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Grilled Cheese Recipe

By
Edel Alon
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0

grilledcheeseThe boys really enjoy grilled cheese sandwiches–it’s one of my favorite snacks too.  Over the years I’ve travelled the country and tasted the different styles of grilled cheese.  I’ve been to restaurants where the menu lists grilled cheese.  I usually leave the critiquing to the boys whose palettes are more advanced than the normal 7 and 8 year old.  There are only a few ways you can make grilled cheese sandwiches.  Really, how hard can it be?  The main concept is taking a slice of bread, put cheese on it, put another slice of bread on top, and heat.

Each household has their process.  I’ve listed some:

  • Butter one side of the bread slices and grill in a pan (one side of butter will be enough to crisp the bread on both sides).
  • Butter both bread slices and grill in a pan (you need both sides buttered to get a good crisp).
  • Butter both sides of the two bread slices and grill in a pan (butter is good).
  • Spray the pan with cooking spray and grill the sandwich (for those who live and die by the spray)
  • Make the sandwich and put it in the toaster oven and toast (no need for any more fat in my diet).
  • Toast the bread, while hot, place the cheese in the middle (obviously, doesn’t have a pan in the kitchen).

I’ve tested each of these in my kitchen, and I even tried substituting butter with olive oil.  While some of these ideas are quick, taste good, and are technically a grilled cheese sandwich, they don’t have the crisp crunch when you bite into the bread.

Here’s my recipe:

Ingredients
2 slices of bread
1 slice of cheese
1.5 teaspoons of mayonnaise

Directions

  1. Heat your pan on medium heat.
  2. Lay the bread and spread mayonnaise on each of them.
  3. Place the bread in the pan; mayonnaise side down.
  4. Place the cheese on top of the bread.
  5. Place the other slice of bread on the cheese, mayonnaise side up.
  6. Wait until the bottom half browns (about 2-3 minutes).
  7. Flip.
  8. Wait until the bottom half browns (about 1-2 minutes).
  9. Serve.

Yes, I said mayonnaise.  Here’s the logic.  Mayonnaise is made up of eggs and oil.  When you spread the mayonnaise on the bread and grill it, the eggs come out and cook while the oil is used to help it crisp.  Just think of fried eggs and the crispy edges you like to eat—it’s the same concept.  Also, have you ever tried using butter to make grilled cheese sandwiches, and the butter tore into the bread?  Mayonnaise is easy to dispense and spreads on easily.  When using this technique, you’ll always get a crispy outer crust and soft melted cheese in the middle.

I’ve ventured out of the grilled cheese world and use the same techniques to make grilled ham & cheese; grilled tomato & cheese; grilled ham, tomato, and cheese; grilled ham, tomato, avocado, and cheese; and grilled cheese with fried egg in the middle.

Disclaimer: Someone told me that my style is the same way they do it in the upper Midwest.  Make a thin layer of mayonnaise on each slice of bread.

War Stories and the Chamorus: Journalism and Militarization on the Tip of the Spear

By
Edel Alon
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1

Guam FlagIt was a typical day in the jungle, though more overcast than the constant island diet of endless blue skies and fluffy white clouds; humid– drizzling rain that would materialize from the sticky mist in the air, a breeze stirring through breadfruit and banana leaves.

I was at the family home of Navy Hospital Corpsman Second Class Anthony Carbullido, Jr., whom the Department of Defense had recently listed among the dead to be routed back from Afghanistan to Guam through Dover, Delaware– the victim of an improvised explosive device.

Family and friends of the corpsman were seated in rows of folding chairs under a glowing green fiberglass awning reciting the rosary, “may eternal peace and rest be unto Tony…” a dull, sleepy drone mixed with the static rain.

I was seated in one of the chairs, as were my photographer and his girlfriend. To the side of the house, under a separate awning, large tables were being set with large trays of traditional Chamorro food. A pit-bull puppy pawed at the kitchen door, leaving streaks of red clay as more family members prepared food inside.

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Scrambled Eggs Recipe

By
Edel Alon
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3

Here’s how to make scrambled eggs for 100.

Portions
100

Ingredients
2.5 cups cream
200 eggs
6 tbsp salt
3 cups shortening

Method

Add eggs, salt, and cream to container.  Mix together thoroughly (I use a hand mixer).  Pour about 1.5 gallons of the egg mixture into a hot, greased roasting pan.  Bake at 350° F. until eggs are of desired consistency. Stir frequently during baking.

Eggs

Edible Boutonniere Recipe

By
Edel Alon
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2

Here’s a boutonniere I made (yes, hand crafted).  Look closely and you’ll see that it’s made of a pineapple leaf, rosemary sprig, habanero, and some baby breath.  100% edible, well, maybe not the baby breath. The idea here is to capture a theme.  There’s only so much a guy can do to dress up an outfit and the boutonniere is definitely one of the highlights.

I’ve seen some crazy non-floral boutonnieres out there.  The way I see it, if a guy has to wear one, why not match his personality?  How about making a boutonniere out of nuts and bolts or computer parts?  My next boutonniere might have one of those hidden cameras with a little decoration from other techie gadgets.

