a cheese party

Did you know Stefan and I have a little obsession with cheese?  We like it more than we do dessert.
(And we like dessert a whole, whole lot.)

So much so that for our nuptials, we ditched the wedding cake and went straight for the cheese:

 

In beautiful cake form, of course

Last year, to help share (and promote) our love of dairy, we hosted a four-course cheese dinner party.  
We had all guests bring their fav cheese for our first course (a KILLER cheese plate), 
then did four pots of gooey Swiss fondue for our second course,
then served a decadent raclette as a third, (if you're not well-versed in the intricacies of this Swiss staple, read more here)
and then finished the evening off with some fluffy ricotta cheese cake.
Amazing.

Only problem was that our guests seemed to run out of steam a bit after course number - well - one.  Despite having warned them that the meal would include a total of FOUR cheesy courses, the sheer onslaught of cheese in the first course seemed to make them forget, causing them to fill their tummies well before our signature courses arrived.

This year, we decided to do things a bit differently.  

We still had all guests bring their favorite cheese.  When guests arrived, they labeled their cheese (name, origin, sheep/cow/goat) and found a spot for it on one of our boards. 

With a glass of wine in hand, they were instructed to get busy tasting: sampling each variety to determine which cheese would reign supreme.  
 

Unlike last year, however, we ditched the fondue and brought the raclette out much sooner. 
 

\

And this year, we had the right equipment for the job: a top-of-the-line, family-size raclette oven - a sensational wedding gift from my middle namesake and my mom's best friend.  

With eight individual trays, guests were able to each prepare their own personalized raclette: 
they started with a piece of delicious cheese, 
then topped it with our plethora of raclette accoutrements: corn, onions, ham, pickles, spices, and bananas (apparently not a traditional Swiss choice, but a must-have in Stefan's home growing up),
then popped the little tray into the oven, 
waited for it to melt to perfection, 
and then scraped it (or in Stefan's words - "scrapped it") on top of warm potatoes.    
 

 

Stefan showing them how it's done

Given people's lack of interest in raclette last year (keep in mind it came after the biggest cheese plate you've ever seen AND four pots of fondue), I was skeptical we'd be able to put a dent in the monstrous chunk of the stuff Stefan picked up at the shop:

But by 11pm, that chunk was almost all gone.

The night, however, wasn't complete without a cheesecake (people were full, but this recipe hit it out of the park, leaving poor Stefan with only two teeny pieces of leftovers) as well as a proper voting on best cheese.

First place went to Stefan (who cheated a bit by keeping his secret weapon hidden in the fridge revealing it only after all the other cheeses were picked over) for Scharfe Max 365: a Swiss intense, stinky mountain cheese that's aged for 365 days.

Because we obviously couldn't take home the prize (a bottle of champagne and box of chocolates), we re-voted to crown the Klugers victorious for their submission of Ewephoria - a sheep-made, "butterscotch sweet" gouda from Holland.  It was killer.  

Further evidence of a successful night:

xoxo
KK