Tuesday Morning Wake-Up Call

Posted on by Live & Learn

There was nothing I wanted more than a grilled cheese sandwich, and I ordered it with a coffee. I was so looking forward to a really cheesy one—a grilled cheese sandwich just oozing with cheese. I thought about it as I waited, then accepted from the man at the counter a white paper plate, with a sandwich wrapped in foil that was white on the outside and silvery on the inside to keep it really warm… I eagerly unwrapped the sandwich, but when I bit into it, it was soggy, and there was almost no cheese. It was not what I wanted, not what I had been picturing, but I adjusted myself to the reality of it. Better to have a good imagination than a good grilled cheese sandwich, I told myself.

~ Sheila Heti, How Should a Person Be?: A Novel 

Photo: Everybody Loves to Eat

166 thoughts on “Tuesday Morning Wake-Up Call”

    1. They are!

      “When I make a film,” Jean Cocteau wrote, “it is a sleep in which I am dreaming. Only the people and places of the dream matter.”

      ~ Linn Ullmann, ”Unquiet: A Novel” (W. W. Norton & Company, January 15, 2019)

    2. Would you believe there are heathens out there who don’t understand that oh-so perfect combo? I think they had a terrible childhood…

      1. I never have them together. Tomato soup is something I just started liking. I’ll have it if it’s there but wouldn’t look for it. But grilled cheese sandwiches were a big part of my childhood. With all kinds of cheese. Good cheese.

          1. I’m a very frugal person. But I won’t compromise my cheese.
            Everyone laughed at me at dinner few nights ago. Special work dinner, high end restaurant. Five stars, $$$$$$. But when I wanted tea after dinner I asked for hot water. And pulled my old-woman little ziploc bag from my purse with my teabags variety. Yes, I’ll pay for an expensive dinner. But not paying $5 for a cup of tea.

      3. Laughing… A serious deficiency in their growing up years, to be sure. Probably didn’t have 7-Up when they had an upset tummy or cold either. And I’m not even gonna guess whether they have known the sweet pleasures of a Chocolate Cow (that delicious ice cream float made with Coke and vanilla ice cream). Geesh…

        1. Oh! I bet they didn’t at that! Poor things.

          Well, my mom wouldn’t us to drink any cola so our occasional soft drink treat consisted of Orange Crush or Cream Soda (how I ever managed to drink anything so god-awful sweet back then, I’ll never understand)
          Laughing….

          4. Sawsan & David; LOL
            You ppl certainly know how to keep a conversation running….. I‘m starting to opt for a raclette now!!! 😉

          8. I tried to like this Shiela Heti. Not so sure now. She probably takes Hershey’s for chocolate too.

          10. We do not adjust to the reality of things. We make new realities.
            Also, it’s Tuesday. Adjust to that!

          12. OMG. Raclette is like a real word. Never heard of it. I thought it was a typo. “a “Swiss dish of melted cheese, typically eaten with potatoes.” So sorry I’m not up with you cultured ladies.

          14. Sorry for inserting myself here … but I think these ladies should take up a collection and buy you a raclette, Dave. Then you’ll really understand how good it is! We actually had raclette as our Christmas dinner a month and a half ago …

          2. There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who only eat good cheese/ good grilled cheese sandwich. And then there are those who eat anything if you put cheese on it, even if the cheese is bad!!!

        3. I have to agree with you, Sawsan. Unless you haven’t eaten for days, you don’t eat a soggy, gross grilled cheese – nor do you pay for it!

          2. And I’m killing myself laughing reading all the exchanges, I haven’t even left my OWN comment!
            And ironically, my son is eating a grilled cheese sandwich with a tomato soup!

          3. It got out of control here yesterday 😂
            And all day I was waiting for you, thinking, “Where is Dale when I really need he!”

          4. It was crazy!! I’m sad I missed it as my house was being inspected for the potential buyers (here from 10 am till 3-friggen-30) and then I was having a dinner party (joys of working in the service industry, is many of my peeps prefer week-nights) and so didn’t have time to play with ya’all!!

          9. I know, I know… and then I got really confused seeing Monday Morning Wake-Up Call, thinking bloody hell, thought it was Tuesday (because I actually read the original post yesterday, then got bogged down before being able to respond) and only being able to respond on Wednesday and finding this novella….

