Today I’m celebrating my food blogging journey with a Colorful Spring Cheese Board complete with colorful fruits, yummy cheeses, salty meats, carbs, chocolate and a delicious glass (or two) of wine.
It was never part of my plan to be a food blogger.
I remember in great detail sitting with three of my best girlfriends at a diner one morning many many years ago. We were just 17 or 18 years old nursing killer hangovers after a night of too much drinking. We were clueless, adorable, little spring chickens desperate for attention and lots to learn about life.
Randomly, our life plans came up. When did we want children? What did we want to do?
One of my friends had no idea, the other wanted to marry someone rich and the other, if I remember correctly, wanted to be a doctor. I knew I wanted to be a pharmacist. With pharmacy, I knew I would always have a stable, reliable career. True, I would be paying off loans for the rest of my life, but I’m doing that just with my undergrad education anyway, so why not go big, right?
As far as children were concerned, we all wanted children sometime in our late twenties. I, on the other hand, knew that I would have my first at twenty-seven. Twenty-seven was the plan.
So I went to college and graduated with my Bachelor’s degree in Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology. Yes, It was a good fit for me. I love science, after all; but it was not my passion. At this time in my life, so caught in “stability” and “making money” and “omg is my boyfriend cheating on me” (I’ll save that for a different day), I had no idea what my passion was.
So, sometime in my last two years of college, I started running to relieve stress and obsessively focus on something other than books for a couple hours each day (type-A remember). At this same time, my dessert obsession and love for cooking was born. But, mostly, at least in my mind, I thought I was just being a good girlfriend by learning to cook.
Meanwhile, I continued running, studying, cooking and, ultimately, applied to a handful of pharmacy programs.
I was rejected…from each and every school. I was devastated. Didn’t I just work 5 years for this? Wasn’t this my life plan? What do I do now? I HAD A PLAN!
Meanwhile, I was broke. I needed a job.
I did what every other college graduate did- apply anywhere and everywhere since, you know, it was the middle of the recession and jobs were going like hotcakes. Since I lived in the Bay Area, I decided to take my chances and apply to Stanford University for a position in research. By some miracle (I mean, it was STANFORD), I got the job.
You guys, I was miserable (don’t hit me).
I did know how lucky I was. Stanford was fantastic and my coworkers were amazing, but I very quickly realized I was not put on this planet to spend my life in a windowless lab. So, my (now) husband and I came up with a new plan. Unlike all my previous plans, however, this was the first plan I shared with another person. And, it was the first plan that wasn’t really a plan at all.
We decided to pack up our things, put it in storage and buy a one-way ticket to SE Asia. Aside from tickets and information about when our visas would expire in each country we visited, we had no plan and no timeline. We went where we wanted when we wanted. For the first time ever, I just went with it (even if I did talk and talk and talk) about travel plans and future plans the entire time we were there.
Baby steps.
After more than a year spent in SE Asia, a few months in the US and the rest of the time in Europe, it was time for a baby. My husband and I were engaged, serious and ready. Plus, I was twenty-seven (ha!) though I was still planning my next trip and my next adventure (something I will do until the day I die because travel took a piece of my heart that I will never get back).
So what does this have to do with food blogging?
Everything.
Thanks to some painful rejection, my experience traveling, and my plan, ultimately, not happening, I discovered my love of blogging, trying new and exciting foods and, most importantly, I realized what I had known all along (even if I had stuffed it away)— my passion for photography.
So, after my son was born I started blogging again (I blogged previously at Lost&Found, a travel blog). Coffee and Crayons started as a mommy blog and slowly transitioned to a food blog. If you had told me 10 years ago that I would have been food blogger I would have laughed (after asking for an explanation of what a blogger actually does) and then I would have asked how that is a real job.
It’s real. More real and more all-consuming than I could have possibly imagined. But, it’s my passion and my love and the 40-50+ hours a week I spend cooking, cleaning, photographing, styling, shopping, writing, editing, learning, researching, networking, emailing, etc. is so completely worth it.
My mother always said to me, “Jess, you are so creative. You have such a good eye for things. I see you doing something where you can express these talents.”.
Mother knows best.
To celebrate finding my niche, I am celebrating with this Colorful Spring Cheese Board. Yes, it’s true that I love cookies and cake, but I will take any excuse I can to eat a table-full of colorful fruits, delicious cheeses, salty meats, and carbs.
And wine. Let’s not forget the wine.
This Spring Cheese Board is a breeze to put together.
- Go to the market.
- Pick out the most colorful fruits, different cheeses (I recommend at least one soft and one hard cheese), crackers, meats, AND, of course, wine. Or not, that’s up to you.
- Wash fruit.
- Build your very own spring cheese board.
- Enjoy!
If you love this Spring Cheese Board, you may also enjoy-
Charcuterie Board (for Kids!!)
Beautiful Autumn Cheese Board (Vegetarian)
Fresh Spring Salad with Smoked Salmon and Honey Dijon Vinaigrette
Colorful Spring Cheese Board with Candied Meyer Lemons and Lemon Yogurt Dip
Ingredients
FOR THE CANDIED MEYER LEMONS
- 4 meyer lemons
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
FOR THE LEMON YOGURT DIP
- 1 ½ cups plain Greek yogurt
- 1 small lemon juiced
- 5 cloves garlic - minced
- salt+pepper - to taste
- 2 tablespoon fresh chives - chopped fine
- 3 large basil leaves - finely chopped
FOR THE CHEESE BOARD
- 1 baguette - sliced
- Assorted crackers
- Red grapes
- Sliced strawberries
- Kiwis
- Oranges
- Fig Jam
- Radishes
- Assorted fresh herbs
- 2-4 of your favorite cheeses - I chose a brie, goat cheese, and two other sharp cheese blends
- Thinly sliced prosciutto
- Sliced salami
- Assorted nuts
- Olives
- Dried apricots and cranberries
- Dark chocolate chunks
- Candied Meyer Lemons - see below
- Lemon Yogurt Dip - see below
- 2-3 bottles of Wine - depending on number of people
Instructions
FOR THE CANDIED MEYER LEMONS
- In a medium saucepan, combine the water and sugar and bring to a boil. Stir the sugar until it has completely dissolved. Meanwhile, slice the lemons into thin slices. Once sugar has dissolved, add the sliced lemons to the sauce pan and stir to combine. Reduce heat to low and allow the lemons to simmer for 25-30 minutes. Remove from heat and allow the lemons to cool in the syrup. Carefully remove the lemons from the saucepan and place them on a wire rack to dry. Transfer to an airtight container and store in the the fridge until ready to serve.
FOR THE LEMON YOGURT DIP
- Combine all ingredients for the yogurt dip in a small bowl and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Store in the refrigerator until ready to eat and serve along side the cheese board.
FOR THE CHEESE BOARD
- There is no real instruction for this part. Simply place the food on a big cutting board or other food-safe surface and allow people to help themselves. Have fun!
Nutritional Information
(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and specific brands of ingredients used.)
Hi Jess, the best part about reading your blog is when I read about your mother encouraging you to express your talent, the saying was right when it said that “mothers knows best” Congrats and thanks for this post!