Valentine’s Day Workshop Tickets Here!

Click Here for tickets to the Valentine’s Day Workshop at Old Town Books!

Join @cheatsandmeeses at @oldtownbooks to build the perfect valentine’s day cheese board for 2

About this Event

Pamela Wurst Vetrini of @cheatsandmeeses will give you a quick cheese board tutorial before jumping into the process of building your own board. The board will be very similar to this one seen on this blog post.

There will be coffee and nibbles to enjoy while building your board. Pamela will hold your hand through the process to ensure that everyone goes home with the perfect board to share with their sweetheart. You will take home a new wood board, a completed cheese plate, and Pamela’s signature cheat sheet booklet.

Want a sneak peak of how it’s done. Click here to see a timelapse tutorial.

*FYI. The boards will be wrapped in plastic wrap for easy transport after completion. If you don’t like this option for environmental reasons, please plan to bring an alternative to transport your board.

 

Click Here for tickets to the Valentine’s Day Workshop at Old Town Books!

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DIY Cheesy Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is a holiday built on high expectations and it is so hard to deliver. This year, I’ve made it very easy. Follow this step-by-step guide to building the perfect Valentine’s Day grazing board to share with your sweetie. The materials cost $50 and are all from Trader Joe’s. This is a one stop shop board. You can do this! Tag #cheatsandmeeses on your creations so I can see your beautiful board.

How to build it…

Trader Joe’s Shopping List

Fruit and Nut Crisp Crackers ($3.99)

Sliced Salami de Parma ($4.99)

Sliced Prosciutto ($3.99)

Giant Chalkidiki olives ($2.29)

Blackberries 12oz. ($3.69)

Blue Stilton ($5.28)

Old Amsterdam Gouda ($5.88)

Pomegranate ($2.29)

Marcona Almonds ($5.99)

Goat Brie Mini Wheel ($2.99)

Sweetened dried lemon slices ($2.29)

Herb Rosemary ($1.69)

Spray Roses not edible ($4.99)

Trader Joe’s Total: $50.35

Note: Two extra Items not included in this list.

1. Honeycomb from Savannah Bee Company. You can purchase here for $12.75 or a larger one on Amazon for $21.61
2. Conversation hearts can be purchased at any drug store or on Amazon

***A reminder about edible flowers. Flowers sold in the herb section are truly edible. Even though a flower is technically an edible flower and sold in the florist section of the grocery store, it should not be eaten- they have many chemicals and pesticides on them.

The Board.

I used an 8×10 rectangular board. I recommend that you use any board you have on hand and cut a piece of wax paper or use painter’s tape of those dimensions to use as a guide to build your board on a larger board. If you want to buy a similarly sized board, I recommend this one from H&M.

The final result…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheese Cake/ Brie Cake/ Cheese Tower

This might be the easiest thing I’ve ever done and/or posted about. If you’re scared of the grazing boards, but still want to impress your friends- start here. It is as easy as 1-2-3. If the instructions below are too tricky, follow along with the fun video below made by the gorgeous Ereka Vetrini.

How to build a #cheesecake #cheesetower #briecake

1. Buy 3 washed rind cheeses that stack nicely. The best places to purchase are Whole Foods, Wegmans, or your local cheese shop.
2. Stack the cheeses
3. Add extras like edible flowers, herbs, honeycomb, and fruit.

 

*These cakes feed 15 with a 1.5 ounce serving of cheese each

* Cheeses from top to bottom… Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam, Epoisses, Brie

 

Super Bowl: Grazing on the Gridiron

Who is tired of tired old Super Bowl snacks? This guy! Honestly, I’m tired of the entire institution of football, but that’s for another blog post. I LOVE hosting super bowl parties. I’ve made meatball subs, pigs in a blanket, thousands of dips, and loads of sticky chicken wings. This year it’s time to elevate our football spread. This year it’s time to bring the grazing board to the gridiron! Put your game face on folks, we’re going in…

 

Super Bowl Board Cheats

1. “Man Brie” a toxically masculine brie covered in crumbled bacon bits, fried onions, and honeycomb.
2. Meat, Meat, Meat. This board features mortadella, Sopresatta, Prosciutto, and Salami.
3. I dip, you dip, we dip. It’s really not a Super Bowl without dips. For this board I added mustard, pub cheese, and onion dips. 

   SUPER BOWL BOARD GROCERY LIST

Breakfast Board 101

I made my first breakfast board for my mom and her friends and it was a huge hit. I didn’t realize how well breakfast items lended themselves to the grazing concept. I also discovered that breakfast boards are a much more affordable option for someone getting into board building. It requires a little more effort than a big brown bag of bagels but not nearly as much effort as a hot brunch buffet.

There are 5 breakfast board cheats that will elevate your board to the next level…

1. Get your bagels bread sliced. Buy your bagels from a bakery or your local grocery store and ask them to bread-slice the bagels. This makes a world of difference because your guests can use the bagel slices as a vehicle for the board options instead of committing to an entire bagel.
2. Put a little honey on that butter. Soften your butter and put it in a tiny bowl then place a pretty little square of honeycomb on top. It makes the butter taste better and is beautiful.
3. Do the avocado flower. You can find a tutorial video here. I usually settle for hald a flower, but this is just the prettiest way to serve an avocado.
4. Trader Joe’s Everything Bagel spice. You can sprinkle this on your eggs, your cream cheese, your crackers, you can put it anywhere!
5. Glass yogurt jars. I know you’ve never considered buying that fancy af french yogurt, but this is your opportunity to try it. Adding those glass jars to your board adds some variety without breaking the bank and gives you an excuse to throw a lot of yogurt parfait fixings on the board.
6. 

Brekky Board Grocery List

• Berries
• Strawberries
• Grapefruit
• Cucumbers
• Dragon fruit
• Sage
• Waffle cookies
• Mini muffins
• cream cheese
• Yogurt cups
• Butter
• Avocado
• Granola
• Bacon
• Boiled Eggs
• Edible flowers
• Everything but the bagel seasoning
• Honeycomb
• Prosciutto
• Brie
• Gouda
• Asparagus
• Quiche
• jam

#CheatsandMeeses Cheat Sheet

Cheats and Meeses Cheat Sheet. Rules of the Game

1. Focus on Variety: Feature a variety of textures and milks in the cheese. Soft, creamy, spreadable, hard, and crumbly. Sheep, goat and cow!
2. Cut the cheese and fluff the meat: The board should be set with items that are easy to pick up and enjoy.
3. More is more: When you think you’re done, add two more vegetables, some nuts, and crackers.
4. Think Georgia O’Keefe: SHOW THE LADY PARTS! Make your fruits and vegetables look interesting. Cut them and display them in new ways.
5. Invite the perfect Bite: Put things next to each other that complement each other.
6. Cook a tiny bit: Add something homemade or hard to find on your board, so it’s not easily replicated.
7. Raid the pantry: Many pantry items work on a board. Check your pantry for nuts, dried fruits, crackers, and jarred veg.
8. Don’t spend all your cheddar on cheese: I try not to spend more than $10 per cheese on a board.
9. Tiny bowls! Use small bowl to organize your dips, olives, etc.
10. Post it or it didn’t happen: Pay attention to how you photograph your board. Take  the photo from above, in natural light, and with a solid color backdrop.  Close-up videos are great too.