Hi friends! I am so excited to share these pictures with you. I was recently asked by my friend Tiffany (Tifforelie on Instagram) who is one of the most incredible photographers and a dear friend of mine, to style a shoot she was doing. I was honored that she asked me. This came at such a perfect time for me. I had been asking myself what makes me feel alive other than my son. Styling is something I have always loved to do but hadn't had the chance to have my work photographed.
The look we were going for was a summer board with a zen vibe. We wanted people to feel like they were with us. The hope was you would feel uplifted just by the looks of the board and want to create your own board to share with friends. I chose greenery and succulents to add texture and dimension. Succulents seem to be everywhere these days, so it was very fitting to use them on my board. Succulents are my favorite. I have them all over my home. I picked up the succulents and the greenery from my local flower mart. I didn't want to add a lot of colors to distract the eye so I kept the pallet more neutral. I picked oranges, cantaloupe, strawberries, lemons, dried apricots, peaches, and grapefruit because they all fell in the color house I was going for.
For a board this size, I like to pick three to four different types of cheese that all vary in color and flavor and two or three types of nuts. For this board I used a Merlot cheddar, rosemary cheddar, and Manchego. I find cutting the cheese up into small blocks looks pretty when you stack them and adds more dimension. Leaving one type of cheese (preferably a firm cheese) cut in small triangles to add texture. I love using Manchego for the triangles and cutting my cheddar's into cubes. Adding a short glass to the center or side of the tray with olives adds even more dimension and separates the board. I used pitted green olives to match my greenery and I wrapped thin sliced proscuitto around long bread sticks for a fun and no mess for the guest look. I used pistachios and two different types of marcona almonds for this board.
Cheese and fruit boards have always been one of my favorite things to put together. I normally do them for fun when we have guests over. I find a fruit and cheese board is the perfect way to gather friends for beautiful conversations. I love to pair a refreshing cocktail or glass of wine with the fruit and cheese board depending on what I am serving on the board.
Three days after the shoot with Tiffany, I had a guest over to the home for some wine and I wanted to put out a small board. It was only going to be the two of us and I didn't want to waste so I did a small board and added two of the succulents and used some of the greenery I had from the shoot on the board and used cheese and nuts that I had left over. I did only two types of cheese on this board and two types of almonds but added small round rice crackers to this board for more texture but did not use fruit this time. I wanted this to be very simple and easy to put together but still look beautiful and the focal point of the kitchen when she walked into my home.
I hope you have enjoyed this post! I would love to hear from you and see your board you put together!