{The Great Toasted Cheese Sandwich Cook-Off of 2014}

I have this group of friends who get together every Thursday night. It's been almost two years and we've only missed a handful of times, which is kind of amazing. I'd say we're like a family but it's more than that. We're like...sitcom friends.

A few weeks ago we were sitting around in Lynette's living room and we came up with a pretty amazing idea which definitely deserves to be talked about in capital letters: A GRILLED CHEESE COOK-OFF.

We'd actually been trying to think of a theme for Robyn's baby shower and one person had said something about spring and another person mentioned something they'd seen on Pinterest and then I'd said, "Grilled cheese!" Because why the heck not? It got vetoed as a shower theme almost instantaneously, but thankfully the idea was resurrected moments later in a slightly different context [because I have a hard time letting things go] and plans for The Great Toasted Cheese Sandwich Cook-Off of 2014 were set in motion. Picture it: Every team brings the ingredients for their own grilled cheese secret recipe. The sandwiches are assembled on site and then sliced into fingers so that everyone gets a sample size of every sandwich. There is voting and the best sandwich is awarded, obviously, a trophy.

  There were bacon weaves and caramelized onions and apple pie fillings and basil pesto and special cheeses and fancy sauces and one hefty vat of tomato soup.  I didn't win. I mean, I won in the sense that I got to taste seven different gourmet grilled cheeses and get very, very full, but the trophy went to this East Indian one with basil pesto and goat cheese. I'm tempted to demand a rematch, just because I want more grilled cheese.