snow picnic III

So for the entrèes, I knew that I needed to make fondue it was an integral part of my original idea. It is fairly traditional with emmentaler, raclette, and gruyère, but is finished with cognac rather than kirsch. It was awesome. I had trouble restraining myself long enough to take photos. It is accompanied by homemade date pecan pumpernickel bread, an adaptation from this book, endive- such a beautiful soft color, boiled fingerling potatoes dipped in nutmeg (stole that from martha,) fresh figs and a nice salami. I think the endive was actually my favorite followed closely by the bread and potatoes. The chaffing dish was inherited from my grandma and the fondue forks are vintage seafood forks that I spent an inordinate amount of time acquiring on ebay. They are just the right shape for fondue and so much prettier than the goofy 70's wooded spears that always come with fondue sets. I have mixed and matched a few different patterns and they were pretty inexpensive. Next is a sandwich made from boston brown bread, maple smoked vermont cheddar, turkey, cream cheese and sprouts. The bread is another childhood throwback and very New England. I like the dainty shape of it too. The soup is roasted cauliflower-- just oven roasted cauliflower, homemade chicken stock, rosemary and bacon drippings. The soup spoons are actually white plastic, but I bought them because they reminded me of these.