Recipes?  I’d add a quarter of this pepper to any chili recipe to add heat.  Yes, only a quarter.  I tried using the whole and even half of the pepper and it burns.  Or add a little to your favorite salsa recipe.

boutonniere

Notes: Use caution if you do decide to use a habanero because they are the hottest peppers out there.  You should also warn the wearers.  I found this video.  It was the only decent video I could find because the rest were mostly about people who were dared to eat it.  Mind you I’ve paid to watch people eat a habanero.  I’m not sure if it’s worth the $20.

GMail no longer “Beta”

By
Edel Alon
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0

I’ve been waiting far too long to see the “beta” go away in Google’s applications. Today is the day that they finally removed the “beta” from the logo.  I remember releasing projects to my supervisors in the past that used to say alpha, beta, and delta.  When Gmail first came out, I saw the word beta on their page.  It was one of the reasons why I didn’t join right away because to me, beta means it might not be there tomorrow.  There’s a versioning to applications that programmers release.  In the case for GMail, I’m at least glad they didn’t stick to the numbering 1.0 or 1.1.2 or even 3.11.

Congratulations Google for getting out of beta!  Now, where’s the alpha release of Google Wave?

Here’s the news from their official blog:

Google Apps is out of beta (yes, really)
7/07/2009 08:02:00 AM

Google BetaWe’re often asked why so many Google applications seem to be perpetually in beta. For example, Gmail has worn the beta tag more than five years. We realize this situation puzzles some people, particularly those who subscribe to the traditional definition of “beta” software as not being yet ready for prime time.

Ever since we launched the Google Apps suite for businesses two years ago, it’s had a service level agreement, 24/7 support, and has met or exceeded all the other standards of non-beta software. More than 1.75 million companies around the world run their business on Google Apps, including Google. We’ve come to appreciate that the beta tag just doesn’t fit for large enterprises that aren’t keen to run their business on software that sounds like it’s still in the trial phase. So we’ve focused our efforts on reaching our high bar for taking products out of beta, and all the applications in the Apps suite have now met that mark.

Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Talk — both enterprise and consumer versions — are now out of beta. “Beta” will be removed from the product logos today, but we’ll continue to innovate and improve upon the applications whether or not there’s a small “beta” beneath the logo. Indeed, today we’re also announcing some other Google Apps features that we think will appeal to large enterprises: mail delegation, mail retention and ongoing enhancements to Apps reliability.

We have much more in store, and IT managers can read more about how to make the switch to Apps in our Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes resource centers. One more thing — for those who still like the look of “beta”, we’ve made it easy to re-enable the beta label for Gmail from the Labs tab under Settings.

References: https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/google-apps-is-out-of-beta-yes-really.html

Brooke Shield’s Memories of Michael Jackson

By
Edel Alon
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1

Brooke’s speech was one of the most heartfelt I’ve ever heard.  Truly she knew him from their childhoods to a point where they could understand each other.  There were snippets in her speech that only true friends would know.  Most of us who have had a long time friend will understand this.

Brooke Shields and Michael Jackson

Where the Wild Things Are

By
Edel Alon
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0

This is one of my favorite books out there.  In fact, I still remember the Reading Rainbow episode highlighting this book.  Did I just show my age?  The movie looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun.  It looks pretty dark, probably too dark for my kids, however the book is dark too.  I should get my costume ready for the movie premier.  Maybe it’ll be my Halloween costume this year.

Where the WIld Things Are

IT&E Expanding to Hawaii Market

By
Edel Alon
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0

IT&E is looking to expand its clientele from Guam to Hawaii.  I still see Guam as the technology hub of the pacific.  There’s so much potential in what Guam can do.  Things like the new cable across the pacific and new ventures of IT&E are great developments for Guam.

Pacific Telecoms Inc. (PTI), the Micronesian subsidiary of Citadel Holdings Inc., is looking to expand its telecommunications services to Hawaii before the end of 2009.

In an interview with the BusinessMirror, Jose Ricardo P.R. Delgado Jr., president and chief executive officer of Citadel and PTI, said: “We’re looking to sell our [long-distance] phone cards to Hawaii first, and exploring other options where we can do business.” The planned expansion will be carried out through PTI’s Guam-based telecoms unit, IT&E Overseas Inc.

Delgado, also president and CEO of IT&E, declined to reveal details of the planned expansion to Hawaii, saying it is “too early to talk.”  The major carriers in Hawaii include AT&T Corp., Hawaiian Telecom, Pacific Light Net Inc., and Oceanic Time Warner Cable, a digital phone service and major cable TV provider owned by Time Warner/AOL.

Analysts noted that Hawaiian Telecom, specifically, is ripe for a possible takeover. The company filed for bankruptcy in December 2008 and in June filed a reorganization plan proposing to convert $940 million in outstanding debt into equity in a reorganized company. The plan also proposes to cancel about $150 million in subordinated notes.

