A Swiss (and Swedish) Soiree

So finally, the moment you've all been waiting for: a recap on this past weekend's festivities!

Now as you know from a previous post, my Swiss boyfriend has a serious (and sometimes dangerous) obsession with cheese.  When he's with me, we have no problem dropping 100+ bucks at Cheese Plus on Polk.  (The second you try Lesley Stowe's Raincoast Crisps, you'll think they 're worth $8.99 too.  Even if there are only 20 crackers per box.) 

I am in love with Cheese Plus!

Most importantly, however, Cheese Plus is the only spot in town that sells his absolute favorite version of the dairy decadence: Appenzeller Extra.

A typical dinner for Stefan

(minus the grapes, plus another glass of wine)

Given his severe affinity for cheese, we decided to throw a dinner party dedicated to the stuff.  If we were going to do cheese as a meal, I wanted to go all out - not just a fondue or a nice pre-entree plate, we're talking a full four course dinner comprised entirely of CHEESE, CHEESE, CHEESE, and CHEESE!

He was hesitant at first - my gimmicky and quirky theme fell into the American, not European, category of dinner party hosting - but he eventually realized he had no choice and fell in love with the idea as much as me.  He was, after all, going to get an exciting evening of unlimited helpings of his favorite delicacy.

I know all the readers of this blog (mom, sister, boyfriend) know the address blocked out above, but you never know which mad cheese-loving computer whiz hacker will somehow track down this site through an insanely complicated algorithm and then come rob us of our $21.78 per pound creamy brie

As you know, I was out of town the back half of last week so our party prep began Saturday morning around 10am.  (Thank you Absinthe Bar for the deadly Sacred Heart and Wonderlust cocktails Friday night.  I slept like a lush.) 

After a quick run on Chrissy, we hit up Safeway for some SERIOUS shopping.  (Stefan spent close to ten minutes debating about whether we needed 12 or 13 loaves of bread.  We went with the latter.  Just to be safe.)  Then we were onto ACE Hardware for a refill of our Fondue gas canister.  Next we hit up Cheese Plus for our entries for the first course cheese competition: Scharfe Maxx, Swiss Challerhocker, Roth Kase Buttermilk Blue, Fromager d'Affinois (my absolute fav), and Appenzeller Extra (Stefan's absolute fav as noted above).

1, 2, 3, 4

By time we were home, showered, and with groceries unloaded, it was almost 3pm.  Given that our apartment is outfitted with four lovely bar stools and we'd be a total of 14 cheese lovers that evening, we decided to make a quick trip over the Bay Bridge to IKEA for some alternative options. 

We decided we'd do the full meal around our coffee table - utilizing the 4-5 spots available on our sectional sofa, our two foldable roof chairs, and a few new purchases from the Swedish master:

 

Stefan dropped me off at home to get going on dessert while he ran a few final errands.  When he finally got back, it was 6:15 - our guests were arriving at 7.  While I got to work arranging the cheese plate, veggie plate, meat plate, and bread bowl, he started on the red bench.  In true IKEA fashion, the five piecer came with approximately 100 bolts, screws, nuts, and hinges. 

At around 6:45 he screwed on the last piece ready to turn to our stools.  But unfortunately there was a little problem.  Those legs that are supposed to lean outwards were all angled inwards.  Apparently someone had forgotten to look extra carefully at instruction picture number #43. 

Given the mishap, we ended up welcoming our first guest with a glass of wine and a screwdriver.  By 8pm our guests had earned their keep - they'd successfully screwed together all of the pieces.  They were all great sports and did it joyfully, knowing the deliciousness that was about to ensue. 

Now onto the first course: our competition cheese plate. 

As noted in the invite, we asked each guest to bring their absolute favorite cheese to share with the bunch.  Upon arrival, we had each guest write the name and origin of their entries on little labels so the critics could assess who would reign victorious.

 

We had quite a spread of amazing samples: a creamy Robiola due Latti and a luxurious Robiola tre Latti with a nectarous fig spread from Deb and Jake, Istara - an ambrosial Basque/French cheese - from Parag and Stelet, some spicy manchego from Nikki and Jordan, an absolutely divine and tempting La Tur with crisp sliced apples from Sarah, and finally, a sinfully scrumptious and supple Saint Marcellin cheese from Armelle which had been crafted in her parent's home village in the Dauphine province of France.

Needless to say, our veggie plate didn't get much love.

Just when we thought we had tasted it all, we had a very interesing pair of late arrival contenders.  Amanda and Michal entered with some Polish Oscypek - a smoked cheese made of salted sheep milk made exclusively in the Tatra Mountains region of Poland.  Apparently, the unpasteurized stuff is outlawed in the States, but this Polish attorney managed to get a friend to smuggle it into the country just in time for our little cheesy affair. 

 

The competition was tight, but Armelle ended up stealing the champion cheesemonger title with her local village variety winning herself a bottle of this:

Domaine Carneros La Reve

We then had a request for a loser prize, which we gladly fulfilled with a bottle of the almost undrinkable bubbly we once got for free while on a limo ride to Napa Valley.  Enjoy that guys!

Then onto our second course: a bubbling, gooey pot of Emmi Fondue with a mixture of special spices, white wine, onions and garlic - a delicious balance blended by my boyfriend.

Unfortunately I got a little too excited by Stefan's Swiss supper superstar (I have sampled quite a lot of his cheesy concoctions and this one was definitely among the finest) that I failed to make sure someone recorded the final two dishes.

 

Despite their lack of documentation (and the group's growing cheese fatigue), those two cheese-laden courses still took place :

3. Raclette (for more information on this interesting and pungent Swiss tradition, see my previous post on my boyfriend's love here), and then finally

4. My homemade ricotta cheesecake with a butter nut crust (a fluffy, lighter take on New York's brilliance) with macerated strawberries courtesy of chef/baker/eater extraordinaire Deborah

When the guests took off around midnight, we burned all the calories we consumed cleaning up in our non-dishwasher-outfitted kitchen. 

 

And after all the clean-up - besides the 12 loaves of bread, 4 pounds of cheese, 60 slices of prosciutto, and enough veggies for a full two weeks of stir fries we had left over - we had the nicest little treat to remind us of our lovely evening of cheese:

We'll definitely be throwing a dinner party the day we buy all the new furniture for our next apartment.

xoxo

KK