What'cha cooking for New Years Eve and Day 2015/2016?

[Thanks for the Crepes]

18 hours ago, cyalexa said:

Of course, I don't know for sure, but I suspect that those peas are thawed frozen peas or soaked dried peas. That is what is in the stores around here when fresh peas are out of season. 

 

Oh, cyalexa!

 

You have disillusioned me and burst my bubble, but thanks. Next time I am presented with these, I will know better. Live and learn.

 

My packages say "rehydrated" in very tiny print, but look fresh. At least they are from Sunny Creek Farm in Tryon, NC, and are labeled non-GMO, and do not list any other ingredients. I have gotten out of the habit of trying to read labels other than a quick glance at expiration dates through my training by shopping at Trader Joe's. The lines to access a product from the shelves are three or four deep sometimes, and you risk bodily harm by being obtuse to that. 

 

On the plus side, my husband unexpectedly invited me out to dinner tomorrow night for NYE. So that was a shakeup in ingredient management, but overall, something positive for me, since I rarely get to eat out. The curse of a good cook, I guess.

 

I already had started thawing the hens, so they will be cooked along with the peas on NYD. I grock that they scratch backward, according to Digging Dog Farm. But you know what? This past year, 2015, has actually been up there with the worst in my life, so maybe "scratching backward" to better times is not so bad.

 

I just follow the traditional Southern food customs sometimes for fun mostly anyway. I'm a scientist at heart, and a thrifty one, so Cornish hens for NYD.

 

And @DiggingDogFarm you do know that cattle, may stand still at times, when they are grazing, which they have to do a lot to maintain their enormous bulk on low-energy food, move forward to get to the next fresh grass? Like horses, elephants, and other huge vegetarian grazers. Chickens also peck and move forward when foraging. I still love your cool saying a lot though! 

13 hours ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

New Year's Eve: Cheerful libations and o̶r̶d̶e̶u̶r̶v̶e̶s̶, h̶o̶̶̶r̶̶̶d̶̶̶e̶̶̶ ̶e̶r̶̶̶v̶̶̶e̶̶̶s̶̶̶ , h̶o̶r̶d̶e̶r̶v̶e̶s̶, h̶o̶̶̶r̶̶̶’̶̶̶s̶̶̶ ̶̶̶d̶̶̶e̶̶̶ ̶̶̶o̶v̶̶̶e̶̶̶r̶̶̶s̶̶̶, ...ummm...appetizers..yeah..appetizers!!! 

 

 

My sister calls hors d'oeuvres "horse divers" to this day because of something one of her (no longer) small children said. 

[liuzhou]

51 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

@DiggingDogFarm

 

 

 

My sister calls hors d'oeuvres "horse divers" to this day because of something one of her (no longer) small children said. 

 

They have always been called Horse Dovers in the non-French speaking part of my family. I was puzzled what a "dover" might be but it seems to be a Scottish dialect word for "A slumber, a slight unsettled sleep“. From now, I'm calling them sleepy horses!

[kbjesq]

8 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

Dinner tomorrow is settled.  Thanks to nagging from people that are coming, I am doing Feast of the Seven Fishes.  Yes, normally a Christmas Eve thing, but we have normally done it on NYE in my family.  So, the menu is mostly appetizers to be consumed over hours:

 

fried Wellfleet oysters

mini scallop rolls with smoked paprika aioli

mini lobster sliders on brioche

smoked salmon devilled eggs

tuna sushi (made by and mostly consumed by my niece ha)

bacala fritters

 

 

*bacalao! Thank you! I did not have a plan until now but I just remembered that I have a huge piece of salt cod that needs cooking. I'm going to run and start soaking it now so I can make a Portuguese stew for NYE. The piece is so big that I'll probably have enough for codfish cakes the next day. It's also stone crab season here, so those claws will likely make an appearance at some point. 

[cyalexa]

4 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

Oh, cyalexa!

 

You have disillusioned me and burst my bubble, but thanks. Next time I am presented with these, I will know better. Live and learn.

 

My packages say "rehydrated" in very tiny print, but look fresh. At least they are from Sunny Creek Farm in Tryon, NC, and are labeled non-GMO, and do not list any other ingredients

I'm sorry to have caused disappointment. They will still be good. Continue to keep an eye out for fresh field peas when they are in season  - they are a treat and worth the time it takes to shell .

 

4 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

On the plus side, my husband unexpectedly invited me out to dinner tomorrow night for NYE. So that was a shakeup in ingredient management, but overall, something positive for me, since I rarely get to eat out. The curse of a good cook, I guess.

