Best charcuterie board ever

I love a good charcuterie board, but the charcuterie board that changed my life was when we traveled to the Almalfi coast and stumbled into a specialty grocery store. The name of the store was Alimentari Angela, and it was in the town where we stayed Praiano, Campania, Italy.

The first component was taste, there’s nothing quite as tasty as unpasturized cheeses in Europe. Usually I have a say in the cheeses on our charcuterie board, but this is the kind of place where you don’t customize. I simply asked the connoisseur to put together a plate of his favorites and trusted his craftsmanship. I don’t know the exact types of cheese, meats, olives or apple but we loved them all.

The second component of this cheese board was the view of the ocean. C’mon.

On the same trip, we enjoyed chacuterie and a view in SanTorini, Greece. You can’t beat it.

Some honorable mentions of other close contender cheeseboards. We went to Napa Valley in California for our 5 year anniversary at a winey, Chateau Lane and I love the pairing and sequencing of cheeses and wines.

You are probably starting to see that chacuterie boads go hand in hand with a glass of wine for us?

We took our son, Cashel on his first tip to Napa when he was 1. He does not miss an occassion to partake in a cheese plate.

A year later on our glamping trip, Cashel enjoys cheese bites while we try to take a picture again. The child has his priorities straight.

Back to Europe, here’s charcuterie board in Dublin. I loved that the restaurant highlighted where in the country the different cheese came from:

Ardsallasgh goats cheese (Cork), traditional gubben (west cork), cashel blue (Tipperary), and irish cheddar (Wexford).

Another celebration, my 30th birthday at the Royal Sonesta in the French Quarters. These are the kinds of cheese boards you pair with bubbles.

Last but not least, a couple of cheese platters from yours truly. For this spread (pun intended) I made cacio e pepe bites, as well as roasted grapes and tomatoes whole with goat cheese on crackers. Not exactly a charcuterie plate but a playful version of it!

Some of my favorites on a Washington state board- taleggio Italian cheese, miticana Spanish goat cheese, fruit and nuts with fig jam.