A Year of Cheese Plates
For Christmas last year, I gifted Mike a slate cheese board. He loves cooking and entertaining for friends, so I figured I'd set him up with a nice one so he can party in style. We also started a serious vegetable garden in the backyard raised beds, which generated an endless supply of fresh produce that made its way onto the table. We even dabbled in pickling at one point.
As a result, our cheese plates grew from a simple heap of snacks to Martha Stewart worthy presentations. I started taking photos of them because they were quite spectacular. Here's some of the best in show.
This was the first cheese plate of the year, created in our room at The Ritz Carlton in Key Biscayne, Florida. The Good Grips cutting board gave it a more casual vibe, but the selection of fresh berries, brie, and french bread classed it up nicely.
Our second cheese plate that week was a bit more spontaneous. We were stranded at the hotel due to a blizzard back home in Boston, so we threw together a quick afternoon plate from the leftovers in the hotel room kitchen, along with a bottle of champagne to toast to an extended vacation.
This is when we started breaking out the slate board. The tomatoes, chives, and blossoms were grown in our backyard garden. The spicy pickles and garlic are from a local vendor we found and fell in love with. And the shells and rocks have all been collected from our weekend beach trips.
Later on in the summer we harvested dozens of cucumbers from the garden. They are ridiculously easy to grow. The ones below came from a .39 cent seed packet, which still blows my mind. And our wildflower bed finally sprang to life, so we added those in for a pop of color.
Mike's friend Joe shared with us some of his impressive hand-made cured meat. We created this plate especially for it, adding some fancy mustards, and drizzling oil and balsamic over the french bread for a very savory set.
The final one of the year featured some local Honeycrisp apples (leftovers from pie-making), some sharp cheddars, and the remainder of the cured meat.
I think for 2018, one of our resolutions should be to create a cheese plate at least once a month. And maybe convince Mike to let me put olives on them every now and again. In a separate cup, so they don't touch anything, because he hates olives.
