NYC NOMS: Day 5 and 6 and 7

Day 5:

Wednesday morning Britton and I fought our way through the steady rain to the South Seaport TKTS booth to round out our NY experience with a broadway show. A friend recommended this location for the short lines, but you still needed to get there early. Summer=tourists=lines. So we finally made it into the tiny ticket booth, and being Sinatra fans, we went with Come Fly Away.

We were meeting Britton's sister at the The Met in the afternoon, so we made a stop by Grand Central station to grab some lunch. Being completely drenched by the rain, Britton may or may not have removed his underwear in the men's restroom and dried them with a hand dryer. Though the food court at Grand Central seemed ridiculously large, we settled on Cafe Spice, an Indian fast food place.

Chicken tikka masala, chicken curry, and mango lassies. Yum!

After lunch, we made our way over to The Met. This museum is gorgeous, and I could spend several days looking at every exhibit. Their Egyptian collection is extensive, and we also enjoyed the armory exhibit. I went completely nuts over the Italian and French decor section of the museum. Whole rooms from Venetian and Parisian palaces and hotels were removed and transported the the museum. It was simply magical.

The Met has thousands of Egyptian artifacts on display. This is just a few of the many.

For dinner we took the subway to Chinatown to have soup dumplings at Joe's Shanghai. THEY WERE SO DELICIOUS.

Scallion pancake. This didn't last very long.

And of course, soup dumplings. Britton shows you how to eat these little gems in this wonderful, though awkwardly long video.

SOUP DUMPLINGS!!!NOM

We closed out the night with Come Fly Away. There was no dialogue in this show, but various dance sequences set to the music of Frank Sinatra. It did not blow my mind, but it was enjoyable. We had seats in the front row, and the dancers were flinging sweat like crazy. We were terrified we would wacked with sweat during the first half of the show.

Day 6:

Thursday morning we hopped on the Subway for the long ride to Coney Island. Britton and I took a whirl on the famous Wonder Wheel while waiting for his sister to arrive from Queens.

For lunch, we ate at the original Nathan's hot dog stand. Britton was raving about these dogs, and they did not disappoint.

When Britton's sister arrived, we watched the all-girls Coney Island Freak Show, and afterward, had a freaky beer at the bar outside.

A view of Coney Island from the beach.

Dinner was at Katz's delicatessan. We grabbed a couple sandwiches, and as I was ordering my New York egg cream, I watched this Puerto Rican lady go completely bonkers on one of the carvers. Lesson learned. Don't separate a lady from her sandwich.

Hot Pastrami w/ half and full sour pickles.

Our next stop was the Empire State Building. As a child, I had seen Sleepless in Seattle a MILLION times on day time television, so the Empire State was the only very touristy item on my to-do list in New York. The lines were horrific, and the employees assigned to hustle us from one waiting room to another were loud, curt, and dressed in dull red. At one point in line they were shuffling people in front of this enormous camera for the token expensive we-were-here photo with the Empire State Building hovering in the background. Britton, his sister, and I decided we would pretend like we were flying, but when our turn came, the man yelled "SMILE!" and took the picture too fast for the three of us to get into position. The photographer laughed at the preview of the photo as we walked away. Later, when we saw the picture, I had my arm completely blocking my face and Britton's arms were partially raised. Britton's sister somehow managed to look like she was flying, but overall, a big fat FAIL.

Just spectacular views from the observation deck. We had to fight a million European and Asian tourists to get this unobstructed photo.

And this one.

It was chilly and VERY windy. In this picture I am holding my clothes on my body.

We bought a little magnet for our fridge that looks like this figurine. King Kong is like, "Who? Me?"

A lovely pitstop at Momofuku Milk Bar on our way home. On the left, a slice of grasshopper pie. Two pork buns w/ some sriracha. One container of cereal milk (which tastes just like the milk leftover from a bowl of frosted flakes.)

Day 7:

Friday started off with a tour of NBC Studios. We hung out with NBC interns while viewing the set of Nightly News with Brian Williams and SNL. After our tour, thanks to Britton's sister and Living Social, we got free froyo from Red Mango as well as a free SNL-themed t-shirt from the gift shop downstairs.

As I was devouring my froyo, I discovered this thing. It wasn't a computer...it was a big effin' table.

