Today was a chilly, rainy day in San Diego. The kind where you want to stay in for dinner and have a cozy, simple dinner in front of the fireplace. The good news is that it looks like the top 12% of California seems to be drought-free, yippee! With the amount of rain we seem to have been getting since the beginning of November in San Diego, one would think we would be considered drought free as well. Now I am all for a little weather; I grew up in four seasons and I do miss it. However, enough is enough. I am looking forward to some promised sunshine tomorrow.

I decided to make grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for dinner. I am loving the pears this season, so wanted to incorporate them into my sandwich with some fig jam that I’ve also been enjoying since the holiday season started. In my mind, blue cheese would be the perfect cheese to go on my sandwich. I knew I’d need another type of cheese as well since I really only wanted to use a small amount of blue cheese. I ended up deciding on havarti. That was a great choice! Thank you to the kind man working in the deli that mentioned havarti would be an excellent choice to mix with the blue cheese crumbles. He was right.

I started by using two slices of farmhouse white bread. I spread about a tablespoon of fig jam on each slice of bread. On the bottom slice, I laid my pear slices and then a few thinly sliced rings of onion. On top of that I added about a half tablespoon of blue cheese crumbles and then the slice of havarti.

I closed my sandwich and brushed melted butter over the outside and grilled it on my indoor grill pan. This turned out perfectly melted, nice and ooey gooey. The flavors blended so well and none were overpowering.

I enjoyed my sandwich with a cup of tomato soup. How comforting on this chilly, rainy night in San Diego.

Ingredients

• 2 slices farmhouse white bread (from the bakery of your local grocer)

• 1 slice havarti cheese

• 1/2 tablespoon blue cheese crumbles

• 1/2 pear sliced

• 3 slices onion (thinly sliced)

• 2 tablespoons fig jam

• 1 tablespoon butter

Directions

Spread fig jam on both slices of bread. Lay pear slices and onion down on bottom slice of bread. Add blue cheese crumbles and top with havarti cheese. Close sandwich and brush melted butter on each slice. Grill until toasted. Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris