We acknowledge that “fondue” means “to melt” by having a traditional goey cheese pot on our table for dinners such as this one.  But our favourite “pots” are actually the hot oil and hot broth pots that produce steaming shrimp such as the one pictured here.

We use a crock pot for cheese and two tradition pots for oil and broth. This year we assembled everybody before bringing out the boiling pots-bad idea.  So this is a snap of the calm before the storm.

We ‘ve learned a few things over the years about our fondue dinners: 1) don’t start this practice when your kids are too young 2) remember that the long fork is for cooking your food, not for putting in your mouth (I had the scar on my face to prove this one) 3) boiling oil is a torture method so be careful when bringing it to your table of assembled loved ones 4) some family members may be concerned about cross contamination so have a raw plate and a one for placing your cooked food on 5) the hours of prep before hand is worth it not just because your dinner will be so pleasant but because you have already done the work for stir fries and soups for the week and finally 6) if you lose an item in the pot you must kiss the person on your right (no changing the rules according to your kissing preferences Jer).

We cut up chicken breasts or thighs, steak or pork (whatever is in your freezer will do).  It is best to marinate the tougher cuts of the latter.  We always have shrimp and then a variety of vegetable for either the hot pots or to dip into the cheese.  The variety of cheese changes-this time it was a gruyere with white wine but when that ran out we used mozarella and white wine and that too was good.  I always bake a couple of fresh loaves of French bread because let’s face it-anything tastes good on freshly baked bread. 

Sometimes for the chocolate fondue dessert, I make a pound cake (or buy an angel food cake which is my preference) but at this dinner because we were celebrating our son’s champagne birthday (23 on the 23rd) we just had pineapple, strawberries and bananas and brought out a cake to sing to him. 

Kath’s quote:  “Bread deals with living things, with giving life, with growth, with the seed, the grain that nurtures.  Its not coincidence that we say bread is the staff of life.”-Lionel Poilne

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