OOOOHH. Microsoft Surface. Britton was embarassed I was playing with it, but it had a virtual koi pond on it for goodness sake.

We also stopped by the Lego Store next to 30 Rock. BEST STORE EVER. There were lego depictions of different parts of New York, including statues from Rockefeller Center.

We also took a long stroll through Central Park.

I think this was a view from Belvedere Castle in Central Park.

Strawberry Fields memorial.

We three met Britton's friend at the Peking Duck House in Chinatown for dinner.

This place had FANTASTIC Peking duck, but I cannot vouch for the other dishes. The sweet and sour pork had pickles in it. Ew.

For dessert, we grabbed some free cupcakes (again, thank you Britton's sis and Living Social) from Butter Lane. I think this place is in "The Village" but don't take my word for it. I had a the banana cupcake with peanut butter frosting. Delicious. And Britton's sis gave the leftovers to a homeless man to spread the love even farther.

Video from the Lego Store.

NYC Noms: Day 3 and 4

Day 3:

Having finally gotten comfortable sleeping despite the ruckus of cars and sirens outside our penthouse suite window, Britton and I headed over to Chinatown (Manhattan) for the most highly anticipated restaurant on my NY vay-cay checklist. The place is called Big Wing Wong. Britton is quick to point out that the staff of Big Wing Wong actually worked at the original Big Wong, and due to a huge falling out, they decided to start their own restaurant a couple blocks away.

For breakfast, we ordered the soy sauce chicken (all white meat), roast pork congee, and a big sweet fried cruller. Everything was delicious, but the soy sauce chicken was my favorite - very tender and moist with an amazingly fresh ginger and onion sauce.

We hit the Modern Museum of Art that day as well. I am not crazy about modern artwork, but they do have many interesting impressionist paintings including Van Gogh's Starry Night and Dance by Matisse. Unfortunately, the museum was very crowded, so it was a fight to see some of the paintings and by the time we got to Piet Mondrian with all those ridiculous lines and boxes, I was ready to throw in the towel. Wikipedia calls this "Neo-Plasticism" a representational art form, but I am telling you that I scribbled that same cluster of boxes and lines on my notebook in my sociology class with glitter gel pens. (On top of that, I just visited the Salvador Dali exhibit on later works at the High Museum in Atlanta, and Dali thought Mondrian was a total goober. I agree.)

There was also a neat exhibit called Rising Currents which demonstrated possible solutions for maintaining or recovering lost waterfront around New York City due to rising sea levels.

My favorite painting in MOMA was Henri Rousseau's The Dream. Very daring and colorful.

For dinner that night Britton hurried his sister and I through this seemingly unmarked door on fifth avenue and up this narrow flight of stairs to a very dark and lounge-y restaurant called Mad for Chicken. Light and crispy chicken wings, some spicy, some garlic-covered, with a scattering of banchan including pickled radishes, cut veggies, and a creamy corn mix.

The wings were HUGE. And the three of us split a carafe of strawberry yogurt soju (which was DELICIOUS but very very pricey.)

Britton may have gotten girl-drink-drunk. He was sipping soju out of this shot glass.

To wrap up the night, we headed down to Bryant Park where Bonnie and Clyde was playing on a big projector.

Which reminds me that I have a confession to make. Sometime before dinner Britton wanted to run into the Apple store on 5th to look at phone covers. He told me to meet him outside in about half an hour, so I wandered into FAO Schwartz to kill some time. I made it through the stuffed animals without any major screw-ups, but when I arrived at the land of bountiful bulk candies, it was all over. It started with the yogurt raisins, and then the chocolate covered pretzels, and then they had those wafer mints you only get a baby shower and wedding receptions, and then ...oh goodness...and then there were the bulk pineapple gummy bears.

Within five minutes of walking into the store, I had accumulated almost $13 in candy. Oi. I was so ashamed, but also very high on sugar.

After the movie, Britton and I wished his sister farewell for the evening and walked over to Times Square which was lovely in a daylight-in-the-nighttime kind of way. Very vibrant and full of people.

Times Square also had a big toy store - Toys R Us. I hope they don't have a candy section!

Oh, and Andrew, that picture is for you. Dora the Explorer! Ay yiyi.