          16. Yep. Selling. Thought I had sold it. Guy had an issue with my roofing invoice and bailed. No comments on what I think of him right now.
            Tahiti? Nah…

          18. Soooooo pissed. Last night, during my dinner party, my agent is texting and calling me and letting me know it all fell through… cuss, swear. curse…

          20. All good. Friggen guy wanted my bed, my night tables, lamps, washer & dryer AND my office furniture for free…

          26. But wasting money is? No, no… you bring that soggy mess back, demand a refund then go buy something GOOD.

  8. Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
    So familiar with this … ‘. It was not what I wanted, not what I had been picturing, but I adjusted myself to the reality of it. Better to have a good imagination than a good grilled cheese sandwich, I told myself.’ ~ Sheila Heti, How Should a Person Be?: A Novel

  10. ah-h yes, melting buttery cheese and crisp bread! Since dreams are my field, what part of the dreamer would this sandwich represent??? hmm, cheese can be a metaphor for sex…

  11. Obviously, you didn’t provide an image of the bad grilled cheese sandwich, the one in this post looks pretty good to me! And definitely check out the raclette, it’s like an oil-less fondue, kinda sorta …

  12. LOL; WHAT have I done….?! I thought EVERYBODY knew what raclette is!
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raclette
    It’s the most delicious way of eating cheese, seriously…. But it’s not exactly a lightweight affair, this has to be said too. But hey, SO WORTH it. Have 2 tablets of bicarbonate sodium before the meal and get that crisp white or not too heavy red (optional tea) ready. It’s heaven. Get nice small spuds with it, pepper, or as we have it ‘raclette spice mixtures’, maybe small silvery onions (or onion rings), gherkins and voilà, you’re in…. Just don’t come and complain to me afterwards.
    So you see, something else the poor Swiss have invented. Although many places claim to have come up with the idea, we like to believe that it was the poor farmers with a few cows (for the cheese) and a patato field who invented it….. Being a generous person, I don’t fight over ownership – I just enjoy it.
    David, if I could, I would be delighted to invite you to a raclette right here and now. It made me really hungry and I wouldn’t know the last time that a non related post made me so mouthwatering drawn to this indulgence….. so much so that I phoned my sister and asked her if she could offer Hero Husband and me a raclette next Sunday when we visit! 🙂

      3. Ideally you have it rather for ‘lunch’ or during late-ish afternoon, as it really isn’t that light on the system. We were invited at my brother’s for 3pm and spent the first 90′ lining our stomachs with champagne, little ‘amuse-geules’ apero bites, cherry toms and cucumber slices, so that we wouldn’t be starved and eat too large portions in too little time. But the damage was limited by him serving all of us, approx 3hrs into the affair, his famous home-made grapefruit sorbet….. (I swear all of this is true – we didn’t eat anything afterwards until the evening of the next day).

    2. I am honestly shocked that David knows not what a raclette is. I think he’s been in the states too long…
      We regularly do raclette night in this house 😉
      And always with GOOD cheese 😉

        1. Of course I do. You still hold your Canadian citizenship… though you did live out west so… they don’t get anything French (like fondues and raclette…) Heathens.

          2. Bite. Your. Tongue. I was at every friggen NO rally they ever held… As an anglo living in Quebec, it has its hellish moments. Sooo frustrating.

          4. Yep. Crazy place to be at times, I tell ya. Mind you, I am what Trudeau Sr was hoping all Canadians would one day be – perfectly comfortable in both official languages…

      2. Yes, isn’t it rather surprising for a Canadian?! Although, when I was living in Toronto, the best Emmental cheese we could buy (and we had literally no money), was in a German Delicatessen!!!!! As was the Finnish Gruyère…. Good Lord, where have the Cheese Gods been when all this happened?! And THEN the Californians still made their wine in a wooden shed behind their modest home…..
        All we see now is Californian Chardonnay etc etc – and/or I have been getting very old before my time! Or both.