Enjoy your meal out. We rarely go out to dinner unless we are entertaining the next day. There aren't very many good restaurants in this fairly small college town. Now, if we ate fast food we would have adundant options.

[KennethT]

Urgghhh... Now I remember why I dont try to write a longish post using my phone.... I lost it!

 

Anyway, since we're traveling right now (leaving to go home tomorrow ) we're not cooking anything, but we had an awesome dinner of snails and seafood, pics to come when I do my foodblog after I collate all the photos... But in the meantime I'll post a few photos as we're back in our room awaiting the fireworks due in a couple hours... We ordered room service for dessert - pandan flavored banh cuon stuffed with shredded coconut with a cocolicious dipping sauce. Plus a little drinky-poo for after we do some packing... The ladt shot is the craziness in the street just below our hotel!  And happy anniversary Shelby - what a great date... so easy to remember!

[Shelby]

  Yes, there is no forgetting the date.

 

Do tell, where are you?  Can't wait to read your blog!

 

Your champagne and dessert look so festive and fun!

[KennethT]

We've been in Saigon for the past week!

[kbjesq]

6 minutes ago, Shelby said:

  Yes, there is no forgetting the date.

 

Do tell, where are you?  Can't wait to read your blog!

 

Your champagne and dessert look so festive and fun!

I don't know for sure but I hope that the room service order of "pandan flavored banh cuon stuffed with shredded coconut with a cocolicious dipping sauce" means that they are somewhere in Vietnam because I'm planning a trip there in 2016!

[KennethT]

If you'll be going to Saigon, and are planning to eat local food in non-tourist locations, then this blog will be great for you.... Stay tuned!  Sorry to derail this thread a bit... Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

[kbjesq]

2 minutes ago, KennethT said:

We've been in Saigon for the past week!

I guessed correctly!  Likewise, @KennethT,  I will be anxious to read your foodblog upon your return.  

 

Our plans aren't firm yet but thinking of traveling from the USA to Hong Kong for a few days, then to  Guangzhou, China, then to Hanoi for a week or two.  From Hanoi travel by bus/train to Ho Chi Min City, staying again for at least a couple of weeks. Then to Bangkok for a week.  All of this travel for the sole purpose of eating, so I have a lot of research to do (and my plans may change accordingly) between now and then.  

 

This is first, and possibly the only, time in my life that I will get a chance to visit Southeast Asia so I'm trying to fit in as much as possible.  Any suggestions regarding my travel plans are welcome . . . perhaps I should post this question in a different thread, however.  I'll look over on the other boards and see if I can find a more suitable place to continue this part of the discussion.  

[Paul Bacino]

Rib Cap Sugo  ...also Sous Vide a Nice Chuck Steak,,  145/24 hrs

Edited December 31, 2015 by Paul Bacino (log)

[Darienne]

First of all, Happy Anniversary Shelby and husband.  Well done.  Go for it.

 

We had no plans for NYE, being old country folk et al, but then I realized that I have some leftover whipping cream in the fridge.  So tonight it will be "Dessert as Dinner" for us.  Scones, raspberries (frozen, of course), whipped cream and my "special" raspberry sauce which my fans love.  Don't tell them that I first simply dumped seedless raspberry jam, butter and Chambord into a pot and warmed them up.  Well, it is delicious...so there!

 

Happy New Year to all eGers from the far frozen north with snow at last.

[btbyrd]

The plan was to make Hoppin' John, but apparently my Anson Mills order won't arrive until the 4th. Sadface.

[huiray]

2 hours ago, btbyrd said:

The plan was to make Hoppin' John, but apparently my Anson Mills order won't arrive until the 4th. Sadface.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/food/foods-around-world-194029352/photo-grapes-1451418328930.html 

 

Or try this - Traditionally for the Chinese Lunar New Year but there is no reason why it can't be served for the Gregorian New Year too. :-) (Cross-fertilization and all that)  In recent times it is served from the first day of the New Year onwards, not just for the 7th day. :-D   I have, before.  ;-)

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/152037-salad-2015/?do=findComment&comment=1905141 

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/143989-lunch-whatd-ya-have-2012–2014/?do=findComment&comment=1909399 

 

Edited December 31, 2015 by huiray (log)

[BeeZee]

going out tonight for Spanish food (unfashionably early) then back home for a DVD movie and some Prosecco. Planning to make something with greens (for money!) and lentils tomorrow.

[Porthos]

Dinner New Year's Eve will be mundane (two tired bodies coming home from work) but I will be breaking out the Hendricks for some nicer gin and tonics.

