Birthday Smorgasboard

My 21st birthday was grey, full of snow, almost a blizzard, and very low-key. Regardless, I still managed to have a good time thanks to the many virtual well wishes, conversations with friends and family, and making a smorgasboard dinner and drinks with my housemates. I didn’t feel like going out to dinner and then off to bars for dinking in pandemic times was the most responsible or safe thing to do, so I made my own version at home. It was also on a Wednesday night and I didn’t want to get too toasted for my Thursday classes so it was a pretty relaxed.

Smorgasborads are a type of Scandinavian meal where there are lots of small dishes, almost picnic style. I did a vegetarian version and oh my goodness we had sooo much food! The board consisted of:

Savory snacks like garlic roasted hummus, honey roasted nuts, cashews, almonds, carrots, snap peas, and herbed tomatoes. There were multigrained crackers, ritz, jalapeño chips, bean ‘nacho’ chips, and pretzel crackers. For cheese we had a Vermont Brie, vegan sharp cheese that tasted like Gouda, a local Gorgonzola blue cheese, a Switzerland Apres Solei alpine cheddar, and of course—Trader Joe‘s Unexpected Cheddar. The fruit was a mix of strawberries, blueberries, pears, and apple slices.We had chokecherry and raspberry jams (homemade) to pair with crackers and cheese. Finally, for sweets there were chocolate covered almonds and chocolate covered pretzels, plus the star of the show: a vegan lemon and white cake with strawberry jam!

For drinks we had a rosé wine, a Cabernet Savingon, Prosecco (similar to champagne), and the first bottle of the homemade wine I made this fall. (A bit tart but not bad) There was also my homemade kombucha and sparkling water.

Some of the best combinations was the Brie with pear and multigrain crackers, chokecherry jam and brie on apple slices, sharp cheddar cheese with anything, and hummus with crakers. The Cabernet and sharper cheeses went great together and the rosé was nice with the guoda and alpine cheese. The star of the night remained the Prosecco paired with the vegan lemon strawberry cake, I still can’t get over how amazing that tasted.

Here’s hoping the rest of being 21 is a reflection of that night: full of good food, friends, love, and laughter.