Day 4:

Slightly less rainy than Day 4, we headed over to the American Museum of Natural History. We ate lunch at the Shake Shack on the Upper West Side (no pic.) They made some great burgers and floats using fresh, local ingredients. We had to fight tooth and nail to get a seat, but it was well worth the wait.

We saw dinosaurs.

We dined on the universe itself.

It was a total blast! There are so many exhibits in this museum, it was impossible to see everything. I highly recommend the show Journey to the Stars in the planetarium narrated by Guinan herself, Whoopi Goldberg.

For dinner we met BFC, Britton's sis, and friend at La Luncheonette, a small and decadent french cafe near the High Line. The High Line was once a section of elevated train tracks allowing trains to travel directly into warehouses without running a risk to pedestrians. Due to increased commercial automobile transport, the tracks became obsolete. The tracks are now a quiet public park with foliage that resembles the wild flowers and weeds that took over the tracks long before the park was in place. It's a beautiful place to take a leisurely stroll.

NYC Noms: Day 1 and 2

Day 1:

On our first day in New York, we woke up slightly bleary-eyed but excited. We slept in our BFC penthouse suite with the windows open, and...well...I've never heard so many sirens, horns, cars cranking, engines running in my entire life.

Our first stop was the Brooklyn Bridge which offered some great views of downtown and Governor's Island where Britton spent his magical childhood. I got wacked a couple times by uber sweaty joggers, but luckily, I was too distracted by people-watching and trying not get hit by stray cyclists and rogue toddlers.

After that, we headed over to the GI (Governor's Island) ferry terminal to make the 2.5-min voyage over to the island. It was once a Coast Guard station where Britton and his family lived in suburban-bliss right next to Manhattan. Today it is a national park, and one of the best places I have ever seen for biking, jogging, and exploring historic buildings.

One fantastic thing about New York is that there is plenty of street food and the varieties are endless. (Being a health inspector, this would be a nightmare for me back in Gwinnett, but since I don't work here, I am 100% for street vendors.) They have indian, thai, italian, tex-mex, korean, pakistani, greek, turkish, iranian, venezuelan, brazilian, el salvadorean...you name it, you will find it on the streets here. It is the biz-omb.

Above is the curry chicken roti from Veronica's West Indian on GI.

Before heading over to the Film Forum to view Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder in "3 Dimensions," we watched some awesome street performer's in Washington Square with a live accompaniment. (A video of the grand finale is at the very very bottom.) For dinner, we ate NY style pizza with all the trimmings at John's Pizza in Greenwich Village which everyone besides me seems to just call "The Village." I am trying to be an undercover tourist, but it's not working so well.

The pizza was great - not too greasy and very fresh. Unfortunately, I do hate black olives and now, I've discovered recently, also hate anchovies. I feel self-disgust. I should not be writing about these awesome foods using the word "hate." I guess you can't love everything, and to give myself some credit, I probably ate more olives and anchovies than I've ever eaten before.

Day 2:

WE HAVE HIT THE MOTHERLOAD. After a gleeful 30 min wait in the lobby of Jing Fong Restaurant in chinatown, we headed up the escalator with Britton's sister to a land of red-colored wonder and delight. Dim Sum is loosely translated as "Heart's Delight" and that is exactly how I felt here. We immediately started ordering despite the fact that we hadn't gotten our paper bill yet. One of the servers came up to our table after we complained about having neither tea nor pay slip. He chuckled, smiled, and said "No bill? No pay! Ha ha!" I wasn't laughing. I know a little bit about Chinese people, and one thing I don't see a lot of is comp-ing a meal. Britton's sister whispered, "Oh we'll pay. One way or another."

Above is leftover (as in hadn't been consumed in the initial rush) sui mai (best I've ever had) as well as taro bird's nests (my favorite kind of dim sum.) The three of us easily scarfed down every morsel.

A photo above of Pearl River Mart, where I purchased some gifts for my family and where we huddled away from the rain. I highly recommend a stop at this store. It is just so much fun to peruse, even if you don't want to buy anything.

Shadow cat. A resident of BFC brownstone. She is so sweet except when she isn't...like most cats! I adore her and so does BFC.

The best meal I had in NY so far was not at a restaurant at all. BFC ex husband lives on the lower level of the brownstone and made an insane meal. I had chilled chardonnay, dutch and french cheeses, heirloom tomato salad with basil, new potatoes with thyme, and a pork tenderloin cooked medium rare (uh-oh inspector) pork with fennel, curry, cumin, chives, and brown sugar. OH MY GOOD GOD. It was fantastic. Lots of the ingredients for this meal came from their backyard herb garden as well as from their vacation home garden in PA. Nom nom nom.

