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When hosting in the spring and summertime, we enjoy simplicity and favor meals that can be prepped ahead of time. One of our favorite meals to share with friends is a cheese board. Lucky for us, our local grocery in St. Helena, Sunshine Market, stocks everything you could possibly need for a picnic.
The Grocery List
We generally get 1 cheese per 2 people and 1 box of crackers per 2-3 people. It’s fun to mix up the options with different types of each. We love Cowgirl Creamery's Mt. Tam option for soft cheese and a combination of olive oil flatbread and fig crackers. Capisce Market also makes a wonderful olive oil cracker.
Our grocery list usually looks like this:
Cheese
Olives
Marcona Almonds and/or Candied Walnuts
Honey (always Sonoma County Bee!)
Crackers
Sourdough Loaf
Lettuce
The Prep
Cheeseboard prep is easy and fun. Start with a blank canvas ~ a large wooden board or platter. First, place the cheese options so they are equally distributed. Next, add in a few bowls and fill them with nuts, olives, honey, and olive oil. Finally, fill in the gaps with the cracker options. That's it, you're done!
To Serve
Place the cheeseboard as the centerpieces of a table or picnic blanket. Set out plates and napkins and cutlery in an informal pattern. To balance, serve with a simple salad and bread. I enjoy finishing a light lettuce salad with olive oil and thyme salt. A bright vinaigrette would also work nicely.
Our favorite aspect of a cheeseboard is it naturally orients everyone around it. Once everything is set, all that's left is to enjoy the good food and good company!
Kaelin
