New Year's/Cooking in? Going out?

[lovebenton0]

It's almost here, another turn of the world clock.

Is the New Year a food event for you?

Do you have a tradition to follow? Your own or something regional to welcome in the New Year?

We're in Texas, and when it comes to New Year's traditions a lot of folks turn pure Southern here and celebrate the turn of the clock by eating hoppin' john for good luck. Blackeye peas with ham (and I throw in a good dose of our jalapenoes just to make sure we're awake) are traditional. A pot of rice. Cornbread. A ham smoked on the deck with Pecan wood for us this year. It's going to be about 80 and I'm looking forward to giving the kitchen a break.

What do you cook or eat for New Year's?

[jgm]

We do casual dining on New Year's Eve, and we try to do it early, before the drunks and the police department do battle. We like to eat at a hibachi restaurant, so we end up with sauteed (or stir fried, depending on how you look at it) shrimp, beef, and chicken, along with fried rice. Some years, we stay up to welcome the New Year; others, we're in bed around 10.

New Year's day is whatever sounds good with football. Usually chili, but sometimes beef stew or chicken and noodles. This year, I'm going to be cooking the Christmas turkey, which had to wait a week since we dined at my mother's house this year.

[NancyH]

I am having a few friends over this year; we're planning the following menu:

Garlic Pate w/crackers, carrot and celery sticks

Raspberry Cilantro Salsa with Mexican Tortilla Chips

Belly Lox, Mini Bagels and Cream Cheese

Thai Style Turkey Soup

Golden New Year’s Noodle Pillows (Chinese noodle pancakes) with Crab Meat

Linda and Fred Griffith’s Roasted Duck stuffed with Sauerkraut and served with an Apple Dressing (from their "Garlic Garlic Garlic" book)

Roast Chicken (for the non-duck eaters)

Home made Cranberry Sauce

Linda and Fred Griffith’s Jalepeno-Cheddar Spoonbread

And for dessert – Sherry’s Cherry Trifle and maybe a New Year’s Pretzel.

[Basilgirl]

Pork and sauerkraut, of course! With a side of black-eyed peas. Got to get both the Southern and the Northern traditions in. Although this year it will be my first cotechino with lentils instead.

[PopsicleToze]

In Louisiana, so it's about the same as Texas except there are no jalapenoes in there, although they do sound great.

Smoked pork loin

Smothered Cabbage

Hoppin' John

Potato Salad

Cornbread (not sweet and made with bacon fat)

Iced Tea

[Foodie in Vancouver]

We usually have the same menu year after year and mostly the same people. The appetizers change but other than that the menu is:

Blini with Caviar (not the real stuff - but the best of the rest) and Iced Vodka

Salad - sometimes with other bits - crab cakes or whatever

Grapefruit-Champagne sorbet

Lobster (or if it is at my house Beef Tenderloin as I don't like eating lobster in dress-up clothes)

Chocolate desert

Fruit desert (poached pears for instance)

Lemon desert

and lots of wine as well as Champagne

NancyH - do you have a reference for the Golden New Year’s Noodle Pillows (Chinese noodle pancakes) with Crab Meat? They sound wonderful.

[suzilightning]

new years eve is when john and i celebrate our christmas so it is champagne and opening the stockings in the late afternoon. we are going to do a cheese plate to have during this time. dinner will be a shrimp cocktail, filet mignon with a mushroom port sauce, roasted white and sweet potatoes, and a salad of winter greens. dessert will be chocolate mousse and more champagne - maybe in the jacuzzi if it isn't raining.

new years day looks to be good weather so we will be out early to bird. i'll take cinnamon rolls and thin slice the filet to make sandwiches. i'm making some bean salad as well as a large thermos of coffee. when we get home we will have the other half of the capon from christmas, dressing, some wild and brown rice with broccoli. have a 2003 eroica to chill.

