What goes with grilled cheese?

When I was a little kid, I hated tomato soup. Not the Andy Warhol version (which I happen to loooove, by the way), but real, actual, tomato soup. Even when I was a teenager, and then on to becoming an adult, I still hated it. In fact, I hated tomatoes, green onions, squash, green peppers, and milk.

I have very few memories of my childhood, but one of the most vivid memories I have is sitting at Miss Linda's Preschool with her daughter Amber, refusing to eat the tomato soup Miss Linda has so lovingly poured from a can, into a pan, and then my bowl. Tomato soup was nasty. Tomato soup just tasted like watery ketchup.

So, you ask, how can I be sitting at my table eating tomato soup right now WHEN I HATE, HATE, HATE IT?

I think the turning point might have been a couple years ago when I visited Chedd's. Chedd's specializes in grilled cheese sandwiches, and they claim to have the best tomato basil bisque. Well...when you're eating a grilled cheese sandwich, you need something to dunk it in, and I knew that my free cup of water wouldn't do. So I ordered up myself a teeny tiny cup of tomato basil bisque (it was that or some sausage chowder something - gross!) and dipped one corner of my sandwich into the creamy redness. Holy taste explosion! It was awesome. That was a whole new bowl of soup for me, and I was hooked.

And ever since then, I eat tomato soup - even the boring out-of-a-can Campbell's variety when I don't have anything else handy. But only with a grilled cheese sandwich. Of course.