Friday, February 9, 2007

Fondue...or Fon-don't?!

Some meals are made better by the company you keep…Exhibit A-The Melting Pot, a fondue experience.

And what an experience it was. Frankly, it wasn’t bad, so long as everyone in your party follows the rules. This place has more rules than prison. I guess when you’re cooking your own food, and they leave raw meat on the table, you’d better have rules…otherwise, they’ll be giving you the gift that keeps on giving---Giardia (I mean the parasite, not the hostess of the Food Network show).

Like I said, it wasn’t bad. Our food wench, Jen, was perfectly pleasant, and tolerant of our behavior, because while I was my typical understated self, my companions were raucous, and a little bawdy (you know who you are.) This was definitely a meal that was more fun to experience with several others, but you’d better know those others well, since you pretty much all boil your food in the same pots. If one person decides to eat from his fondue fork instead of putting the food on his plate and eating with his regular fork, then it’s a true double dip, and he might as well put him whole mouth in the bowl. Remember, just dip once and end it!

Thankfully, we were having some fun, with only a modicum of cross-contamination from a prisoner that didn’t follow the rules.

While there’s not much you can do with boiled meat (albeit boiled in flavored broth), the cheese course and the chocolate courses really round out the meal. After you’ve had your cheese, salad, meat and veggies, then you move on to the chocolate--there’s just so much a man can take. My friend told me she was in a chocolate coma today, the day after; I told her that I really didn’t feel full until an hour after I got home. By then, however, I felt I had eaten so much that I was gargling my dinner! Thankfully, it all stayed down.

I gotta say-those Swiss know how to make watches, and boy do they know how to drown you in fondue!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Noodnick!

You went to Melting Pot, and didn't tell me? Sounds like you had about the same "gedempt fleish" experience I had. I think they ought to encourage frying, not boiling. The cheese was best--I still have a raincheck from Basel, the manager, for the chocolate.

LB