I love hosting people. I love long conversations over wine and cheese. I love knitting. My favorite nights combine all three things. I am glad I have friends who enjoy these things too. Last night Ivy came over for some knitting, so I put threw together a cheese board.

I love making a cheese board. It looks fancy, but it couldn’t be easier. For the cheeses I like to do a soft cheese, a medium cheese, and a hard cheese. Or, when I have the Spanish cheese sampler from Aldi, I just use that. That’s what I did last night.  I also added Unexpected Cheddar from Trader Joe’s, because I love a sharp cheddar. I like to do an assortment of crackers, as not everyone loves Wheat Thins as much as I do. I add some nuts, one or two kinds, as the crunchiness is a nice break from the cheese. If I have hummus I put it out too. I figure there are already crackers on the board, we might as well go wild. I add tiny pickles for a sour note, and because tiny pickles are adorable. I usually put some grapes or other fresh fruit on the board, but the only fresh fruit we have at the moment is bananas (it would be bananas to pair a banana with cheese. Sorry, I know that was cheesy).I always put dried sour cherries on my cheese board. Their sweetness pairs well with cheese, and I feel bad-ass to have a signature cheese board item.

I’ve been putting cheese boards together for about a year now. I love serving them when friends come over because I almost always have the components in my house to throw one together.

What do you serve when you have friends come over?