Fall Back in Love–Fun, Fondue, and a Giveaway

Big Guy and I have been married 8 years. We can’t decide if it feels like more or less, but it is what it is. We’re not big “date night” people (we’d both rather just stay home with the kids off to visit grandparents), but every year we try to do a weekend away together. This year it was a bit more difficult to fit in, but we had a wonderfully quiet and lazy weekend in Maine before coming back home to another special treat: fondue at The Melting Pot. We typically have fondue together once a year, at home with friends, as our New Year’s Eve celebration. So while I have been a big fan of the Melting Pot, Big Guy had only been once before and it was a few years ago.

If you haven’t been, The Melting Pot is a fun experience for couples, families, and groups. You choose a salad, and then cheese and chocolate fondue courses for sharing. There is also the option of adding a meat course to cook in broth. It’s interactive, and gives you plenty of time for talking as you dip your foods into the fondue. Each Melting Pot has a number of cheese, chocolate, and broth options that are standard on the menu, but they also have seasonal specials, too.

Big Guy and I were at Bedford/Burlington Melting Pot to check out their current “Fondue Features” menu. It consists of a Bacon & Brie Cheese fondue, Strawberry Almond Salad, optional Create-your-own Entree, and their absolutely fabulous Crème Brûlée chocolate fondue for dessert. The entire meal was delicious. And, as you can see from the picture above, we had our own cozy (and very private) booth. It was a bit lost on us really, but trust me when I say it’s super romantic.

The cheese course is described as “A combination of baby Brie blended with creamy Gruyére and Emmenthaler cheeses as well as white wine, Nueske’s applewood smoked bacon, chopped onions, mustard and cracked black pepper, topped with fresh scallions.” One of the great things about The Melting Pot is that they will customize your fondue if possible. Big Guy doesn’t love onion pieces, so we pulled those, and we went light on the mustard, as I’m not a big fan. I loved the bacon pieces which add just a bit of smokiness to the cheese.

My salad was divine: “Sweet strawberries, honey roasted sliced almonds and crumbled feta placed atop mixed greens and finished with The Melting Pot’s signature Raspberry Black Walnut Vinaigrette.” The sweet strawberries and almonds paired with the salty feta is amazing. Big Guy opted for the House Salad instead. Family members will be surprised and pleased to know that he actually ate some of it. I don’t know what they put in the house dressing, but Big Guy liked it enough to eat the lettuce it was coating!

We opted out of the Entree course, as we tend to be pretty full with just these three courses, but if you go with the additional course, you’ll be pleased to know that you can choose your own items (up to 3) for a custom experience. There’s a nice range from seafood (salmon, mahi mahi, shrimp), to various meats (sirloin, pork tenderloin, chicken potstickers, Andouille sausage), to vegetarian options (wild mushroom sacchetti, spinach and artichoke ravioli).

Our final course was the infamous (at least among my peeps) Crème Brûlée. It’s a white chocolate fondue with caramelized sugar that they then flambé. For the record, I am whole-heartedly against white chocolate, which I think is simply a poser in the chocolate world. And yet, this is my favorite of all of the chocolate fondues. Part of the reason is the caramelized sugar which is deliciously crunchy and sweet. But I think the real reason is that after all of that cheese fondue, the darker chocolate fondues (while delicious) feel heavy. The Crème Brûlée is almost like dipping in a a creamy vanilla caramel sauce and it pairs very well with all of the dipping items (fresh strawberries and bananas, brownie and pound cake pieces, cheesecake, marshmallows, and Rice Krispie treats). I’m picky about my dipping choices (I only really like the pound cake and brownie pieces in my fondue), so once I finished the extra plate of pound cake they brought, I actually ate some of the fondue with the spoon. Whatever. Don’t judge me til you’ve tried it. Speaking of which, please go to The Melting Pot, order the Crème Brûlée, rave about it, and then ask about it every time you return. I’m on a mission to keep it around!

Are you feeling hungry? Because now I’ve got a chance for you to win the four-course Fondue Feature for two. It includes each of the courses I mentioned above, plus sodas, and is good for use at the Bedford/Burlington Melting Pot through the end of November. And, although our theme is “Fall back in love,” you can use it to treat your mom, sister, best friend, uncle, whoever. Just enjoy it! I know I’ll be back for a Girl’s Night Out – it’s a great deal and so much fun for hanging with friends.

To enter, please leave a comment below telling me your favorite thing about fall. I personally love the changing leaves, and the weather that is just perfect for either going on a hike or cozying up on the couch. Don’t forget to record your entry through the widget, as well…

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: This giveaway is provided by The Melting Pot restaurant in Burlington, MA. They provided us with a complimentary meal for review purposes. No other compensation was provided and there was no promise of a positive review.

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