Last week we sent an email to invite some of our friends over for dinner this past Friday. Given the week's events, I thought it would be a healthy distraction so we went ahead with the dinner. I'm glad we did, too, because it was a lot of fun! We decided to make fondue. I got our fondue pot for my birthday last March and we used it once then but it hadn't come out of the cabinets since. It was long overdue! I had emailed my friend Sarah for her cheese fondue recipe months ago and luckily she was at dinner to supervise the process.
First to go in the pot was garlic and white wine.
Then came the milk and flour.
After that heated up, Doc added the good stuff....the cheese! We used sharp cheddar and smoked gouda.
Sarah watched carefully to make sure the cheese sauce made it to the right consistency.
It was starting to smell gooooood! We were all standing around the table just waiting for the stirring to be done.
Speaking of "we" that would be Chris and Allison,
Charlie and Sarah,
and me and Doc. Finally, it was ready! (This picture was taken after bread had already been dipped in a left crumbs behind.)
For dipping, we had pumpernickel bread cubes, green apples, carrots, and tortilla chips. I think the apples were my favorite.
I said it that night and I'll say it again, the cheese fondue was "real gouda!"
Since we started with a big appetizer, Doc and I decided we'd just do a small dish for the main course. He made bacon-wrapped barbecue shrimp over a bed of rice. Delicious!
We saved the best course for last...the chocolate fondue. Here, Doc is stirring the sauce (milk, vanilla extract, milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate) so fast the camera can't even keep up.
For dipping, we had pretzel sticks, marshmallows, pound cake, biscoff cookies, bananas, and strawberries. Charlie got to be the first taste-tester.
After he gave his approval, it was game on. That stuff was good. Oh man, was it good!
We ended the meal with a toast. I realize that usually happens at the beginning, but better late than never, right?
(I got to use my new tripod to take this and it is totally awesome. Just thought you should know.)
It was so much fun and I'm glad I got to see my friends. I don't think we'll wait so long to make fondue again since it was so yummy! Who wants to come over for the next round?