New Year's Eve: What are You Eating or Serving?

[Mangoe]

After First Night Vancouver, my friends and I are heading back to enjoy Gingerbread Pudding(I think it is from HSG). I found the recipe on the net a few weeks ago. I will make it tomorrow morning. I will serve it with the Caramel sauce, extra whipping cream and some fresh fruit. This will be my first try at this recipe. I thought about making the Julia Child chocolate mousee but I think I am chocolated out. Gads did I say something bad!!!

[Andrew Morrison]

i'll be working my section like a dog.

[Mooshmouse]

It's barbecue night at the Mouse House. What the hell... we miss summer and we love a good beach party.

Mount Gay rum and tonics with lime twists to start. As yet unsure of wine selection. Two whites, likely a gewuertztraminer and a Viognier, and two undetermined reds.

Roasted eggplant/red pepper/sundried tomato spread with garlic naan for dipping. Oriental salad made from sui choy and green onions tossed with a mixture of sesame seeds, slivered almonds and crushed dry ramen noodles toasted in butter. New York striploin with a spice rub that our friends are bringing over this evening. Chicken skewers in a soy/cilantro/lime juice/garlic/ginger marinade. Grilled asparagus, zucchini and peppers. Cheese platter served with Raincoast Crisps and blueberry Wensleydale, Caron double cream brie, and either Pont le Vec blue or gorgonzola. Dessert will be fresh-made czech-style crepes, care of our dinner guests.

And it's my turn to sleep in tomorrow morning... whoohoo!!

Happy New Year everyone!

Joie

[Ling]

I made a chocolate sauce for the venison. The pics are up in the Cooking thread if anyone wants to see.

[Vancouver Lee]

Dinner for us tonight was an arugula salad with pear, apricots and asiago shavings, followed by Teriyaki chicken. We had the best intentions of making something more memorable, but a long day at work changed our minds.

Hope everyone is having a safe New Years Eve. Best wishes for a safe and prosperous 2005, everyone.

[merlin]

Garlic studded Cdn. rack of lamb served with roasted root vegetables and potatoes and minted peas.

First bottle was a 1991 Eileen Hardy Shiraz that I had been saving. Should not have waited. Disappointing. Very soft tannins, not a lot of body nor nose. Nothing like I had remembered. I guess I have another reason to start drinking some of the older wines in the bsmt. as this one did not "age" well...at least for me.

Second bottle. 2000 Macarini "DONALD" Langhe Rosso. Barbera d'Alba/Nebiolo? Not sure. Quite nice. Brawny red, garnet coloured with some dried fruit/raisins. Reminded me a little of ripasso/veneto on the finish.

Finished off the nite with some "stinky" cheese [brie de meaux, St. Agur and others]and leftover holiday tarts and a bottle of Blue Mountains Brut Rose

[edm]

Here are some pics from our NYE dinner!

trying to escape one last time from the chef's merciless hands, The beast...

gave up for our guests' pleasure:

Eco-farmed Vancouver Island Spring Salmon, confit in duck fat, red Kuri Squash, Roasted Kasha and Black Trumpet, Red cabbage sauce

House-cured BC Ling Cod brandade, nicoise olives and espelette pepper, Biota farm greens:

Part of the dessert, a tasty homemade (thanks, "Bonne maman", for the jars!) orange jam, served with a rice pudding and salted chocolate caramel:

It was tasty! Too bad on that night i was on the wrong side of the pass!

Edited January 1, 2005 by edm (log)

[Ling]

That looks great, Eddy! I'll have to come in for dinner sometime soon!

[polack]

Around these parts, Northeast Pa., it's a custom to have pork for your first dinner of the year. Having chicken it's claimed, will have you scratchin for money all year, whereas by having pork it'll make you have a prosperous year. We had a pork tenderloin with mashed potatoes and gravy, potatoe-sage stuffing, smoked kielbasi, bowtie pasta with farmers cheese and sauted onions, green beans, corn, sour cream and cucumbers with scallions, salad, homemade sourkraut, topped off with just baked sourdough bread. This was topped off with a cherry cheesecake for desert. Now how was yours?

Polack

[highchef]

Yes, and lots of it..peas and cabbage too. was soo good.

[lannie]

That's good to know since we're going to have Chinese "Kau Yuk" (slices of pork belly and taro/yam) tonight. I also made some fresh egg noodles for longevity and prosperity.

[pam claughton]

Does the pork sausage in the stuffed mushrooms count?

Pam

Edited January 1, 2005 by pam claughton (log)

[Ling]

I've never heard of this tradition, but I know I will be eating hot pot (like shabu shabu) tonight with my family and there will be thin slices of pork, lamb, and beef (not to mention a host of seafood and other goodies) to dip into the hot broth.

