Wine & Cheese 2010...

I'd be lying if I didn't say my entire weekend was spent in a variety of sweats & flannel PJ's....with warm breakfasts on the chilly (NAY...COLD!) porch:

...all under Penny's watchful gaze;)...

...lazy lunches with friends in Freehold....

...and pumpkin pie flavored gelato....

...on two obscenely GORGEOUS FALL DAYS!!!!!!!!!!

But I'm getting ahead of myself!  Because I MUST tell you first about Friday Night which wassssss...

Our third annual "Wine & Cheese Party!!!"  It is always our most quintessential FALL party....all with crossed fingers for a BRISK and CRISP evening!  And after 4 days of GROSS humidity...the skies parted and we got a WONDERFULLY cool night!  Perfect-o!

Wine & Cheese is also when I tap into my inner-Sandra Lee and break out my most FALL 'tablescapes';)  Complete with leaf plates, mini pumpkins & a "FALL" take-home gift:) 

But really...you're interested in the food, no???  For these types of parties, everyone likes to bring something so no one has to do too much work.  AND in that GREAT tradition:  We always have WAYYYYYYYYYYYYY too much;)  OF EVERYTHING!  Crackers/Chips much??

And THAT was just to put said-cheese ON!  Here's the rest of the good stuff:

A mini apple bread with herbed cheddar & Gorgonzola cheese cubes....

My little plate concoction of Gorgonzola with roasted figs, and Saint Andres cheese with both honey & NUTELLA...YES...chocolate & cheese is close to Godliness:)

My friend brought an apricot cheese, a SUPER SPICY-yet very FALL- maple chipotle Goat Cheese (HOOTTTTTTTTTTT!) and a cheese of MANY peppers (which I didn't even ATTEMPT! :) hahahahahhahaha

Another friend tapped into our true Jersey-Italian roots and festooned us with all of the appropriate colors...(and meats:)....

Anddddddd another friend brought a huge baked brie layered with salsa???  (I think it was salsa!  It was something with a KICK! :)

Is that enough????  Of course not!!!!  I also made us an Sausage, Apple & Cheddar Bread Pudding.....ya know...in case we didn't "have enough!" 

...made with this awesome Sweet Apple Sausage.  For real...there were ACTUAL pieces of apple IN the sausage!  YUM!!!

Along with the pears, apples, grapes, a cream cheese/salsa dip, pumpkin dip, mini Apple Cheddar soup shooters + THE WINE....we almost officially needed an extra table this year;)

 Anddd...after ALL that food, we actually only have ONE dessert;)  And at Wine & Cheese, our friend always makes the official dessert every year: a "Circle of Friends" Apple Cake!  It's brown sugar/apple goodness:)

And here's the ACTUAL "Circle of Friends"....with full bellies & wine in hand;)

Thanks ladies for a great night!  I'm already concerned how much cheese we are going to aquire for NEXT year;) hahahhahahahahaha.....

Hope you guys had a great weekend filled with friends & sunshine, too!  I still can't believe how COLD it got in Jersey over the weekend, but I'm NOT complaining!  I LOVE THIS WEATHER!!!!!!! :)

Andddddddd...since we are only having another "leftovers salad" tonight, I'm saving my best weekend cooking for you for tomorrow!  But I'll give you a hint, as it involves THIS:

And the return of THESE:

Stay tuned!  It's the most FALL/Halloween-esq thing I've cooked...dare I say...ever??? :)