T Spoon of Sunshine

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups hot milk
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Pinch nutmeg
• 12 ounces Gruyere, grated (5 cups)
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 16 slices white sandwich bread, crusts removed
• Dijon mustard
• 8 ounces baked Virginia ham, sliced but not paper thin

2. Melt the butter over low heat in a small saucepan and add the flour all at once, stirring with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes.

3. Slowly pour the hot milk into the butter–flour mixture and cook, whisking constantly, until the sauce is thickened.

4. Turn off the heat and add the salt, pepper, nutmeg, 1/2 cup grated Gruyere, and the Parmesan and set aside.

5. To toast the bread, place the slices on 2 baking sheets and bake for 5 minutes. Turn each slice and bake for another 2 minutes, until toasted.

6. Lightly brush half the toasted breads with mustard, add a slice of ham to each, and sprinkle with half the remaining Gruyere.

7. Top with another piece of toasted bread. Slather the tops with the cheese sauce, sprinkle with the remaining Gruyere, and bake the sandwiches for 5 minutes.

8. Turn on the broiler and broil for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the topping is bubbly and lightly browned. Serve hot.






RECIPE COURTESY OF: INA GARTEN
PHOTO COURTESY OF: BLOGTO

• AWAKENING: Realizing that you are a real-life adult can be really terrifying. But having the right partner in crime makes that realization less scary and much more fun. {Plus, you can still be kids together!}
• EVOLVING: I feel like I'm in the planning stages of...everything. It feels like I am in need of a career change and despite time, I am still trying to figure out what that change is. Hopefully soon it will make sense.
• HEALTHFUL: I try to make cooking at home and riding bikes regularly de regueur in our household and I feel like the past few weeks have been proven successful. Let's hope that this lasts! I feel like I'm doing my body a favor.
  
• COMFORTING: On the days when I am extra hard on myself (more often than not these days), I am comforted to know that I am not alone in how I'm feeling. Everyone goes through their own things. Everyone has days when they're blue. And everyone eventually figures it out. That is comforting.
  
• LOVING: Every day, I am grateful for the people that are in my life whether it's the nicest, most accommodating Trinidadian waiter at the French café or the elderly man at the corner of my street who waves every time he sees me on my bicycle. But I'm most grateful for my friends (both new and old, in real-life and in the blog-world), my family, and most especially my husband. In turn, I feel like I've got so much more love to give. And want to give. It's really quite surreal to know that I've never, in my life, cared for anyone as much as I do for Ryan. It's seriously the best feeling in the world.