I literally had a cheesy birthday party this year.

And not the cheesy kind of party where there’s a sad, scary clown or outdated decorations with terrible food. No, no, no. All of my guests brought actual blocks of cheese and we had a mini-cheese fest!

I had this idea a few months ago that for my birthday I wanted to do something simple. And I thought, “Well, I love cheese and bread… I should have a cheese party!”

And that, pretty much, was that.

Behold the cheesy goodness! And the accompaniments.

You can’t just have a straight cheese party, okay? Everyone will get sick of it.

It’s all about contrast. And textures. Sweet with the salty.

You get me?

Stacey brought all of these cheeses above – I noted that most of them had a hint of my favorite color in them! The mushroom brie is my new favorite cheese – brie with mushrooms in it! Shut up! Who thinks up these things?

Well, whoever they are, I am in love with them just as much as I’m in love with that cheese.

I brought the fancy sounding Le Delice de Bourgogne, a fancy pants triple cream soft cheese from the Burgundy region of France. Very rich and very delicious. We were apparently a soft cheese kind of crowd since there was not a whole lot of harder cheeses present (though we did have some cheddars).

Alyssa brought some savory cheesecakes from LA for the party. The one on the left is a Pancetta Date and the one on the right is a Balsamic with walnuts. The balsamic one was super crumbly for some reason I got a bunch on the floor… both were so creamy and delicious though. I didn’t know what a savory cheesecake would be like – but they reminded me a bit of cheese balls, but richer and creamier tasting.

We also had meats, breads and fruits to go along with all of that cheese. Stacey got this red wine salami from Trader Joe’s that was so delicious that I went and bought another one for me to munch on this week! There’s also some rosemary ham and prosciutto di parma.

Stacey also whipped up this pasta salad with broccoli, red peppers and feta cheese for something a little heartier to go along with the cheeses.

And of course, what’s a birthday party without dessert!

I made my own desserts for my own party. I don’t mind it!

I made a batch of lemon ricotta cookies (I made a dessert with cheese in it, aren’t I clever).

And for the finale… I made cupcakes. Brown sugar cupcakes with salted caramel and chocolate ganache.

You can see where I cut the cake to stuff the caramel in. I’m sad you can see this little mistake, but oh well. I don’t think anyone cared about it but me. The cupcakes were delicious so I guess that’s all that really matters.

That’s the food highlights from my birthday party. Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me. The end.

Stay tuned for my yearly “free birthday foods” post!