Making a cheese platter?

I want one, I want one!!!!

Great job with the pic!

Willowpond, that looks spectacular! Did you do the layout yourself or did you have professional help?

Our new cheeseboard! Yum! This one shows fresh, locally grown fruits (except grapes and peach, not yet!) and French Brie with wild plum sauce, Danish Dill harvati, Norwegian Gjetost with butter crackers, baguette & Herbes de Provence crackers...

I made it on the beautiful cutting board my daughter made me in her shop class a couple years ago...

  i couldn't figure out the size thing, but you get the idea.... The high rez pic is nicer. No fake food here, we ate it for dinner!

Thanks for posting this, I get guests all the time who bring the stuff to do this, it never occurred to me to make this as an add-on! Duh!!!

Thank you all for your help. Wanted to let you know that the cheese platter was completely gone when the room was cleaned and the baggies were still there so they ate it all last night. Moosie's going to try to work in the story of the cheese tray debacle during her writing class. Her teachers think she has quite the collection of stories to work with. But you all knew that, didn't you? 

She wants me to put pen to paper and write down some of my Navy stories, especially the ones all the kids like to hear. I'm hoping she does it for me. I just like telling the stories but it would be nice if the great grand kids knew something about their old grandad's adventures when I'm gone. 

I would have turned crimson if I knew one of my guests (1) wandered into another bedroom despite the door being closed, (2) used the washroom, and (3) stole the food that was intended for someone else. Frankly, I would have charged them for the entire plate. Talk about inconsiderate.

The story of the first cheese tray needs to be told so I hope you'll bear with me. It was set up in the room an hour before the stated arrival time to let the cheese come to room temp (thank you whoever posted the link to the cheese newsletter). Then there was a big checkin around the same time. Three rooms all arriving together and one of the rooms had checked in earlier but they were all of a party. They wanted to move their bags out of the way so I told them where the first room was while showing them where the stairs were for the second room.

Off they went to bring the heavy bags to the first room. Then no one returned to check in. One of the party came to me to ask where her bathroom was, she couldn't find it in her room. She had wandered off and put her things in the room with the cheese tray! And she took the cheese tray and gave it to the rest of her family to eat! This was a family that arrived in a stretch limo and they wandered off and went into someone else's room (with the door closed to prevent such an incident) and took their food! Moosie will die laughing when I tell her this later on tonight.

While I am trying to get the cheese tray back the ladies who ordered the tray showed up with more guests in their party than they registered for when they made their reservation. 19 days until Moosie is back.  

Those "mini cupcakes" look to me like candy.  Must be local made??  Are those Maine Lobsters on the top?  The brown one is really cute!   What is the white in the domed cover? 

Thank you very much for the suggestions. Here is a photo of what it looks like.

Here's another interesting article about cheese platters, along with suggestions for modifying it for three cheeses and making it more user-friendly.

Personally, I like milder cheeses, so I would want mine without the washed rind or bleu cheese.  Real cheese aficiandos love those, though.

What about Velveeta..?                                     Just kidding!

Samster, having a fridge in the room and ziploc bags for the leftovers is a nice touch.  If you guests are staying more than 1 night they can save the leftovers for the next day

I am selling more of these and hate it when I really do it up big and then toss cheese!  (Yeah, yeah...I know they're paying for it.)  I've been using the Laughing Cow cheeses, which are individually wrapped, along with a few Mini Brie wedges which are also wrapped.  Add to that a nice cheddar (sometimes a hard Irish cheese instead), a soft herb blend, and maybe another white cheese.  Grapes, strawberries, and sometimes apple slices (depends on arrival time & if I think the apples will turn despite lemon juice).  Ginger snaps are good with the soft herb cheese or a sweeter cheese, then gourmet crackers of a couple varieties.  No triscuits or Town House crackers here!  I charge $25 and it's all presented on a silver, marble and crystal thing with a dome and a crystal cracker holder.  We have fridges in most of the rooms so the cheese & fruit part can be refrigerated most of the time.  But if you use hard or semi-soft cheeses, you should be OK for awhile. 

I offer zip lock bags if they need them to take the leftovers

Keep in mind your cost for ingredients and how much you charge. Don't go overboard

 On our cheese platter for a room we put one locally made cheese which is a great cheddar ball, about 5 ounces with crostini, crackers, a little bit of grapes and a couple of strawberries.

If you are going to a grocery store, the favorites seem to be havarti with dill, swiss (the real kind),  gouda, Mahon, Manchengo, and a nice Vermont Cheddar. You can put as little as two cheeses or maybe three on the plate with some fruit and crakers.

If you have a Whole Foods kind of store near you or a specialty cheese store guests love Mahon, Cottswold, and you can ask the cheese person if you want a third one.

Hope that helps...

RIki

A nice creamy Brie or Camembert, a sharp cheddar (local if you can get it), maybe a goat cheese with herbs or a bleu or gorgonzola if you want stinky.  I've been told to mix up the milks (goat, sheep, cow); mix up the textures (soft, hard, crumbly) and mix up the flavors (mild, medium, strong) as much as possible.  Add some rustic crackers or bread rounds, maybe some grapes or strawberries or olives.  Unsalted almonds are a nice touch with a cheese plate, also. 

My favorite workshop at the Select Registry conference was a wine/cheese workshop - the workshop was led by Laura Werlin, author of Cheese Essentials.  I bought a copy of the book even though I don't do cheese platters here - it has a great recipe for pan forte.  She has a newsletter, too.