At 6:05 p.m. on a Monday, I walked into Lower Usdan with one goal only: to eat dinner. Valiantly, I scoured the dining hall, scanning every nook and cranny for the sacred item for the Excalibur of cuisines: the grilled cheese. It was a simple desire—all I wanted was bread and melted cheese. But with no successful sighting, I accepted my fate and ran two pieces of bread through the toaster and acquired two very sad slices of cold, cold cheese. It was, at the risk of repeating myself, a dreadfully sad state of affairs.

But then, before all hope was lost and before I was made to consume this dreadfully sad meal, I paused and thought back to a day (two weeks ago) and I arose from my throne (one of the Lower Usdan dining booths) and made my way to the preparation station. Would a waffle maker be a worthy stand-in as a grill master? I stalled in my tracks as I was greeted by an unfortunate sight: Someone else’s waffle was occupying the waffle maker. A grilled cheese-starved individual such as I should not have to wait for such a long period of time (two minutes and 30 seconds) just to make myself a meal. 

I turned my head and my eyes landed upon the next best option: the bubble waffle machine. Was this the most preposterous idea yet? Even more so than my previous idea? Was this a level two, when I had not yet even attempted a level one? Surely, I thought, surely I shouldn’t, surely I couldn’t. Surely it would be unbecoming of such an upstanding diner such as myself. But I craved grilled cheese.

I opened the bubble waffle machine, placed upon it one slice of bread, then two more slices of cheese, and finally, the last slice of bread. With great formality and excitement, I grasped the upper handle of the bubble waffle machine and pressed down gingerly.

I could not see my creation under the hot pressures of the machine. It was frightening. What if I took my food from the machine, only to find it burnt? The idea startled me, scared me. But I could not risk it. I could not risk the chance that I would remove the bread and cheese from the bubble waffle machine with only warm bread slices and sweaty, half-melted cheese, and not a hope in sight for me to eat a grilled cheese as my longed-for dinner.

I stood there, tense. It was only me and the machine. 

Apprehensively, I opened the waffle maker’s lid, and behold, it was complete: the fabled bubble grilled cheese. A crispy creation, with perfectly melted cheese safely contained within the crusty, crunchy bread. And, even better, the outside was marked with the telltale bubble speed bump shapes of a bubble waffle.

It was a glorious success! I can report that it was the most fantastic grilled cheese I have ever eaten in Lower Usdan dining hall (and I can safely say that I have eaten many a Lower Usdan dining hall grilled cheese). I could never have known that the finest offering from Lower Usdan would come not from one of the many serving areas, but instead from the humble bubble waffle maker machine.

This is all to say that one should always experiment with the cooking items available. One never knows what magnificent creation a next meal could be. 10/10 would make again.