cambridge -- nice restaurant on top, basement (but not dungy) bar on the bottom.  But hands-down, the best thing about the place is their perfect combo of tomato soup and the best-grilled, cheesiest sandwich in the 'hood.  But never fret, for there were wiser souls alongside who avoided the trap, and even offered up some of the soup to share.

Goal: perfect a home-made version of this meal before next winter.

Day 18: The Beer Garden

I know I have mentioned it in a number of posts, but the beer garden at Charlie's Kitchen is the real show-stealer in Harvard Square. From what I hear, it is actually one of two locations in H. Square with outdoor seating in the summer, though also from what I hear, the other place "is a shitshow."  I supposed I'll report back on that at some point this summer.

Anyhow, if it's one of those first nice spring days, it's going to be packed -- and so worth waiting for a seat. Tonight was one of those nights where someone sent out an impromptu emailing saying she'd be there at 6p, and people crawled out of the woodwork for some open-air celebration in a cozy back corner outdoors, a few of us crouching on the steps leading up to a higher-level street.  For once I didn't get my standby order - grilled cheese on white. Only two places in C-bridge top Charlie's grilled cheese, and that is only because they come with tomato soup.  It is sort of the perfect meal.

Methinks the MIT sailing pavilion will open soon... sailing is definitely on the bucket list for this summer.  I sort of want to get an actual bucket. And make a list on it. Or in it. And carry it around with me for when I have new ideas.