noelle’s posthaven

It was cold and rainy this morning in Honolulu, an unusual start for the typically hot and humid September day. For the most part, seasons pass you by in Hawaii. The spring was warm. The fall is warm, The winter will be warm. It's not a complaint because for several years I lived all two seasons of Chicago (blistering summer and frostbite winter) and would easily choose the moderate climate here. Still, there are days, such as today — which for many others marks the start of fall — when I miss colorful leaves and pea coats and boots and scarves and general need for hot soup. 

But I digress. 

This cold and rainy morning, I happened upon a tweet by @BillDaley who was contemplating grilled cheese. "cold cloudy Chicago days require warm filled cheese and bacon sandwiches," he wrote.

Well, there's not much to the story after that, except for impulse and a frying pan. 

Josh came over for lunch and we prepared warm grilled cheese sandwiches using fresh-picked basil, Hamakua tomatoes, slabs of gruyere cheese, and smoked bacon (well, actually, sans bacon for vegetarian Josh).

To wash it down, we boiled some jasmine and fresh mint leaves from the yard to make tea. I stirred in a spoonful of honey to make it sweet (isn't it nice how you can say "stirred in" to make it sound easy and graceful when you actually might be thrashing around a metal spoon with stiff honey, trying to make it dissolve?) and drank the tea over ice.

A nice lunch, I'd say.