More to come!

Our Digs For NYC

After a short, but not so sweet flight from Atlanta to Myrtle Beach and then from the MB to NYC, we have swiftly made ourselves right at home here in New York. We are staying in a penthouse suite (Britton's father's cousin's [BFC] apartment) in Jersey City, right across the Hudson River from Manhattan. We get to walk down to the water front each day with  sweeping views of the NY skyline where I proceed to say 'What is that?" a million times while pointing.

The apartment is in a four-family brownstone, and is wonderfully decorated with little wooden statues and wacky shoe art done by none other than BFC herself. 
A gorgeous chest of drawers that BFC may be using to store her art supplies. It reminds me of a  classic 3-ring circus with the red paint and ornate gold flourishes. 

Some zany shoe art. I feel like tiny people should be playing croquet and nibbling biscuits in this shoe.

Meow.

Mad Hatter? Try Mad Cobbler. 
Beautiful well-lit kitchen with lots of greenery and an AMAZING wooden cutting board/countertop. I also loved the clay tiles on the floor.

And really awesome totems all over this place. These were my favorite due to placement. I believe they are the kitchen gods. I will pay homage to them with a fun-size toblerone.

I am so happy to have such a wonderful place to stay (for free no less) in New York. Stay tuned. More to come!!!

Update: Breakfast Pizza and the Obesity Open

There are a lot of strange things going on around here.

1) I moved into a nice little rental home with one furry, handsome Britton. It's got a real backyard and a real garage and REAL curbside recycling pick-up. I'm an adult.

2) I've been elbow deep in pool water all week. Which also means I've been elbow deep in dead frogs, spiders, ants, beetles, and tree parts. Might be why I come home and don't feel like cooking.

3) We've hired one mercenary Battle Kitten who goes by the name Odie. He fights in all our wars in exchange for petting, grooming, poop-scooping, and kibble. Britton threatens to kill him painfully on a daily basis, but I know we are both totally in love.

4) I am eating healthy. I developed a competition between Britton and I to lose weight and cut unnecessary calories out of our diet. Britton called it the Obesity Open (big tennis fan.) Below is a set of rules (which do not change daily despite naysayers.) Whenever a rule is broken per eating event, a dollar is put into the "Fund of Shame." The total "Fund of Shame" will ultimately wind up in the pocket of he/she who has sinned the least. Here are the rules.

• Exercise 2x per week, cardio or weights, for 30 minutes minimum.
• No fast food (specifically no deep fried food, no hamburgers.) We've been dealing with "fast food" items that are relatively healthy on a case-by-case basis.
• Rich dessert (in excess of 100 cal) once a month. May be exchanged for one fatty or deep fried food once a month.
• No full-calorie sodas. No sweet teas.
• No creamer or halfnhalf in coffee. Whole milk or lower.

See. Just basic stuff, but it's really made a difference in my attitude towards consuming food outside the home and to exercise. We joined the local YMCA maybe three weeks ago, and now we're both lifting weights, going to group cycling, and having conversations about our health. It's marvelous, and though we're currently tied (darn french fries at Keba,) I can't see either of us royally screwing this up.

This weekend I am staying in! I've been feeling sick and exhausted from work, so I'm making an effort to remain outside of my car and in my jammies. I will have a brief stint in workout shorts for the gym, but THAT IS IT. NO DRIVING. So rather than haunting our usual dim sum or Southern fusion brunch providers, I made it myself.

Breakfast Pizza (by smitten kitchen)

Please check out the original recipe on smitten kitchen's marvelous website. I love all her recipes which make awesome dishes using simple ingredients. Simple is always better in my book. That I will write someday. It will probably be pretty short. Like less than 100 pages.

Here's some eye candy and subliminal messaging.

MAKE THIS PIZZA.

Oh, did you know I am now cooking with gas? That's right. And yes, that is also bacon in that pan. When you make this pizza, remember, it's okay to eat a few slices as long as the cat is busy playing with shredded newspaper and your boyfriend is in the office with the door closed playing with his new iPhone.

