Week 0 - December 2011: Holiday Dishes

As soon as the contest was introduced, it was decided that the month of December would be a "warm-up" month.  The challenge, considered Week 0, was Holiday Dishes.  Any type of holiday dish was acceptable, and multi-cultural/traditional dishes were definitely encouraged.

For this challenge, I submitted my contribution to my family's holiday meal: the cheese platters.

Here's an overall view of the appetizer spread.  Both cheese trays, the vegetable crudite tray, and the dipping sauces are all visible in this photo. The first cheese tray (below) included an aged Parmesan cheese, a creamy Brie, orange flavored cranberries, salted pecans, and water crackers.

Next is the second cheese tray (also below), which featured a smoked gouda, a tangy blue cheese, 2 cracker varieties, pear slices, and aged Italian salami.

The final photo shows our veggie plate, including smoked salmon devilled eggs.  We had 4 dipping sauces for the vegetables: a french dressing, tzatziki, carmelized onion, and ranch.