First Day of The New Year

Last night's dinner was about as perfect as we could get it...... only way to make it better would have been for our Dallas friends to have been able to join us. The food was delicious.... the conversations were interesting and lively.... and everything just seemed to flow very smoothly.

I did something different for last night's dinner.... instead of everyone passing platters of food around the table, I set up all the plates in the kitchen and passed those around the table. Before everyone came, I took all the dishes off of the dining room table and stacked them on the counter in the kitchen, in the order I would need them for each course. Then I used the breakfast-bar counter to set out the eight dishes, plated the food there, then brought two or three at a time into the dining room. I did that for each of the courses, and it was just the perfect thing to do.

All of the food stayed hot in the kitchen if anyone wanted a little more of one of the courses, and the table didn't get crowded with platters and serving dishes. It was easier for me to plate the food in the kitchen then it was for me to set out heavy platters on the dining room table. Plus, the dining room table stayed as pretty as it was before anyone started to eat. Once you put platters and serving dishes on the table, something is bound to spill, or get pushed too close to the edge of the table.

We started out with stuffed mushrooms (from J&S), then a carrot/broccoli/ginger salad (from C&R), then my crawfish bisque, followed by my crabcakes & twice-baked potatoes. Dessert was miniature Italian pastries (from M&R), and my strawberry-champagne cocktails. Wine for the meal came courtesy of our Dallas friends who are still sick with the flu, so they were here "in spirits," as B told me to tell everyone. Perfect, perfect, perfect... from beginning to end. My husband and I kept looking at one another and I know we were both thinking the same thing-- This night is just too good to be true.

We finished the main course at 11:15.... we took our time between courses.... no rushing, no foot-tapping... just a nice long leisurely dinner that everyone seemed to enjoy. Everyone walked around the house for a while while I set up the dining room table for dessert. At five minutes before midnight, I brought out the champagne "cocktails" on a tray and we ate those just before we counted down the seconds till midnight and sang "Auld Lang Syne." Then back into the dining room we went for dessert, chocolate truffles, coffee and tea.

Perfect, perfect, absolutely perfect evening. We didn't get to bed till 3:00 this morning, but we were up before 8:00 and ready to take the big tree down after reading the Sunday Chronicle. We spent most of today de-Christmasing the house. The big tree is now on the curb, all the decorations are put away in the holiday closet...... and everything fits-- even the new Nutcracker that I bought half-price the day after Christmas. Everything is tucked away now till November.

2006.......... I remember our New Year's Eve party for the year 2000 as if it happened just yesterday, and here we are, six years later. Time sure does fly.