 

We will be at the Disneyland parks NYD and dinner will be a treat. We have reservations for Carthay Circle (it's in Disney California Adventure) where we will dine with good friends. I have never had anything but great food and great service there (and yes I have dined there on the 1st before).

[suzilightning]

Happy anniversary!!

NYE is our Christmas celebration.  There are sweet potatoes baking away in the oven along with a package of yellow beets.  There are two venison loins marinating with some juniper, shallot, beef stock and some garlic.  I'm going to cut some steaks from the loin and cook them as well as browning off one of them.  Finish off in a 250 degree oven.... Green beans with mushrooms and it should be good....

 

Tomorrow and Saturday have to use up whatever we have in the fridge as we leave Sunday morning on our first ever cruise...wish me luck.

 

Just ate the teeny tiny tail end of the loin I cut into steaks .....how freaking good is well cooked venison served with a tiny bit of lingonberry jam???????  Mashed sweets with a touch of maple syrup....green beans and that venison...........ahhhhhhhhhh.

 

Edited December 31, 2015 by suzilightning
to add some stuff (log)

[robie]

Tonight is just my wife and me.  Bolsheviks and French 75s.

 

Chicken soup (leftover from previous meal)

Crabcakes

Argula salad

Dulce de Leche ice cream and Big Island Candy cookies

 

Tomorrow we're having 6 guests

 

Rumaki

Crudites and Green Goddess dip

 

Pot Roast

Smashed potatoes

Peas and corn

 

Apple galette and vanilla ice cream

 

Our guests are not adventurous eaters; I am pretty constrained.

[huiray]

Miso, tofu, soba.

[gfweb]

Family is out in Utah doing stupid things in the snow. Just me and the 3 month old airedale puppy (Henry) tonight. Meatloaf and puppychow respectively.   One of us drank a nice cotes d rhone. 

[Martin Fisher]

19 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

......you do know that cattle, may stand still at times, when they are grazing, which they have to do a lot to maintain their enormous bulk on low-energy food, move forward to get to the next fresh grass?

Not in January! Around here anyway!

Yeah, I grew up in dairying and the like.

[Shelby]

12 hours ago, gfweb said:

Family is out in Utah doing stupid things in the snow. Just me and the 3 month old airedale puppy (Henry) tonight. Meatloaf and puppychow respectively.   One of us drank a nice cotes d rhone. 

Pictures of Henry please

 

Last night:  fried chicken, taters, gravy and brussels sprouts.  

 

Tonight:  I took some NICE double cut pork chops out of the freezer and brined them yesterday.  Now I need to figure out what to do with them.  I don't have a sous vide set up.  No apples or fruit either.  Any ideas out there?

[Okanagancook]

Season them up with your favourite herbs/seasonings; sear them well; put on a bed of sliced potato/onion/carrot/celery or fennel if you have it; dump a little beer/stock/wine in the pan and slow roast until the internal temp is around 134F; rest 15 minutes under foil; devour

[Smithy]

If you have any sauerkraut, you can slow-roast those chops with potatoes until nearly done, then finish roasting with sauerkraut.  It works for pork shoulder; I can't think why it wouldn't work for chops!

[ChocoMom]

NYE...the beef arrived around 3pm, and I had to put together a few orders for our customers. Just in the nick of time, I thawed 5# of ground beef; and we did in fact do the sloppy joes.... they were a hit!  Potato salad, chips, the pinecone cheese"ball" too. 

Dessert kind of evolved as I was dodging grandkids, kids and guests roaming through the kitchen. Not what I had planned, but the personal sized raspberry cheesecakes were fab!  I made a shortbread crust and patted it into a muffin tin; filled with my cream cheese filling; baked; then topped with a dollop of raspberry filling, garnished with a mint leaf and fresh raspberries and blueberries.  I noticed a gingerbread cake mix in the pantry, so I baked it in a bundt pan. Made a hard sauce (butter, brandy, conf. sugar, etc...) and soaked the cake. (Well, no, more like I drowned the cake.) And then made some fresh whipped cream to top it off.  We tried to hide the wine from FIL.since.the grand kids were here  and we hoped to protect their tender ears...but he found it anyway.  Oy! What a night! 

 

NYD breakfast was a "made-ahead" baked French toast recipe. So I did two pans of it. Broke out the maple syrup, peaches that I canned this summer, fresh blueberries, turkey bacon, and lots of coffee.   Just some fun for the kids, we roasted hot dogs in the big fireplace this afternoon/evening.  

 

I am so anxious to dig into all that wonderful beef!  We've been out of the ground meat, steaks and roasts for quite a while...so this is a long-awaited treat. It truly is a happy new year now! =)