We'll call this a "Learning Opportunity"

When I was a kid I used to think the world was awash in magic. 

Kitchens in chain restaurants were magical places where the food was all-you-could-eat and there were special magical elixers that made food taste better than anything you could get at home. It was pretty much the same deal at the movie theater - wherever it was they pulled the candy from when you ordered it must’ve looked a bit like Homer’s “Land of Chocolate” from Burns Verkaufen Der Kraftwerk. It’s not like that, of course - the candy is stored in a cabinet under the counter (one that’s uniquely vulnerable to mouse infestation) and kitchens at chain restaurants are catastrophic displays of corporate earnings over care for customers, ingredients, or taste. There’s nothing special. I worked in a movie theater concession stand for 2 years, about half a year longer than I wanted to - but there was this one girl I really wanted to nail. I’ve worked for 2 separate major chains - and the kitchens are surprisingly similar: the wrong equipment for the wrong jobs, food that sits under heat lamps and on steam tables, way more dirty than the average simpleton would like to imagine... yada yada yada. Like anything though, I like to turn it into a learning opportunity. There’s a reason kids like these places: they’re simple, generic food designed to appeal to the most people possible - The Grilled Cheese at one of these places simply involved 2 pieces of White Bread, Processed American Cheese, and that wonderful sort of liquid artificial butter made from God knows what. You put the cheese between the slices of bread, brushed the butter on the outside using a pastry brush, and either put it on the sandwich press or toasted it in a sauté pan simple as that. They could sell $0.50 worth of ingredients to some screaming kid and their self important entitled mother for $5. I’ll give them that, they know what they’re doing.

But knowing that technique, it’s not hard to adapt it to make something that’s actually worth eating, So today I’ll go with the simplest go-to meal I make whenever I don’t really feel like cooking.

Grilled Cheese w/ Tomato & Arugula Salad

Ingredients:
2 Slices Whole Grain Bread
1 oz. Cheddar Cheese (sliced 1/8th inch thick)
3 TBSP Melted Butter
Whole Tomato, Sliced ¼ inch thick.
1 TBSP Olive Oil

Process:
Turn the burner on your stove to high
Put the olive oil in a saute pan or a cast-iron skillet.
Place the Cheese and the Tomato between the slices of bread.
Brush the outside of the sandwich with butter
Once the pan is hot, place the sandwich in the center.
Turn off the heat. Allow the sandwich to toast for about 1 minute
Turn on the heat to medium. Check for a golden-brown color, once that is reached, flip the sandwich over.
Allow to toast until golden brown & the cheese is melted.
Remove, Slice in half serve with Arugula Salad.

Arugula & Goat Cheese Salad

Ingredients:
A handful of Arugula (2 oz by weight)
2 Tbsp Crumbled Goat Cheese
¼ C. Candied Pecans
1/3 oz. Balsamic Vinegar
2/3 oz. Olive Oil
Salt
Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

Process:
Toss together the Arugula, the Candied Pecans, the Vinegar, and the Olive Oil.
Arrange the salad on a plate.
Top with Goat Cheese
Add Salt and Pepper to taste.