New Year's Eve / Day cooking?

We haven't decided what we're doing yet. Except, there will need to be a nap or there is no way I will see midnight.

When I was a little girl we had to go to bed at the regular time, but then our parents woke us up at 11:30. We had special snacks ("fancy" crackers, cheeses, smoked sausages, chips, and cookies on antique snack plates) and drinks (usually some kind of punch made with ginger ale and maraschino cherries in wine glasses) and watched the ball drop on television. We were all safely tucked back into bed by 12:15, but blissful!

What are you making? How are you celebrating?

Cynthia, great story. Such a small thing and a lasting memory.
I am working again on New Years Eve but have some fresh lobsters on order. New Years day will be a traditional pork/cabbage meal- likely stuffed cabbage - aka "pigs in a blanket". Doing a vegetarian variation this year for a vegetarian dinner guest - stuffing of carmelized soffrito with porcini, rice. Not sure if I'll do a tomato based sauce or in bianco with mushrooms. The taste of the stuffing will dictate...

A very light and easy dinner, probably lentils and winter greens, then Netflix for us after the kiddo goes to bed. Never been into the whole "must stay awake until midnight" thing.

New Year's Day my Master will be holding a special training class after which he will be serving black eyed peas with greens.

rwj

We'll be getting together with the regular cast of New Year's Eve pals to eat and drink. This year's food theme is "fruit". I'll be making a celery root soup that gets served with toasts and clementine relish. Probably throw in an older riesling to serve with it.

My wife will be supplying something baked (aside from me, of course), but she is still mulling over what it will be.

The Francophile and I are heading off to the Clare Valley this afternoon, to join a New Year's Eve party on a friend's property at Undalya, a little-known and ... well, little, settlement out in the rolling countryside. We plan to camp overnight. It's going to be a music party, so we're packing the guitars and the dulcimer. Taking contributions for a shared supper - something that can be transported easily and put together quickly before we go - and some wine to share. Haven't decided on which wines to take yet. Something with bubbles in it to toast in the New Year.

Matilda

No idea yet what cooking will be done, although likely not much.

It now looks like truffle risotto will happen sometime, as well as a good cheese fondue since our shipment from Murray's arrived today. And there will be Burgundies.

NYE here today, and I've just tried a new recipe for onion marmalade (nice, but possibly a bit sweet) and my eldest has just requested that I make "pizza bread". I have no idea what that is, but he explained - dough rolled out onto a large tray and topped with pizza toppings (ie. all the leftovers in the fridge - we have ham (although I prefer to use coppa on pizzas), bocconcini, ricotta, mozarella, provolone, olives and maybe some onion marmalade in a corner).

i have a cast from my shoulder to knuckles...bent 90 degrees at the elbow. friends took pity and invited us for dinner....made me happy!

i have a cast from my shoulder to knuckles...bent 90 degrees at the elbow. friends took pity and invited us for dinner....made me happy!

Karen, you have good friends, enjoy them, their food, and their wine. Or else take your own wine! Happy New Year to one and all!

Friends of our always rang in the New Year with just Champagne, nothing else was served with it and I really don't like Champagne without something to nibble on. So, I'm going to take advantage of that time between dinner and midnight (which always seems to last forever) and I'm making those Gruyère cheese puffs while waiting for the New Year. The recipe is somewhere in these pages and I really, really like them with a good Champagne.
As far as dinner is concerned, I'm thinking of Lasagna with sweet sauage and a nice Barolo.

i have a cast from my shoulder to knuckles...bent 90 degrees at the elbow. friends took pity and invited us for dinner....made me happy!

I thought it was your wrist that was broken? If so, that size cast seems extreme.

i have a cast from my shoulder to knuckles...bent 90 degrees at the elbow. friends took pity and invited us for dinner....made me happy!

I thought it was your wrist that was broken? If so, that size cast seems extreme.

I was thinking the same thing.

It now looks like truffle risotto will happen sometime, as well as a good cheese fondue since our shipment from Murray's arrived today. And there will be Burgundies.

Murray's sells truffles?

Murray's sells truffles?

Nope. We had those. Just cheese from Murray's yesterday.

For tonight, I am going to grill lobsters and serve it with vietnamese bun. A little farmer fizz later on.

Tomorrow, shish taouk with basmati rice, tsatsiki and moroccan carrot salad.

From another thread: I am preparing for NY Day meal: chitterlings, prime rib, black-eye peas, collard greens, potato salad, corn bread, banana pudding, etc. A little bubbly at midnight tonight. CHEERS!

