Do you fondue?

Over the weekend, hubby and I did a lot of work on the house - most importantly, our kitchen is fully functional... dishes and glasses put away, utensils organized, coffee pot and toaster oven cleaned and plugged in. Having an orderly kitchen gives me such a sense of peace.

Anyway, as I was putting away some of the items that we don't use that often, I came across our fondue pot - a gift so generously given to me by Brandao one Christmas.

Now, I love the whole concept of fondue, but actually putting it into practice is an entirely different matter altogether. When I went to visit Brandao in Virginia last year, we decided to visit The Melting Pot for dinner. The Melting Pot is a restaurant that specializes in fondue - you cook all of your courses right at the table. How cool, right?

Anyway, by the time we finally dragged ourselves off the couch and away from our Lifetime movie marathon, it was late, she was pregnant (well, she was pregnant before we sat on the couch) and we were hungry. So, we make it to The Melting Pot and were drooling over the menu. It started with a cheese course, where you dunked bread and veggies into warm, melted cheese. Then you had the main course, where you were given a variety of meats and veggies and a pot to cook them in. Finally, the dessert course - chocolate with pound cake, brownies and fruit. Yum!

Well, we polished off the first course in record time. However, it had been hours since we had eaten (and Brandao was pregnant after all!), so we were looking forward to the main course. When they finally brought it out, it was shocking to realize that all of the meat was raw, that we had to cook it ourselves. No big deal, right? Do you know how long it takes to cook one of those little chunks of meat? By the time we were finished with the course, it felt like hours had passed and we were tired of eating, tired of sitting there (and kinda jonesing for our Lifetime televison). Now, don't get me wrong - the dessert course was as perfect as we expected. But to have to cook your own meal - after paying as much as we did for dinner? Blasphemy!

If I were ever to open a fondue restaurant, it would specialize in pre-cooked fondue...