Local Grilled Cheese and Jacques Pepin

Long time, no post! Okay, maybe not that long, but nine days is the biggest blogging break I've had since I started this blog. A weekend of eating out for my anniversary, followed by a busy week complete with a migraine that destroyed one evening and left me in a foggy postdrome state for a couple of days, means I haven't had the chance to try any new recipes in a while. Although I didn't try any new recipes, I didn't abandon cooking entirely.

On Sunday and Thursday, we had grilled cheese sandwiches.Yes, twice. But I'm not talking Kraft singles and Wonder Bread, I'm talking locally-sourced, gourmet grilled cheese. I bought rustic french bread from Cress Spring Bakery and smoked cheddar cheese from Hook's Cheese at the Dane County Farmer's Market which made for some incredible grilled cheese. To jazz it up the second time, I added some thick smoked bacon. My husband insisted I take a picture he said it was so beautiful.

I always walk out of a farmer's market with more than I intended to buy, be it summer or winter. Since there aren't many fruits or vegetables available at the farmer's market right now (although there are a few), I spend most of time my time perusing cheeses and meats these days. In addition to local grilled cheese, honey weiners from a vendor at the farmer's market were also on the menu. Simple, but delicious, and I feel good supporting the economy of a city I love so much. As trite of a sentiment as it has become lately, I really do like knowing where my food comes from, reducing my food miles, and eating food with minimal preservatives and other artificial ingredients.

In other cooking-related news, today Jacques Pepin's Complete Techniques arrived in the mail! I've had this seminal cookbook on my long list of cookbooks I'd like to acquire for quite some time, but finally got around to ordering it this week. I can't wait to dive into some recipes and work on honing my techniques.