[phifly04]

Lunchmeat trey and cheeses for good hoagies and some vey thinly sliced rib-eye for cheesesteaks,then lotsa carousing.Then the best Parade in the land-MUMMERS!!!!love dem golden slippers!!!

Dave s

[bloviatrix]

Normally we go out for a nice dinner, but since New Year's Eve is on shabbos this year, I'm cooking dinner with one of my dearest friends for 3 couples.

I making my first duck confit to be served on a salad of frisee and a brisket. She's making soup, the sides, and dessert. If I have time, I'll make a dessert as well. The other couple is responsible for the wine.

Good friends, good food, and good drink. What could be bad?

[Mabelline]

bloviatrix, not one single thing the way I see it.

We'll have blackeyes and ham hocks, rice, and greens. This year one of DH's brothers at work made some apricot wine, which I'm as curious as George to try. DH goes in at 4:00 pm NYE and is back home around 9:00 am NY's Day, so I'll watch the parade, if it isn't rained out--How weird would that be?--unless something bad goes down. Anyway, when his shining face comes through the door, he will fling a handful of silver inside before he walks in, and then the New Year will officially be rung in.

I have to admit that this New Year will have shadows that will make it very hard to be joyful. But we shall try to celebrate the continuance of the sacred circle.

Edited December 30, 2004 by Mabelline (log)

[lovebenton0]

Normally we go out for a nice dinner, but since New Year's Eve is on shabbos this year, I'm cooking dinner with one of my dearest  friends for 3 couples. 

I making my first duck confit to be served on a salad of frisee and a brisket.  She's making soup, the sides, and dessert.  If I have time, I'll make a dessert as well.  The other couple is responsible for the wine.

Good friends, good food, and good drink.  What could be bad?

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Sounds all good to me, bloviatrix. Love to hear how your duck confit comes out. I haven't tried that yet.

Mabelline that apricot wine sounds divine. That'd be a tempter for me -- makes me wish I could try some.

For us it'll be beer, NA for me, but I will go with a heartier import for the holiday.

I haven't decided on a dessert either, but as it's NY's I should do something festive. (We don't eat sweet desserts that often.) Or something we always have this time of year that we have missed out on so far -- like pecan pie.

And "we" may change my mind when we go the market, look at meat and decide to smoke a pork butt instead.

Football. We'll probably have a buddy or two over here for that NY's weekend activity. I'm making bread also, so we'll definitely have ham and cheese or pulled pork sandwiches with football. Make a slew of potato chips and sweet potato chips to go with that and finger fruits. I'm sure they'll be some hoppin' john around for anyone that wants more, like me.

[jscarbor]

The last few years my wife an I have been going to my dad's lake house in Marble Falls/Horseshoe Bay Texas and cooking up a nice meal and shooting off fireworks into the lake. The house was recently sold so it looks like we will be at home with my 19 month old son cooking something nice. My wife wants tuna in a wasabi cream sauce. Maybe I'll make that? We'll see.

[SeaGal]

Had some friends in for a party. Here's the scoop:

Cooking forum: Dinner

(Not sure how to link directly to my post, but it's on this page )

Jan

[joiei]

Caviar persentation

cheese presentation

anti pasto platter

smoked turkey

rootbeer baked ham

grilled tenderloin

silver dollar rolls and fresh baked biscuits, dijon mustard and horseradish

shrimp salad

creamy cauliflower salad

forbidden rice salad

tricolor bowtie pasta salad

molded pate plate

crab mousse ring

buffalo chickne wings

crispy corntortilla chickne nuggets

gratin potatos

grilled vegies

black eyed peas with Chaceries jalapeno sausage

assorted passed hors douvers

chocolate torte

chocolate mousse torte

lemon bundt cake

chocolate bundt cake

tiramisu

assorted chocolates, truffles, dipped oranges, dipped apricots, blueberries

1997 Robert Mondavi Carneros Reserve Merlot

2001 Cloudy Bay Chardonnay

1990 La Grande Dame Veuve Cliquot Champagne

This is what I served for the little New Years Eve party that I did for the family I cook for. It was fun and a hell of a lot of work. It was a standup buffet for 50. And they ate almost 2#'s of caviar, almost 3 whole tenderloins, a whole smoked turkey, half the ham, it was amazing. The chocolate mousse tort was made by a friend, Steven Howard, a chocolatier here in Tulsa and was amazingly beautiful.