        1. Well… admittedly different areas of Canada take to different cultures. In Quebec, we have a bigger tendency to try things from French-speaking nations.
          You are a bigger cheese snob than either Sawson or I!
          Nah… I’m not into the American Wines (besides boycotting anything American, I can…)

          1. Dale, wrong word!!!! It’s called CLASS and not Snob!!!! You wouldn’t make the mistake of calling a Swiss living in Cheeseland France a SNOB would you?! I thought not…. 🙂

  13. 3bones & David: I’m ready to die with laughter. 3bones had a raclette at Christmas and he’s still ‘suffering’ from it – that’s priceless….. it’s not that heavy but if you say it was SO good that you still dream about it, you’re totally on track! It IS that good! You do need first class cheese though – I have had (in various places in various countries) some pretty awful ones – and some very classy ones too. Sometimes in the same country!
    The French (bizarrely) aren’t happy with ‘just’ a raclette – they serve charcuterie (cold cuts) and more greasy heavy stuff with it, which is something I really don’t get. As if they need an instant coronary! 😉

    1. Now I’m LAUGHING as well … remember the old “party lines” as the precursor to when we had individual telephone lines in Western Canada? I know Dave would remember, but not sure about Kiki … anyway, that’s exactly what this post has become, from a post about a party in your mouth to a post that brings back long ago memories about “party lines” …

      2. Don’t know about party lines and only was in Canada for a bit less than two years, a lifetime ago…. Now I’m totally intrigued!!!! More please! 🙂

          1. just checked this out, interesting and mildly amusing too. In the 70th when I lived in Canada for a bit, our land lady who not only owned the house we rented a flat in but also the meanest chihuahua, well, she worked in a senior position for Bell Telephone…. funny how life plays – hadn’t thought of that for a long time! Thanks for that snippet of useless but highly amusing info 🙂

  14. David, believe it or not, the best French fries are those at the big yellow M…. NOT in France! Or the deep-frozen FINE french fries that you cook without oil, just spread out on a sheet in the oven and voilà, after 18-20′ you are ready to get tucking in…. I wouldn’t mind French fries NOW either! But I’m not on a flight and I don’t have access to oven-frites now either so we shall both suffer in (relative) silence – WHERE has this post gone to!?!?

  15. Tuesday Wake Up Call indeed! I just learned of raclette last year in Paris at a pop up Christmas street fair. Now I’m lusting for both the cheese…and Paris. Dreams are a good thing.

  18. My mother was the Queen of Butter. When she made toasted cheese sandwiches she would butter both sides of the bread, she used real cheese not that imitation processed cheese! Oh, man so good…along with the bisque of tomato soup, for dipping. One day I discovered using mayo instead of butter – big game changer for me. We were probably out of butter <<hard to believe. My hubby & daughter must have there TC on Sourdough w, butter…myself being gluten free, pork, corn and grain free puts a damper on recreating a TC from yesteryear…when I could have real bread sometimes I'd add a slice of bologna to the mix or occasionally a sliced garlic dill pickle, oh yum. Ketchup is out of tomato soup!
    I still have this love of ketchup and our homemade is amazing as is the bbq ketchup at the gluten free restaurant…I am also brand loyal to one national brand of Ketchup, as there is no other 😉

  19. for those in Dallas:
    https://www.instagram.com/p/BCtktrnwJhF/?utm_source=ig_embed
    not a toasted cheese but Raclette fondue
    waywarddallas
    Pictured: Saint David’s raclette cheese fondue – served with root veggies, apples, pears and fresh baked bread. We just call it the Fountain of Delicious. Thanks for the pic, @eatthisdallas./// Ha, ha now this French cafe which doesn’t mention TC has a classically Delicious menu and they do deliver in Dallas – I so have to laugh at first I read her name as Endora and then saw the address and then I realized it was Edith…hmm, classic TV Endora (Bewitched) the cafe is on “Mockingbird Lane” (Adams Family) and Edith (cafe’s name reminds me of “All in the Family”) and this little spot looks good: https://www.cheeseandchutneytexas.com/ looks like a wide assortment of cheese, I did see a menu though photos of their cakes and sandwiches pass my inspection.

    2. Christie, sorry to correct you (i REALLY am….) but you either have a fondue or a raclette. There is NO ‘and’ – What this looks like is a Fondue, usually (normally) all you do you dunk a piece of baguette or (preferably stale) bread in the cheese, you retreat your fondue fork with the tasty morsel and you wind the liquid cheese around the piece of bread just like spaghetti and then you drive the goodies home into your mouth. You only eat Fondue with people you like, as you are all eating from one pot!!!!!
      Raclette is, if you so want, more civil. Everybody has their own place and portion. The classic style (and the best) if the ‘cheese master’ is scraping the melted cheese directly from a half-loaf, held in a sturdy clamp, and heated under a grill (you can either buy the whole equipment or rent it, my brother went for the Full Monthy and inviting the whole family once per year to a mega feast I think he must have amortised the costs!). You pour the melted cheese over the patatos and eat it with some gherkins, onions, or just like that!
      Now I can’t wait to have my next raclette at my sister’s place!!!!

