Old Hitachi Iron and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

My stint in Tenryu was fun, but coming home was good. We had an enjoyable night in last night, then when this morning (Saturday), dawned cloudy and chilly, we spent a couple of hours getting my Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon to run on dual monitors (more on that later). We then went for a bike ride (very enjoyable), and finally went out about town to do some errands.

One of our errands took us to a recycle shop, where Brian picked up another monitor, and where I scored a fabulous old Hitachi clothes iron.

Why, you may ask, am I delighted by finding an old clothes iron?　Am I so dull that I love nothing more than ironing clothes in anticipation of my next business trip? No - of course not! But I have been homesick for some good, old-fashioned grilled cheese sandwiches, which, for me, means cooked under a clothes iron.

Newish clothes irons (anything made in the last decade or so)just don't get hot enough, and they have an insane auto-off safety switch that keeps them from getting and staying hot enough to make a decent grilled cheese sandwich. What were the manufacturers thinking, to deprive me of my grilled cheese sandwich??

So, when I found the old-style (I'm not sure how old) iron, that looks like it has never been used, for sale at the recycle shop for a mere 650 yen (about 6 dollars), I snapped it up. And this afternoon we dined like...well, like people who loved grilled cheese sandwiches!



The recipe?　Two slices of bread, a slice of sliced-cheese; put the cheese between the bread, and place a very hot iron on top!! No margarine, no fuss, no mess:-)

PS - this also works great if you want to "toast" hot dog or hamburger buns!