I Burned The Grilled Cheese [21/366]
I'll get to the title (and the oh - so - embarrassing photographic evidence) in a minute (or rather, my friend Gayle will get to it in a guest spot towards the end of the post). I'm at Gayle's for the weekend - enjoying a weekend of television, movies, and joint computing while we watch South Carolina vote returns (marking the first time in U.S. history that no candidate has won two of the first three primary elections) and talk politics and other current events.
I rarely talk politics. It's not that I don't care - in fact I care very much. I'm truly passionate about the freedoms provided in our great nation - especially to women - and the foundations of democracy on which those freedoms are built. Chief amongst those is our right to vote. As a female who owns property, votes in every election, holds a job outside the home, travels freely without a male escort, and enjoys all of the freedoms afforded an American by the power of a piece of paper - the U.S. Constitution - I am amazed at the power of this democratic nation.
However, I feel about the actual field of knowledge known as politics much like I feel about learning a language. I just feel I can never learn enough to be fluent enough to have an intelligent conversation and part of what I truly worry about politics in America is that we run on emotion rather than intelligent conversation. Emotion and passion are important, but not more important than logic and reason. Gayle is far more knowledgeable about politics than I and will gladly talk with me about it and I don't feel like an idiot when we talk and she has to shore up my knowledge on things like brokered conventions, super delegates, why in the world Iowa gets to retain first in the nation status when they can't pull off a certifiable election and all these other adventures we all get to try to bone up on every four years. Where logic has (finally) reigned in politics a bit this week - SOPA and PIPA bills have been pulled, at least, for now. I agree that intellectual property needs some new protections - but these actions weren't right.
Okay...back to our normal blog stuff...
Gayle got a new computer that arrived on Friday so we've spent a great deal of time chatting for a few minutes, followed by moments of key and mouse clicking, then more chatting. She had a Sony Vaio during her graduate program - and now has another one. And...it's blue...which in this world is a very good thing.
I've spent time getting to know my camera a bit better. Gayle's cats, Riley and Kealy, are both fun to photograph so they spent much of their day playing model for me. You'll notice they didn't get too stressed by the activity - Riley never even bothered to open her eyes.
So, back to our title. In our friendship, Gayle is the politics expert, but I'm the chef. Even in her kitchen I often make dinner (after all I love to cook and she doesn't). So, here is Gayle to tell her version of the story behind the title and the photos she had to run to get the camera to take.
Guest Commentary by Gayle:
So we went to make supper, not a big deal. As usual, Kara took control of my kitchen, which I'm relieved to sacrifice. The sweet potato fries were happily baking in the oven, and the grilled cheese was being produced. First, Kara placed a top piece of bread with butter side down (on the cheese) instead of up. No biggie; she caught it almost immediately and then quickly fixed it with a swift flip. In seeming seconds I look back to see the sandwiches are pretty well on their way to Charred-land! HOW did that happen? Kara is a master in the kitchen! I look over and see the burner is set to "HI" - holy cow! I just couldn't pass up this opportunity, so I sprinted to the living room to grab Kara's camera so there would be proof of this rare debacle. With all of us, it's good to know we're all human. (And yes, the sandwiches were re-made!)