[Jenise]

The Francophile and I are heading off to the Clare Valley this afternoon, to join a New Year's Eve party on a friend's property at Undalya, a little-known and ... well, little, settlement out in the rolling countryside. We plan to camp overnight. It's going to be a music party, so we're packing the guitars and the dulcimer. Taking contributions for a shared supper - something that can be transported easily and put together quickly before we go - and some wine to share. Haven't decided on which wines to take yet. Something with bubbles in it to toast in the New Year.

Matilda

I want to go with YOU! Sounds fun.

Won't be much happening here: I'm sick. Boo hoo!

Aw, I'm sorry you don't feel well Jenise.

I'm spending the evening by myself, contemplating what I've done right, what I've done wrong, and trying to figure out how to do more of the former than the latter in the coming year. I've always set this one night aside to really think about any changes I'd like to make in my life.

I'll be cooking prime rib, don't know about sides yet and I'm sure there will be wine involved.

When I was a kid, we usually went to my maternal grandparent's for NYE. A few of my mom's sibs would be there with their kids. The adults usually played 8 handed pinochle, men v women, while the kids watched TV. A little fanfare at midnight, then sauerkraut and pork.....it was considered essential to future good luck that the first meat consumed in the new year be pork. I believe that to be a German tradition.

When I was in college and grad school, I usually worked NYE at a local country club. For whatever reason, the club I worked at during the summer did not have a NYE party but another club in our burb did and they were usually hurting for help. So we worked there, some years as busboys, other years as bartenders.

When we lived in a condo in suburban Chicago, Cindy and I partied with a bunch of our neighbors. Back when Trivial Pursuit was the hot new game, the group actually missed midnight because we were focused on the game! That was also the year we had trouble with the bubbly. Put the bottles on the balcony to keep cold and the corks kinda froze to the inside of the neck. Twisted the knob right off the top trying to open. Ultimately had to get a drill and slowly make a hole down the center of the cork, gradually releasing pressure.

Here in Cincy, we usually hang out with neighbors somewhere. Early in our tenure at our current digs, we had 24 folks go to the catered sit-down dinner and dancing at our church. It was a nice event, 400 attendees, dress-up, reasonably priced and only a mile from home. As people moved to other cities, the size of the group dwindled and so did interest in the church gig. The last few years a group of about 10 has gone to the local roadhouse (1/2 mile away) for dinner and drinks. Much more casual, which is a plus, but still a great time with friends. Cost includes some mass-market bubbly; I usually smuggle in a decent bottle or two to share among our group. Food is usually a little better than the normal offerings at this venue. But the main thing isn't the food or drink, it is spending the evening with good friends.

Happy New Year to my good friends here as well!!!

A little fanfare at midnight, then sauerkraut and pork.....it was considered essential to future good luck that the first meat consumed in the new year be pork. I believe that to be a German tradition.

Huh. I wonder if that's a Pittsburgh thing, Mike. My paternal grandparents and that side of the extended family always did that too. Pork roast and sauerkraut. And they aren't German at all.

Jenise, I'm sorry you're unwell!

I've always done black eyed peas for New Years Day. I have to say that 30 years ago, finding black eyed peas in New Jersey was not easy, and in Vermont (where we often spent Christmas vacation) it was downright impossible. Things are much easier now.

As I understand the tradition, the peas are pennies and the collard greens are dollar bills. So you are inviting prosperity by eating them on the first day of the year -- it boils down to economics, just like the Chinese greeting "gung hay fat choy" -- a baldly economic New Year's wish.

Probably everyone could use a little economic luck in the new year. I do have to say the collards available locally look wonderful. And I have a recipe that involves a splash of Sauternes...

I would prefer spoon bread but we will probably just have corn bread with it. Spoon bread is one of the most luxurious side dishes known to man. It seems to be more or less unknown outside of the South. My grandmother made some great spoon bread. And wonderful Parker House Rolls and (Smithfield) ham biscuits...

F

i have a cast from my shoulder to knuckles...bent 90 degrees at the elbow. friends took pity and invited us for dinner....made me happy!

I thought it was your wrist that was broken? If so, that size cast seems extreme.

the surgeon ordered it as he is trying to avoid surgery, which was indicated at the start. i have a couple of other issues with my hands. in two weeks if the wrist is still setting as it was yesterday, a smaller cast will be put on. this was an impacted fracture of the distal radius, mildly angulated, along with degenerative changes involving distal navicular joint.

Jenise - I hope you are feeling better and that you have a great 2009. You're a big reason I keep coming back to the WLDG.