I think I will finally be back to normal today.

[Allura]

We went to a friend's apartment, which has been a tradition since it's been her parent's house we went to. Last year in the apartment for them - they bought a house! Anyway, while she's an adventerous eater, when she cooks "American" (she's Thai), she cooks fairly plain. We ended up with 12 people, I think, so buffet style:

Apps:

spinach-artichoke dip with bread toasts

veggie platter w/ dill dip

chicken salad w/ cranberries & pumpernickel toasts

cheese board

pepperoni-asiago pinwheels

tartletts with a dill cream, a shrimp perched on top, and a caper on the side - cute!

Dinner:

big ol' ham

macaroni & cheese (which I now need to snag her recipe for)

pineapple bread dressing (I ate this for dessert!)

Wild mushrooms with thyme (I brought)

another friend's incredible lasagna with zuchhini, sundried tomatoes, and roasted garlic

Dessert:

cheesecake

Actually, I'm probably being a bit harsh on her - everything was really good, and she's been working till midnight and weekends all month. So "easy" was part of the plan for her.

Today we're headed over to my mother's for our "New Year's Day" dinner; DH had to work yesterday. I know she's making a crown roast of pork, but I'm not sure what else.

[ScorchedPalate]

We've taken to cooking for ourselves on New Year's Eve the last few years, then having friends over on New Year's Day for a "bring-your-hangover party."

On NYD 2003 we made our first cassoulet, for ourselves and 5 good friends. Our sit-down meal started with 3 dozen oysters and a big green salad, and ended with a long walk! After skipping the festivities last year (we were moving into a new house) we decided to revive the cassoulet/new year's tradition, but go a step further and add choucroute garnie and invite more friends. This time around, it was an all-afternoon open house, which was simultaneously easier (not having to find 14 dining chairs or matching plates) but more difficult (how to keep a cassoulet hot but accessible over the course of the afternoon).

So, for a guest list of 12, we had:

- Nibbles: Assorted homemade pickles, store-bought olives, and marcona almonds

- Cheese: normandy camembert, bleu de basque, p. jacquin chevre, and petit agur (sheep)... all served with Essential Bakery baguette crostini and assorted crackers.

- Cold roast meat platter: turkey breast roulade stuffed with pork-sausage, chestnuts, and green olives; "mock porchetta" pork roast (from the Zuni recipe)

- Choucroute Garnie with wieners, bockwurst, smoked pork loin, and smoked pork shank (meats from Pike Place Market's Bavarian Meats), served with wholegrain and stone-ground mustards.

- Cassoulet with home-cured duck confit and super-garlicy bratwrust from Uli's Famous Sausages (another Pike Place favorite).

We had two super-large bottles of belgian beer (Grande Chouffe and Chimay blue)and many smaller belgian-style ales (Reinart wild ale and amber, Fin du Monde, Don de Dieu, Ephemere, Chimay cinq cents, etc.) plus Rieslings (from the northwest) for the choucroute and a couple of bottles of Madiran that our friends brought for the cassoulet.

There were plenty of leftovers... not that I am complaining! We're heating up some choucroute for lunch. I think the cassoulet will get polished off at dinner with a BIG salad.

By tomorrow I should be ready to eat something without pork in it.

~Anita

edited for a run-on sentence :D

Edited January 3, 2005 by ScorchedPalate (log)

[lovebenton0]

Had some friends in for a party.  Here's the scoop:

Cooking forum: Dinner

(Not sure how to link directly to my post, but it's on this page )

Jan

←

Quite a spread there!

In fact, you guys all make me want to celebrate with more people next year!