YOU WANT TO MAKE THIS PIZZA.

Easy peasy, for sheasy. Just a little chopping. I left out the flat leaf parsley and the scallions. (I don't use parsley for anything - it tastes too bland to buy just for prettiness' sake.) But don't skimp on the shallot. Shallot is key.

You don't even need to make your own pizza dough. In a hurry - get it pre-made at the grocery store. (It doesn't take a lot of time, but you do need to plan ahead.)

Taa daa! MAKE THIS PIZZA.

Coming Soon! A week in New York City. NY Noms. Big Apple Binge. Manhattan Meatfest. I don't know what to call it yet, but it's going to be big! Restaurant reviews, artsy film houses, and a tutorial on how to eat soup dumplings and where to get some decent ones in Atlanta.

You make Cheese and Chocolate Fondue for Two, become great karate warrior

Above: Ingredients for traditional cheese fondue (Where's the kirshwasser? I think I forgot to put it on the table!)

Sometime in December my boyfriend took me out to The Melting Pot with his friend James and James' wife Liz. After the alpine salad, cheese fondue, hot oil fondue, and dark chocolate with Bailey's fondue (not to mention barrels of red wine - thank you, James) I decided maybe this gluttonous rampage upon my bowels might best be done at home. It was, for Britton and I, mostly about the salad and the cheese anyway. At home, I could at least control the portions and the variety of cheese. Also, the idea of spattering hot oil so close to my lovely, scar-free hands and arms made me a wee bit nervous even if the result was a tempura battered shrimp slathered in green goddess sauce...oh, you know.

Britton was convinced Valentine's Day was just some man-hating mixture of gooey pink and red candy hearts mixed with melty chocolate cherry madness. He may be somewhat right about that, but I looked at the holiday as just another chance to spend time together and eat, eat, eat. Combining our love of cinema (even 80's sports flicks) and food, we chose a combination platter fondue feast and Karate Kid mini-marathon.

Also check out my new electric fondue set (V-day present, yays!) So easy to clean.

I'll let him talk to you about Karate Kid I and II, but as far as the fondue goes, I think I knocked it out of the park.

The follow recipe is a variation on a recipe I found at Epicurious from Gourmet Magazine. Some ingredients have been altered to protect the innocent.

• 1 1/2 cups dry white wine (Riven Rock is a great dry chardonnay for this from Whole Foods.
• 1 fresh garlic clove
• 3-4 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons kirschwasser (a cherry brandy, available at most liquor stores)
• 1 cup Emmental cheese, grated
• 1 cup Appenzaller cheese, grated
• 2 cups Gruyere cheese, grated

Slice the clove of garlic in half and rub halves on the inside of the fondue pot. There will be this aromatic garlic-y residue that adds a lot of flavor to the cheese. Don't forget it!

Add the wine to the pot and allow it to simmer. Also add the kirschwasser.

Mix the cornstarch and cheese together in a bowl. Add handfuls of the cheese to the simmering pot slowly while stirring with a nonstick spoon. Don't let the cheese bubble too much. Just keep stirring. Switch wrists if you have to. This be-yotch ain't gonna make itself you know. You gotta work it!

Fondue should thicken within a couple minutes. If you've waited a while and the fondue has not thickened to your liking, mix a little more cornstarch with enough water to dissolve it. Add this mix to the pot, make sure its still hot, and stir, baby, stir.

Don't worry...it is soooo worth it....

Oh god, oh man, oh god, oh man, oh god, oh man, OH GOD.

Serve with slices of warmed kielbasa, lots of fresh, crunchy bread, and sliced granny smith apples. Cornichons and vegetables (cooked potatoes, broccoli, asparagus, sauteed brussel sprouts) are also popular.

And we are not even done yet! No sir. I hope you made room for dessert. The flavors

in this mix are mostly dark chocolate and almond, but honey adds a complimentary sweet-

ness to the bitter cacao. This recipe is straight from Epicurious, so I will let them guide you

on your way to chocolate heaven.

We had this with fresh strawberries and pineapple pieces. After the sausage and bread, we

didn't want to push our tummies to the limit. We needed to keep ourselves ready for a fight

in case a bunch of guys in skeleton tights broke into Britton's house and questioned our

skills in karate. Hai!

