fondue dinner

We invited friends over for an oil fondue dinner. Such fun!

They brought a spinach salad with strawberries, walnuts, and an herbed
Greek cheese.

jmcquown...

Probably Feta :) Delicious! Makes a great addition to spinach quiche.

Monique Y. Mudama...

It definitely wasn't feta. Some kind of goat cheese (maybe it wasn't
Greek at all; are there non-Greek goat cheeses?). Herby, but not
pungent in the same way as feta. I do love feta, though.

ladyjane...

I've had really fresh non-pungent feta. It's really delicious.

To cook in the oil we had buffalo and beef cubes (from, as they call
it around here, Whole Paycheck (Whole Foods), but man was it good),
plus breaded mushrooms and cheeses (Edam and Haloumi).

jmcquown...

I've heard Whole Foods called that before. There are none around here.

Monique Y. Mudama...

The meat was very good, but I don't want to say what we paid for those
two pounds. One of the topics of discussion was organic meat, as one
friend's parents raise cattle. He said they don't qualify as organic
because they use antibiotics on sick animals. They liken completely
non-antibiotic meat to never going to the doctor, say there can be all
sorts of worms and who knows what. I would imagine it's more likely
that those cows aren't used for beef (which would explain a lot about
the prices).

The dips were mango chutney, dijon mustard, sour cream + horseradish,
cocktail sauce, and a thick teriyaki sauce with lots of ginger and
garlic.

jmcquown...

Yum! and Yummer!

To complete the travesty, we hit up Coldstone Creamery just as it was
closing for some extra-fatty ice cream.

Our friends have a massive collection of board games, so we played
some of those until it got late enough that our brains couldn't
interpret the instructions anymore (a lot of board games are in
German, with hit or miss translations of the instructions).

Fondue is such a great way to eat and hang out -- just the logistics
of the skewers provide plenty of entertainment. It does get very easy
to eat just as much food as is on the table, though.

jmcquown...

I love a good fondue! I've never tried doing the meat in oil fondue but the
traditional Swiss cheese fondue with veggies and bread cubes is just as much
fun. Years ago (that is, before Y2K) I found a fondue pot on sale at Bed
Bath & Beyond and my friend sent me to pick one up for her. We wound up
doing fondue at the office but she did a chocolate fondue and brought in
fresh strawberries, bananas and pineapple chunks to dunk in the chocolate.

Monique Y. Mudama...

I worry about burning the chocolate or cheese -- it seems much more
involved. But maybe I'll try it eventually. There's a place called
The Melting Pot around here where you can do all sorts of fondue, but
I've never been there.

jmcquown...

We have The Melting Pot here, too. I've never been there. I remember a
couple of years back they advertised New Years Eve dinner "*only* $99 per
person including a complimentary glass of champagne at midnight!" I thought
to myself, heh, I can do fondue at home for a heck of a lot less than that
and have all the champagne I want, too!

Monique Y. Mudama...

Ouch! I'd have to agree with you. Even after the cost of the meat,
the four of us ate for a lot less than that. Then again, there would
have been a lot of in-progress cleanup or several fondue pots
necessary if we wanted to also do chocolate fondue for dessert.

ladyjane...

Definitely worth the trip! I've been many times, with friends and
family. Go with someone whose conversation you enjoy,though, cause
you're going to have lots and lots of time to talk. It's not a place
for a first date. If the date turns out to be a dud, you're stuck there
for 3 and a half hours with him. lol So far I've been very lucky in
my choice of dinner companions, and lots of fun was had by all.

Bring lots of money, though. It can get pricey.

Monique Y. Mudama...

Is it really worth it if you hae all the fondue equipment yourself?

Jane
- owned and operated by Princess Rita

jmcquown...

Yes. that was me. With a complimentary glass of champagne at midnight!
Oh boy! You get to cook your own food and then we'll give you a free glass
of cheap champagne for only $99 a person! LOL

Monique Y. Mudama...

Someone told me the other day that she took her two kids to the
melting pot around here and it was $120 for the three of them,
including two $9 glasses of wine (she hadn't realized how much they'd
be). Which sounds a bit more reasonable than $99!

Jo Firey...

Sounds better than the latest promotion here. Several of our "better"
restaurants are owned by the same man. They are only just OK. Now there is
an ad in the paper for a progressive dinner. You have appetizers at one of
his restaurants, take a bus to another for the main course, the bus again to
a third for desert and then back to the first where you can stay for drinks
and dancing.

I cannot fathom why anyone would want to do this, at any price.

ladyjane...

How weird. WIth today's gas prices, why would anyone want to do that?
Oh yeah, it's fun when you're going to a bunch of friends' houses,
but restaurants? Hmm..maybe he's trying to start the foodie version of
clubbing? Nah..I still can't fathom it, at TODAY's gas prices!
(Yeah, I know it's higher overseas, folks, but $3 a gallon is still a
big shock for us over here.)

Jane
- owned and operated by Princess Rita

Monique Y. Mudama...

Really. Sounds like a lot of work. I go out to eat to *relax*.

Oh mine isn't an electric fondue pot. Sterno is your friend :) Denatured
alcohol burners can be dangerous. I can attest to this!

Monique Y. Mudama...

My parents have a sterno one. I really like the electric one we got
(got it from Amazon about a month ago). It maintains an even temp,
and it's non-stick, so it's really easy to clean. One interesting
(weird) thing is that the cable is magnetic, so it can detach really
easily. I'd never seen anything like that before. It means that if
someone accidentally yanks on the cord, it just detaches rather than
pouring a liter of hot oil on everyone.

jmcquown...

That's a nifty feature if you have an electric one. A lap full of hot
cheese sauce wouldn't be much fun, either ;)

Monique Y. Mudama...

Not at all! Some people gave this fondue set negative reviews for
having this style of cord attachment, which granted can come loose
pretty easily. I think they must have a screw loose. The power cord
*is* awfully short, but it's easy enough to add an extension cord.

Glad you had a great time!