Do You Fondue?

Saturday night was a bit like "That 70's Show". What else would you call it when you Fondue, burn incense and listen to "The Girl from Ipanema"? What started out as a cozy fondue dinner for four, stayed true to form and became a fun dinner for seven. Did I mention that is was delicious? Oh yeah, delicious.
     For meat we had beef, elk, venison and shrimp, and plenty of it. Cooked to taste in peanut oil, I didn't want it to end. In fact, when the over stocked, wood burning stove set off the smoke alarm and everyone hurried off to get it back under control, I seized the opportunity for extra forks and unattended oil to beef up my protein so to speak. Shy about it? No way; in fact I enjoyed the newly present smokey flavoring to justify my actions.
     The dips for all the meats were perfect. The first was green onions, freshly ground ginger softened up in some butter and added to crushed tomatoes with some Momma Africa's hot sauce. Hot! The second was a red pepper, lightly cooked in chicken fat and pureed with orange marmalade.POW! That one is a killer on just about anything. In fact, it has a date with my cheese burger tonight. The third one was fun and yummy. It was cherry preserves whipped with horseradish sauce. Like a party on your toung.
      We had two cheese pots going at the same time. My favorite was the Blue cheese and Brie. It had shiitake mushrooms and green onions in it and kicked up a bit with some white wine.  A close second was the one with dark ale, Emmenthal, Gruyere and Appenzeller cheese. Sopping that up with sourdough bread sounded like a cross between people watching fireworks and seeing a cute puppy. OOOOHH, AAAHHH, MMMM.
     Add good wine, great beer and fun friends; what else could you ask for?

How about a fast paced game of dominos, Mexican Train style. I guess the only thing stopping us from winning the 70's award was that we didn't play twister.