Grilled Cheese Memories

Memories! Food is a powerful tool when it comes to eliciting memories. This is seen in the film Eat Drink Man Woman when; in the last scene of the movie, Chu is finally able to taste the soup he is eating. This is the same soup his deceased wife would make with his complaint being that his wife made liberal use of ginger. Somehow the memory of this meal gave him the ability to taste it, after saying for years that his taste was declining.

I personally have a lot of memories around food, but grilled cheese especially is near and dear to my heart. This simple food brings me back to when my husband and I lived in Mansfield with our first child. Our son, Connor, was born very ill and passed away at a young age. When he was about a year old; even though I knew he would likely never have the ability to cook, I rolled him into the kitchen in his stroller, and walked him step-by-step through the process of cooking grilled cheese.

“OK Connor, first you turn the griddle on to about 350. Then you butter one side of 2 slices of bread and make sure that the buttered side is the side that makes contact with the griddle. Then you put a slice of cheese in between the slices of bread. The cheese you use is up to you, but I like American cheese. You don’t flip it until it is nicely golden brown”, and I went on and on talking to him the entire time.

Since having Connor, my husband and I have had 3 more children. To this day, when I make them a grilled cheese sandwich, it brings me back to the afternoon in my small, hallway style, kitchen with Connor. I hope that this memory never fades!