Virgin Mary image in Grilled Cheese Sandwich (now less OT)

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:45 AM -0800 11/24/04, Marsha Alley wrote:
>In my family of origin (rural SW Appalachians living in Los Angeles
>for 20 years before me), two slices of bread with cheese between,
>coated outside with butter and fried in a skillet was a "grilled
>cheese sandwich."
>
>A single slice of bread, topped with cheese and run under the
>broiler until it melted was "cheese toast."  The under side of the
>bread was never toasted first.
>
>A friend of mine (originally from Idaho with Minnesota roots) toasts
>two slices of bread, puts cheese inside when done and calls it a
>"toasted cheese sandwich."  He's never heard of cheese toast.
>
>Marsha
>/wishing she had one of any of the above just now :-)

This used to be my standard nighttime snack, untoasted Italian or
Portuguese bread topped with pepper jack cheese or with cheddar and
sliced jalapeños, run under the top-brown setting in the toaster
oven, before I had to cut back on carbs.  (sniff...)   I never really
had a term for it originally (I suppose I'd have called it "bread
with toasted cheese" or the like), but when my then teenage son began
partaking, coming to the tradition off tortilla chips with spicy
cheese, he called it "nacho bread".  So in our family it's officially
"nacho bread" rather than "toasted cheese" or "cheese toast" that I
don't get to eat.

Larry