Fancy Cheese Platter for Dinner

I used to make cheese platters, or whatever you want to call it, for dinner on a fairly regular basis--a couple times a month or so. When my children were young, I would call it "snacks". I would serve it as a meal on Friday night when I was too tired to cook. We would eat in front of the TV and they got to stay up late, since there was no school the next day.

Of course, for the children, I didn't use the fancy cheeses and smoked fish. Their style was celery sticks with peanut butter, popcorn, chips and dip, orange wedges, and peanuts. We would have cheese and crackers, but they were Cracker Barrel and saltines. Fun night and fond memories, gathered around the coffee table to eat.

On a recent evening, I made a fancy platter for just the the two of us, husband and me.  We enjoyed it sitting on the sofa together and eating from the coffee table. We weren't watching TV because we cancelled our cable. We were having conversation!

Fancy Cheese Platter
Extra Sharp Cheddar
Baby Swiss
Saga Blue
Parmigiano Reggiano
Camembert
Smoked Salmon
Fresh Pears
Pimiento Stuffed Olives
Grape Tomatoes
Homemade Mango Chutney
Smoked Almonds
Dates
French Baguette and Assorted Crackers

Arrange as you please and serve.