[rjwong]

My boneless pork loin is roasting in the oven over a bed of sliced onions and baby carrots with two pear halves.

I'll have that with a salad of shredded romaine, dice raw pears, and crumbled Stilton.

[ellencho]

Wow, I live in SE PA and I didn't know about the pork superstition until just now. Lucky for me I had a link of pork sausage for breakfast. A bowl of kielbasa/kale soup for lunch and for dinner, shumai :)

And to think, I didn't even plan it that way. I am so wise beyond my years

[lovebenton0]

We're smoking a half picnic shank with pecan, should be ready in a few minutes. Then, of course for us being in the South, it will be joined by blackeye peas with ham, also cornbread sticks and a salad of Romaine, pears, red grapes and crumbled bleu. Salad should have been a slaw, but DH went to the store while I napped and he forgot the cabbage. How could I complain when I didn't have to stumble around the grocery on New Year's Day?

[fou de Bassan]

Well, we had cassoulet which has tons of pork in it so I am going to just hope that that counts. My father seems to think I have gone over to the dark side since I did not make black-eyed peas. Thanks for the reassurance.

[rosebud]

I've never heard of having pork on New Year's Day. Just Black-eyed peas (my mother is from Georgia).

As a coincidence, I cooked some Masitas de Puerco for a New Year's Eve dinner for a some of my neighbors: one from Puerto Rico, one from Venezuela, one from Argentina. My Puerto Rican neighbor called her family today and told them that she had just eaten the best Masitas of her life and they were made by and AMERICAN woman

I learned everything I needed to know about the whole process from the thread on "Carnitas" here on EG. They are cooked exactly the same way, but using different spices and flavorings.

One surprising discovery: my neighborhood (Adams Morgan in DC) used to be the host of several Cuban restaurants where one could get Masitas and fried plantains. I have never cooked a plantain in my life and asked my Venezuelan friend if she could prepare them. She gave me a long litany of problems involving plantains. Then, she discovered FROZEN fried plantains in a store up the street and went ahead and bought them. They were PERFECT. So, I now have a ready of supply of plantains. This is one of those "Who Knew?" moments.

Did I cook Black-Eyed Peas today? No, I did not. It was my husband's turn to cook and he is enarmorded of stir-fried things. But, I sure learned something new, and valuable, this year.

Edited January 2, 2005 by rosebud (log)

[Jaymes]

Did I have pork? Am I a southerner?

Of course....ham hocks and black-eyed peas. Wouldn't be New Year's without it.

And collard greens cooked with a hunk of fatback, which is also pork.

And cornbread, the batter for which was poured into a skillet sizzling with hot bacon fat.

Pork pork pork. Oink oink oink.

Edited January 2, 2005 by Jaymes (log)

[NulloModo]

I had pork today, but then again, it is rare that I will go a day without ingesting some sort of pork product...

My parents decided not to do the big New Years dinner though, so, alas I was without collard greens, black-eyed peas, and turnips, as I was ill-prepared. Perhaps later this week...

[LBNoble]

blackeyed peas & collards, but no pork-the kids & I were out of town until Friday evening, & my husband couldn't find a pork butt-so we had chili (w/ beef), rice, & cornbread, along with the greens & peas, & I tipped the leftover peas into the chili, so I can eat it all week & hope for luck...

[Krys Stanley]

Noooo, now I read this. I had CHICKEN. I could have had fish. I wonder if that would have meanth anything for the new year.

Come to think of it, the year I made the pork roast stuffed with apricots and prunes for New Years day was a pretty good year.

Next year ... pork and black eyed peas. There should be a traditional good luck dessert

Your dinner has me drooling, especially the kielbasa. Here in SF, there isn't much good kielbasa.

[NulloModo]

Here in SF, there isn't much good kielbasa.

←

I thought SF had the reputation of being quite the sausage-fest town.

[polack]

Noooo, now I read this. I had CHICKEN. I could have had fish. I wonder if that would have meanth anything for the new year.

Come to think of it, the year I made the pork roast stuffed with apricots and prunes for New Years day was a pretty good year.

Next year ... pork and black eyed peas. There should be a traditional good luck dessert

Your dinner has me drooling, especially the kielbasa. Here in SF, there isn't much good kielbasa.

←

Back in this area we have great kielbasi. There's still some small local stores that specialize in kielbasi and other sausage products. Matter of fact one small town has started a kielbasi festival and had some success with it. As for myself I make my own, both fresh and smoked and take a lot of pride in it's end result. The end result is good flavor and atta boys from the peole that eat it.

[eatrustic]

Wow, glad I picked the prosperous choice!

We made the Pork Shoulder Roast (Porchetta) from Judy Roger's Zuni cookbook. Did it up with the dry rub two days in advance and slow roasted it (my variation) for 5 hours while finishing errands.

Couldn't have been easier, and great next day sandwiches.