#12DatesofChristmas2014 | number two

{on the second date of christmas}

cheese night

on saturday night, ben's sister rachel and her hubby nathan came over for our inaugural cheese night. this is easily going to rival all other traditions. rachel makes this killer cheesy baked pasta and she doubles the béchamel so there is some extra for dipping. genius. a fondue appetizer before pasta is the very best of ideas. cheese and then cheese. so, after talking about this a few times, she suggested that she come to our kitchen and whip up a monster pot of cheese sauce for us to use 1) as a dip for yumminess and 2) as the sauce for a baked pasta entree. and thus, cheese night was born.

we got it on the calendar and they showed up on saturday with not only tons of cheese, but some apples and broccoli for dipping. AND an apple crisp, just because.

ben made fresh pasta and i was in charge of prepping the pretzel bread and the other items for the fondue starter. seriously, i got off waaaaaay easy. and i was even allowed to be a taste-tester which was a fabulous gig.

we served up the fondue and sat down at the table to enjoy while the noodles and cheese bubbled away and got all crispy on top.

it was a great evening. the Christmas tree was glowing away and Christmas tunes were playing. everything felt so warm and fuzzy.

after elinor went to bed, a very happy girl indeed, we dished up the apple crisp with hefty dollops of hand-whipped cream and served some french roast with eggnog. it was so wonderfully over the top. i can't wait until next year. and i think we can all agree that i will need the full year to come back from all that dairy deliciousness. but no complaints here. full bellies and happy hearts, for sure.