When hungry hosts in and around Los Angeles want an easy solution for serving snacks to picky-eating party guests, they know to get in touch with Kori Jones of Simple Life Things. Jones is a kind of culinary artist, pulling together tasty, colorful, crowd-pleasing “nosh boards” for her loyal clientele, like jeweler Maya Brenner and handbag designer Clare V. The snack tables and boards she creates for gatherings are stunning and packed with flavor, sometimes sprinkled with edible gold dust, and always overflowing with imported European nuts, chocolate, meat, and cheeses.
At the height of the pandemic, Jones was packing individual boxes for backyard picnics, and delivering them safely to her clients’ doors. Now that people are huddling around a table with friends and loved ones again, Jones’ business is back and humming along at full force.
If you’re in the greater Los Angeles area, consider ordering a board from Simple Life Things for your fall party, or to bring to a Thanksgiving feast. But if you’re in the mood for a little edible DIY, Jones has put together an easy tutorial—using all ingredients from Trader Joe’s that cost around $100—for you to create the magic on your own.
Christine Lennon
It costs less than a simple, professional floral arrangement, and it’s so hearty that it serves as an appetizer and a starter. Add a green salad and a pot of soup, and you have a simple seasonal menu.
Christine Lennon
The best part is that once you invest in a great charcuterie board and small wood and ceramic bowls for dips and condiments, this is a party trick you can pull out whenever the mood strikes you, swapping in fruits like pears or peaches, depending on what’s readily available and in season.
Here’s what you’ll need. All edible items are available from Trader Joe’s unless otherwise noted:
NUTS
Candied Walnuts or Pecans
Hazelnuts
Roasted & Salted Truffle Marcona Almonds
Sweet & Spicy Pecans
Dark Chocolate Almonds
GREENERY FOR GARNISH
Eucalyptus
Sage
Rosemary
DRIED FRUIT & OLIVES
Apricots
Sweetened Dried Orange Slices
Dried Cherries
Figs (sliced in half, vertically)
Marinated Olives
CRACKERS & BREAD
Fig & Olive Crisps
Sweet Potato Crackers or Other Crisps
Potato Chips
Baguette (Jones likes “epi-baguettes” from a local bakery)
Fig or Olive Bread, if available (bread pictured here is a turmeric fig loaf, but any fig or olive loaf is a nice touch)
DIPS
Vegan Tzatziki Dip
Mango Chutney
Whole-Grain Dijon Mustard
MEAT
Spicy Uncured Charcuterie Selection
FRUIT
Apples (slice horizontally into rounds and cut into semi-circles)
Golden Berries (slice some in half to mix up the texture)
Pomegranates
Raspberries
Blueberries
Red Grapes (bunches trimmed into small bundles)
CHEESE
Cheddar (cubed)
Stilton (crumbled into chunks with a fork)
Mini Basque or other Sheep’s Milk Cheese (cut into ½ inch wedges)
Herbed Goat Cheese Log
French Brie
Get the Look
Step One
Lay a runner down the center of your dining table in a fall-friendly pattern, like brown plaid.
Then place a long, narrow cheese and charcuterie board on top. “If your table is narrow, then I suggest laying it straight down the table. If it’s wider, try angling it slightly, to make it more interesting, visually,” Jones says.
Place ramekins and bowls filled with dips and spreads on the board first, to create some structure to build around. Set larger wood or ceramic bowls near the board to hold crackers and chips.
This similar acacia wood board at World Market is $29.99.
Step Two
Place the largest cheese at the center of the board, and balance a mix of whole-cheese wedges and cut pieces, soft and hard textures, with enough space between them for nuts and fruit. Jones always mixes an odd number of cheeses to avoid an overly symmetrical look.
Snip small clusters of red grapes and add them to large, empty areas of the board. Use dried orange slices and eucalyptus springs as decoration on the board and the runner. Place small bundles of rosemary in the dip bowls for pops of color. Scatter a few orange slices on the runner and the board for color, flavor, and decoration.
Step Three
Fold slices of meat in half, and then in half again, and then arrange them along the board. Prop the first piece against a ramekin and then add them, one by one, until you have about a 6- to 7-inch “ribbon.”
For larger slices of meat, fold them in half and then into thirds, accordion style. “The idea is that you’re trying to make it easy for people to grab it with a fork, and it adds height and dimension to the board,” Jones says.
For the third cut of meat, the spicy capicola, fold each slice in half and then roll it, then stand it on its end. This technique works well for prosciutto, too.
Step Four
Use the nuts to fill in the gaps between the meat and cheese. Start with the lightest nuts in the center. Balance light and dark colors, and consider which flavors go best together: Dark pecans next to pale goat cheese; candied walnuts next to the Stilton or blue. Chocolate covered almonds go near the Basque. Take a similar approach with the dried fruit, which should be assembled in appealing piles. The goal is to cover all of the exposed wood on the board.
“I like to group the nuts separately, because each one has its own distinct crunch, shape, color, and flavor,” says Jones. “I don’t like it when they’re jumbled together like a trail mix.”
Step Five
Add the sliced apples, in whole rounds or sliced in half, to either end of the board, and to any area in the middle that could use a larger shape. Scatter the berries across the board in small groups or one by one, breaking up solid blocks of nuts, meat, and cheese, like punctuation marks. Sprinkle pomegranate seeds on top of the brie.
Step Six
Place crackers and chips in the wooden bowls and add a rosemary garnish. Scatter slices of bread and hunks of baguette around the platter. Add a knife or fork for each cheese. Crumble the Stilton with a fork so it’s easier for guests to serve themselves. Place a stack of napkins nearby, light some candles, and enjoy.