Pound cake, brownies, marshmallows, etc. These are also great for chocolate fondue, but really,

anything will go with this fondue...beets, corn tortillas, monkey brains. It's that good.

Homemade Tomato Soup (And some grilled cheese advice too)

A quick look back at some delicious meals I've had in the past couple months, since I haven't been around to blog about it. (Yeah, sorry 'bout that.)

Christmas Day: Country fried steak, pan gravy, homemade mashed potatoes, coleslaw, corn, crowder peas, corn, and dates stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped with basil and proscuitto - my overcooked attempt at gourmet hors d'oeuvres (not shown.)

Don't hate.

Girls' Night with Julie: Dinner at the Thai Restaurant of Norcross. We had my favorite, the panang curry with tofu as well as a large helping of pad thai with pork and the coconut soup seen in the...uh...what is that thing called? It was yummy, albeit a little salty. I'm glad I found a local thai place after Cozy Yum Yum in Athens, GA turned into a pit of culinary despair.
Eating in w/ the Boyfriend: Coconut fried shrimp, jasmine steamed rice, and fresh steamed broccoli. I used Alton Brown's recipe sans the homemade peanut sauce. I used Lee Kum Kee brand bottled peanut flavored sauce instead. (I hate bottled sauces, but this was an exception. I didn't have a blender at the time, and I thought I'd lost the shield for liquids on my food processor.) The shrimp were succulent and crunchy. Also a hit with my boyfriend, who ate his weight in these little taste sensations.

Also, please just spend the extra money, and go for the peeled and deveined shrimp. If they are frozen, so be it. I spent way too much time huddled over the kitchen sink, and I can never have that back.

Tomato soup is one of those dishes I just wasn't crazy about as a child. I hated fried bologna, the taste of cough syrup, sour patch kids, ketchup, pickles, and many other supposed "kid-friendly" flavors and foods. I refused to eat fresh tomatoes, so why would I compromise my palate by consuming these overly salty tomato concoctions disguised as delicious campbell's soup? And why would I even ask for tomato, when I could have chicken noodle or vegetable or even black bean?

But my boyfriend, as usual, got really excited at the prospect of making soup one day after I, in a wave of exhaustion, decided to put together something simple for dinner. Why not soup and grilled cheese? Easy enough. The conversation, with all its good intentions, ended with me agreeing to make homemade tomato soup knowing full well I had no food-pulverizing equipment whatsoever.

Though I was a little peeved that I had so quickly conceded to my boyfriend's pleading, it ultimately lead to my quest for an immersion blender. They look like this. That one actually looks a lot nicer. I purchased a much cheaper version with two attachments and a little carrying case. So far, it has been very helpful and easy to clean. Just make sure you press the thing all the way to the bottom of the pot before you turn it on, or say hello to red polka dots on your nice white cotton sweater from Ann Taylor Loft. Aye ya! (For this recipe, a blender will probably work just as well, but then you gotta clean them out. Blech.)

Here's a souper....ha ha...souper quick tomato soup recipe for those of you who need something easy and wholesome and dare I admit, comforting.

3 Cups Chicken Broth (canned or homemade, whatevever, but if it is canned, please omit the extra salt)

1 Can Muir Glen Organic crushed tomatoes

1 Cup Half and Half

One and a half handfuls of basil chopped into strands (chiffonade if you want to get technical)

1/2 teaspoon of red cayenne pepper (optional)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Combine the broth, half and half, tomatoes, cayenne, and about a handful of basil into a large pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer for 20 min. Stir occasionally.

Allow soup to cool slightly. Use immersion blender to blend the soup thoroughly until no tomato chucks are left and the soup has a thicker consistency. Garnish with the remaining basil. Serve with wheat saltines.

NOTE: Always salt soup after it has cooled down a little. If you taste it when it is still boiling hot, you cannot tell how much salt is already in the soup.

DELICIOUS GRILLED CHEESE NOTE: If you are going to make grilled cheese to go with this amazing soup, I recommend using soft italian bread (no whole wheat, not for this) and the sharpest cheddar you can find. This is the best combo I have ever had. Forget your fancy muenster, your swiss, your brie. Sharp Sharp Sharpity cheddar. To make it even better, thinly slice a granny smith apple and put the slices next to the cheese before you start to grill your sandwich. It is gooey crunch heaven. I am chewing on my wrist just thinking about it.