One More Day For The Year....

I spent most of today in the kitchen....... making twice-baked potatoes (which are now only once-baked, but will be twice-baked tomorrow night). I also mixed everything into the crabmeat for the crabcakes, and tomorrow evening, I'll make the avacado sauce for them. I also need to grind the pecans to sprinkle on top of the crabcakes. The crawfish bisque is all done... just have to re-heat it tomorrow night. And those cute little "strawberry champagne" cocktails are setting up very nicely in the fridge. I swear, they make me smile every time I look at them.

Lots of glasses for this dinner...... 8 goblets for water, 8 wine glasses, plus the 8 champagne glasses for the strawberry cocktails. Not to mention all the dishes for each course, plus cups and saucers. I'll be running the dishwasher twice tomorrow night after everyone leaves. There should be a rule....... every kitchen should have room for two dishwashers. Sure would save a lot of time. (This is about the time when I say Just whose idea was this?)

Gorgeous day today....... sunny and warm, just a hint of a breeze. The cats (all except for the baby cat) spent most of the day in the yard. Now they're all tired out and sleeping on the screen-porch. What a life. That should be another rule.... to live the life of a pampered cat.

I was watching the Food Channel shows while I was working in the kitchen this afternoon. One of the good shows is "Semi-Homemade" with Sandra Lee. She makes beautiful table settings, easy-to-follow recipes, and the set decorators always color-coordinate her clothes with her kitchen accessories, or maybe it's the other way around. Not exactly "keeping it simple," as she says at the end of her shows, but her kitchen is simply nice to look at.

She was doing a New Year's Eve dinner today...... a black/white formal dinner. Naturally, she was all dressed in white, and so was her kitchen. All that cooking, and there she is with a pretty white sweater and white slacks. If she spilled a drop of anything on her outfit, I guess they had a spare set of clothing behind the scene, and they edited out the mess. (The magic of television, which isn't available in my own kitchen.)

I did like her idea for the invitations.... she sent her guests a little box with a small plastic disco ball in it, nestled in silver streamers with the dinner party invitation. And she wrapped all of the dinner napkins with great surprises--- a black tie for the men, and a rhinestone tiara for the ladies. (Which gave me ideas for next year, of course.)

I've got tiny silver disco balls attached to the candle-jars that I've used for the centerpiece--- I won't be lighting those candles because those are the favors for each couple tomorrow night. Other favors are the chocolate-champagne truffles in the tiny champagne glasses at each place setting, and the New Year's Eve horns and streamers, and the vintage New Year's Eve postcards that I used for everyone's placecard. I also found a large disco ball which I suspended from the dining room chandelier, so I guess the disco ball theme wasn't too original on my part.... but it was my own idea when I found them at Hobby Lobby last month. I think I will use the rhinestone tiaras next year, though--- what a great idea.

Just last minute things to do tomorrow.... there's always something to do at the last minute.... get the bread ingredients into the bread machine and time it so the loaf is ready for the first course. We're having a soup course, a salad course, the entree, then dessert, then the strawberry-champagne cocktails & truffles. I'm hoping the dinner goes as smoothly and as slowly as Thanksgiving and Christmas. We all sat in the dining room for hours, just talking and taking our time with the different courses, and it seemed that no one wanted the evening to end. A sign of a perfect party.