So Maybe I CAN'T Make a Good Sandwich

Scene: In the kitchen just before lunch. Mom is busy with preparations.

Amber: "Hey Mom, can I help?"

Mom: "Oh yes - I'm glad you came out. You can cut the cheese for the grilled cheese sandwiches while I finish cutting these vegetables."

(Mom gestures towards the stove, where four slices of buttered bread are sitting in the frying pan, topped by four more buttered slices. They wait for cheese to be put between them.)

Amber: "Sure." (Opens package of cheese and begins to slice.)

...Time Passes... (Amber finishes slicing cheese, puts the cheese in the sandwiches, and puts the remaining cheese away.)

Mom: (While passing the stove) "Dear, you have to turn the burner on."

Amber: "Oh. I thought it was on already."

Mom: "No, I was waiting for the cheese."

Amber: "Oh. ...Mom, that reminds me of a funny story I read today."

(Mom turns burner on, and goes to the refrigerator for something.)

Amber: "Mom?"

Mom: "I'm listening. Keep an eye on the grilled cheese while you talk."

(Amber grabs a spatula, and proceeds to tell her mother the funny story she read; all about how a mother thought she had burned her house down when she left an oven on when she was gone, but how really the food in the oven was stone cold because she hadn't turned the oven on.

During this process, Amber remembers to flip the grilled cheese once. She finishes the story, and is pleased to see her mother laughing heartily. She goes over to the cupboard to get a plate for the grilled cheese sandwiches.)

Amber: "Now I'll flip these.... Ohhhhhh." (Amber is deeply distressed to see that the underside of the sandwiches are a lovely, crisp, hearty BLACK.)

Mom: "You know, I told you they don't take long to cook."

Amber: (whimpering) "I know."

Mom: "And I think the burner was on too high."

(Amber just nods, still staring at what she has created.)

Mom: "Well, give them to Curt - he'll eat them."

(Brother Curtis enters the kitchen.)

Curtis: "What will I eat?"

Amber: gulp. "These?"




So maybe I hadn't made a grilled cheese sandwich in several months. You would think I'd still remember how to do it.

All in all, I think Curtis summed it up best, as he got out the bread and butter, and began to make his own sandwiches:

"The way to get perfect grilled cheese....is to have DAD make them."

I agree!