      1. Gee, Dave! Whodathunk that a simple post on a simple grilled cheese sandwich and the comments and replies that it inspired would be approaching near Guinness World Record-worthy proportions? Ha!

        2. Oh Kiki, i know… those where suggestion for Dave since he is in the Dallas area currently (Dallas apparently has no Restaurant that smothers food with melted Raclette cheese though they do have fondue and restaurants offering toasted cheese!
          when he is in NYC he will have to partake in feasting at Raclette in NYC
          https://raclette.nyc/?&domain=raclette.nyc

          this below is in Dallas:
          Rustic-chic eatery offering upscale grilled cheese sandwiches, tartines & international raclettes.
          https://youtu.be/TntjMyFhL6E
          mouth watering video (the 411 of the restaurant)

          3. Faut quand-même pas exagérer…. (don‘t overdo it) ….. It‘s me, anyway, who is praising every day the person who brought me here!!!!

  21. re: adding to the party line comments…my father was an executive for a phone company so we had NO party line! Barbie had mini replicas of princess and other phones (I think they were key chains that I removed the chain from) We loved going to a playmates house or my Aunt’s to pickup their phone and giggle to no end if someone was talking on the party line (of course the giggling and ease-dropping at the Aunt’s house was a no-no unless you were just checking if the line was clear) she also reminded us to eat the crust of bread of a sandwich because it was good for you…we loved gathering around her small table, sometimes her old fashioned fancy table top radio would be playing…she came from an era pre tv, so a radio was good company for her. She was a sweet, very intelligent, very beautiful lady…we miss her she’s been gone for close to 30 years. Another Aunt is still living, my deceased Mom’s only living sibling and this sweet Aunt is 102!

  22. Our sweet pup, knows when we say cheese – he is immediately front and center…oh, how he loves chuck of hubby’s sourdough toasted cheese sandwich – the pup actually does his trademark spin move when he knows toasted cheese is grilling.

    1. Oh Christie, please don’t….. that is really not for pup! Although of course he or she doesn’t know that – OF COURSE it’s doing a dance, it’s food….!!!!

  23. YEP Dale; you were thoroughly missed…. I’m only glad to joined the cheesy party, even if you were late! And SO SORRY to hear about the miss of sale – I know the feeling. Same thing here…. repeatedly, for no reason at all – just haven’t had the RIGHT person coming by YET!
    It WILL happen though. Don’t give up – well we can’t, can we?! 😉

    2. Sawsan, well THIS…. Now I need to check out Seinfeld….. I only knew about Sex and the City…. ooooh the things one learns here LOOOOOL

  26. Referring to this: Valerie’s sex metaphor and all the comments, like a Seinfeld episode……
    It‘s getting more and more difficult to keep this up in an orderly manner 🙂

  27. I am thinking that you must have a criteria for Toasted Marshmallows? I think toasted Marshmallows with hot cocoa would be good to have after the toasted cheese and tomato soup? Trader Joe’s has a nice aspic box of Roasted Tomato soup w/ red pepper, i think the bag of marshmallows is two aisles over…

  28. Perhaps a monthly post on food? The next one could be P n’ J -just guessing, your combo of P n’ J would be Almond Butter with Peach Jam on wonderful homemade white bread…

      1. I thought you’d like the post suggestion…Word press is still glitch- y…for me…I use firefox perhaps that’s the issue? – Christie and I think that TJ’s Almond butter tastes better than Costco’s though Costco’s is a better value…I bet Dean & DeLuca, William Sonoma or Stonewall Kitchen has great peach jam!

          1. Anything Sour Cherry! esp. sour cream sour cherry pie! We went to the store today… I stared at the frozen sour cherries, last week I stared and then held a can of sour cherries …ah the willpower I deployed in not making the purchase…Sweet hubby makes such deliriously delicious peach amaretto jam! We spent 8-9 minutes in the cheese area, today.

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