The Mood That I'm In

 Sweet Salty Earthy Gooey TRUFFLE-y Grilled Cheese...

 You probably just sighed? Or drooled?

Today was my first day (night) back to school. Ugh. I was reminded of the reasons I was so unhappy last semester, mostly the two hour commute. I think it’s mainly rush hour on the subway that’s so horrific. Everybody looks like they just got beaten up…It’s a real downer. All these people are smushed together, wanting nothing more than to be home with their families, or by themselves for that matter. Instead they’re smelling the stranger next to them, close enough to see every pore on their face. Everybody is silent, collectively hating the person blasting r&b through their headphones unaware of how loudly they’re chomping on their gum. Am I right? People are nodding off, staring ahead with a dejected emptiness in their eyes. The ones with any energy left are playing games on their phones or reading on their nooks. I’m writing in my little red moleskin, about how much I hate the subway. 

Anyway, I had just gotten out of class and stood the majority of the subway ride home, thinking all sorts of things, but mostly what I was going to eat when I got home. Stepping off the platform into the wet cold night, visions of cheesy, bready, hot, gooeyness danced in my head. I had an insatiable craving for mac n’ cheese, but since I just had pasta out the other night, I moved on.  Grilled cheese? YES. With that truffle oil Michael got me…and the truffle salt I got yesterday…and that cheese I got the other day…and hmmm…something sweet…The honey my mom brought me from home. There you have it ladies and gentleman…Pretty damn fancy comfort food to cheer up my beat-down spirit on a cold rainy night in my Queens apartment.

 I have no measurements, temperatures, or specific instructions for you on how to make this. I will just tell you that as I opened the bottle of truffle oil, I almost fainted. That smell makes me crazy, seriously. It’s like cat-nip. I even wrote a college paper on truffles. I'm absolutely obsessed.

Did you know that: "Legend has it that the first being on the planet to devour truffles was a female wild boar. A farmer watched the sow dig up and eat the presumably poisonous underground fungi and waited patiently for her to die. Instead, she flew into a fit of passion and attracted so many lovesick suitors that the species began to proliferate in hot haste. Hoping to become fruitful and multiply, the story goes, the farmer sampled the magical tuber. His previously childless marriage reportedly gave rise to a brood of 13."(ParisTempo)

I brushed the sides of some multi-grain bread with truffle oil, layered some tome chabrin cheese (I think gruyere cheese would be best) in between the slices, sprinkled some truffle salt, drizzled some honey, and peppered it with some dried thyme I had hanging in the kitchen. I grilled it on my cast-iron skillet and there it was! Absolute gooey perfection. You might even say I burnt it a little bit. But I'd tell you that you were wrong...It's just the way I like it. I kept going with the fungi motif and also made a hot bowl of mushroom broth (since the usual tomato would not exactly go with honey and truffle). This combination was magnificent.