500 Things to do in the 500 Days until the Big 3-0: 118. The Mac'n'cheese Masterships

25th April 2014, Brick Lane, London

Out of all comfort food there is, mac'n'cheese must be the best kind!

Although I love me some mac'n'cheese when I need a bit of cheering up, calming down or I just happen to have nothing better to do than eating - the Floridian's love for this amazing pick me up is border lining a full fledged addiction.

I don't think I have once visited a restaurant with this beautiful gooeyness of cheese and pasta on the menu without her ordering that in before even considering mains. She and I would also go through unhealthy amounts of Kraft's blue boxes coming home from crazy nights out when still living together. We even had mac'n'cheese for dinner when celebrating her 30th birthday, all whilst watching the Lion King in our pj's. That's grown ups for you!

If I may say so myself, I make pretty damn fantastic mac'n'cheese. And competitive as I am, I obviously can't settle for anything less than being the best, so the Mac'n'cheese Masterships were on. And who better to be the judge and declare a final winner than my favourite Floridian?

I had narrowed it down to my three greatest mac'n'cheese masterpieces, each containing enough cheese to cause a heart attack to the healthiest of people - but man, what a great way to go! After hours of shredding six types of cheese, cooking every shape of macaroni on the planet and burning my tongue repeatedly when ensuring cheese goo perfection, I must say I had outdone myself. And probably also increased my own cholesterol by 100% in a day.

Then to the big problem; what wine goes with mac'n'cheese? Google rambles on about good quality pinot noirs or full bodied chardonnays. Full bodied??? Is that the same as big boned? All bottles are about the same size aren't they? Get me right, I agree with supporting all sizes and shapes, but this seems a bit over the top.

In the end, I went with champagne. After all, champagne goes with everything. I know this after many dinners of soggy Cheerios and Pol Roger. Works every time. And, as it turns out - it goes even better with mac'n'cheese than with cereal'n'milk

Upon the arrival of the Floridian, I was pretty damn excited about the carb and cheese fest about to commence and she looked pretty excited too! Well, after an 80 hour working week odds are she may have been mainly excited about actually sitting down on a sofa and drinking copious amounts of bubbles - but I decided her excitement was simply because she had been dreaming about this moment for months.

She approved of all of three candidates for mac'n'cheese champion, but after a lot of consideration declared a winner in The Experiment.

The Experiment was developed throughout the breakdown of what may just have been the biggest train wreck of a relationship that have had actual survivors left to tell the tale. After months of wallowing in self pity, drinking copious amounts of vodka and eating a tub of Ben & Jerry's a day - at least something good came out of this 2010 disaster of a break up. Nothing mends a broken heart like cheddar, parmesan, nutmeg, pancetta cubes and elbow macaroni it seems. And alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.

I officially declare myself the Mac'n'cheese Master!