In an e-mail to the BusinessMirror, Lawrence Knecht, executive vice president and chief financial officer of IT&E, said of the phone cards: “We will target the Filipino market and other ethnic groups across the whole marketplace.” The long distance phone cards will be preloaded with dollar amounts to pay for the cost of long-distance phone calls.

Knecht said the phone cards will be launched “before year end.”

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Pasta = Cheap Eats

By
Edel Alon
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0

Many of us are trying to find different ways to feed our families during this economic time.   I have a few friends who have eliminated “going out” to eat from their budgets.  Denny’s is no longer an option for some.   I’ve eliminated fast food from our budget too.  It’s been a hard time especially since I crave a juicy hamburger.

Tuesday nights are pasta night at our place.  The process was to buy a jar of sauce and boil a packaged box of noodles.  Today, I’ve cut down our budget by making my sauce and noodles from scratch.

At first I was hesitant in making everything from scratch because it breaks away from a routine.  I figure change is good and making my own pasta was a good one.

You know how adobo tastes really good on the second day?  The same goes with pasta sauce.  I’ll start off the night before with my favorite recipe for red pasta sauce:

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground round beef
  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 2 large onions, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, pressed
  • 5 large cans tomato paste
  • 10 tomato paste cans water
  • 4 tablespoons Parmesan
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
  • 6 leaves fresh basil or 1 tablespoon dried basil
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions
In a large saucepan over medium heat, saute the ground beef and pork until brown. Drain off excess fat. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until smooth. Cook for 3 to 4 hours on medium heat, stirring often to prevent scorching.

I leave the sauce on the stovetop overnight to cool down.  Putting how pots full of stuff in your refrigerator will increase your power bill because it’s working harder to cool off that pot.  I put the sauce in the refrigerator the next morning.

The noodles are from scratch too.  When you look at the box of premade noodles, the only ingredients are: flour, salt, semolina flour, egg, and water.

There are some recipes out there that are just flour and water:  2 cups flour to 1.5 cups water.  I forgot where I got mine from and now it’s all muscle memory:

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons water

(notice how everything is in 2?)

Directions
Mix all the ingredients together until it makes a moist dough texture.  Roll out the noodles into thin.  Cut into noodles.

I have an Imperia manual pasta maker.

Pasta Maker
Instead of hand rolling and cutting the dough, I just run it through this machine and out comes fresh pasta.
What’s really cool about fresh pasta is that it only takes 3 minutes to cook versus the 12-15 minutes to cook dry pasta.

$10 Billion Add-on

By
Edel Alon
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0

Whoo hoo!  More money for Guam!  Actually, more money for the people of the United States of America.  The idea here is to make sure that the money used for the Guam buildup is used on US citizens instead of outsourcing jobs to Japan and the Philippines.  This is good news for Hawaii and California.  I might be one of those looking for jobs on Guam.

Tucked away in the 2010 Defense Authorization Bill just passed by the House is a provision that should give senators — and taxpayers — pause. Over the next five years, 17,000 U.S. troops and dependents will relocate from Okinawa to a new base on Guam. This project will require billions of dollars to build the base itself, as well as billions more to repair and add to Guam’s infrastructure. The $10 billion projected cost is to be split by Japan and the United States: Japan would supply $2.8 billion directly and an additional $3.2 billion in third-party funds while the United States would contribute $4.2 billion.

That was the plan. But the provision inserted by Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) changed all that. It has more than doubled the cost of the relocation by requiring that at least 70 percent of the construction force be U.S. citizens and that construction workers be paid at the Hawaiian prevailing wage rate, which is double to triple Guam’s. The ostensible rationale is that Guam does not have a large enough workforce to meet the demand, and it is necessary to bring wage levels into a competitive range to attract U.S. workers. But the initial estimate for construction expenses was near $300 million, while the change would drive construction worker compensation costs to more than $10 billion.

If giving U.S. workers jobs on Guam is a priority, this could be accomplished without driving wages up artificially to such a high level. You could, for example, keep the 70 percent restriction on foreign workers and let the market determine their wages. But given that Japan is paying for much of the relocation, does it make sense to limit the participation of Japanese construction firms and their workers?

These provisions will complicate a process already fraught with challenges. Guam’s overburdened infrastructure will be sorely taxed by the new arrivals, who will amount to a 14 percent population increase, requiring an estimated $6.1 billion of work on roads, water, sewerage, waste processing and the power grid. Since Guam’s annual budget is less than $1 billion, this money will have to come from outside. Why add to the burden on taxpayers with these unnecessary provisions? It is tempting to seize on any plan that tries to offer Americans jobs, but this cost is too great.

References:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/05/AR2009070501782.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/29/AR2009062904119.html

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Welcome to the curated chaos of curiosity and creativity—brought to you by Edel Alon: maker, thinker, and hands-on problem-solver. This blog is part journal, part resource hub, and entirely dedicated to the art of doing. From culinary experiments and car tinkering to tech deep dives and DIY builds, you'll find stories, guides, reviews, and reflections designed to inspire, inform, and occasionally make you laugh (or at least raise an eyebrow). It's a celebration of learning by doing—with a few detours along the way.

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