(FYI: To link directly, SeaGal, click on the number of your post then copy that http that comes up in the box and post it with the http:// button in your new post.)

After all was said and finally done on New Year's Eve we ended up having a simple but very tasty penne pasta with a sauce of garden tomato (frozen from this summer's crop), fresh picked garlic and herbs (basil/thyme/oregano) then tossed with mushrooms sauteed in butter/EVOO and red wine with fresh grated Parm Reg, garlic toast on homemade bread and a Romaine heart salad topped with jumbo shrimp.

Sticking pretty close to the intended menus we had this for New Year's Day and today.

Edited January 3, 2005 by lovebenton0 (log)

[foodie52]

We all met at a friend's house: he had the pop up camper open on the front lawn and a nice fire going on the driveway so that we could all sit around it . I made fried boloney sandwiches and there was lots of cheese whiz and a tuna casserole and also some Velveeta queso. I brought the rest of the Boone's Farm wine from our last egullet party.

I'd post the photos but maybe not.

Miss Nascar 1985 was there, too!

[SeaGal]

Had some friends in for a party.  Here's the scoop:

Cooking forum: Dinner

(Not sure how to link directly to my post, but it's on this page )

Jan

←

Quite a spread there!

In fact, you guys all make me want to celebrate with more people next year!

(FYI: To link directly, SeaGal, click on the number of your post then copy that http that comes up in the box and post it with the http:// button in your new post.)

After all was said and finally done on New Year's Eve we ended up having a simple but very tasty penne pasta with a sauce of garden tomato (frozen from this summer's crop), fresh picked garlic and herbs (basil/thyme/oregano) then tossed with mushrooms sauteed in butter/EVOO and red wine with fresh grated Parm Reg, garlic toast on homemade bread and a Romaine heart salad topped with jumbo shrimp.

Sticking pretty close to the intended menus we had this for New Year's Day and today.

←

Thanks so much for the link info...so easy

The best thing about not cooking for more people on New Year's Eve is that you can actually cook a nice New Years day meal, instead of vegging on the couch all day like a limp noodle.

BTW, that smoked picnic shank looks really good.

Jan

[Hest88]

We didn't feel like going out, so we bought a huge hunk of Pierre Robert, lots of Carr's water crackers, and smoked trout.

[little ms foodie]

We went out for dinner with friends and had a front row seat for the fireworks they shoot off the SpaceNeedle in Seattle. We drank a lot of really good wine. Dinner didn't start until 10 so we had a bottle of bubbles at home with some foie gras my honey gave me for Christmas.

new years day was also cassoulet, must be a trend, haha!

We do different things each year- sometimes we travel, host a party or go out. All very fun and memorable.

[Jaymes]

We all met at a friend's house: he had the pop up camper open on the front lawn and a nice fire going on the driveway so that we could all sit around it  . I made fried boloney sandwiches and there was lots of cheese whiz and  a tuna casserole and also some Velveeta queso. I brought the rest of the Boone's Farm wine from our last egullet party.

I'd post the photos but maybe not.

Miss Nascar 1985 was there, too!

Wow, eG's an amazing place. New Year's celebrations all the way from 2# of caviar to Miss Nascar and Velveeta queso.

Jane, your "New Year's at the Trailer Park" sounds like a hoot!

[lovebenton0]

We all met at a friend's house: he had the pop up camper open on the front lawn and a nice fire going on the driveway so that we could all sit around it  . I made fried boloney sandwiches and there was lots of cheese whiz and  a tuna casserole and also some Velveeta queso. I brought the rest of the Boone's Farm wine from our last egullet party.

I'd post the photos but maybe not.

Miss Nascar 1985 was there, too!

Wow, eG's an amazing place. New Year's celebrations all the way from 2# of caviar to Miss Nascar and Velveeta queso.

Jane, your "New Year's at the Trailer Park" sounds like a hoot!

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Oh, yea! And I for one want to see those pics, Jane!