Good luck in the new year - we all want it, right? Well, I try to edge the odds in my direction by making the good luck soup each year.
This year I tried the recipe from one of my favorite food blogs, Kalyn's Kitchen. I was really glad I chose this recipe because it was absolutely delicious!
In recent years New Year's Eve has just been another night - no special celebrations. I hate driving anywhere that night, so staying home was the obvious answer.
But now we have a really nice local restaurant just a few miles away, and they were offering a special New Year's Eve dinner, so two of the couples on our street decided to join us at the Grand Oak Steakhouse at Highland Springs Resort.
We had an early reservation, so early that it wasn't even dark yet.
But, first things first - the wine. Only two of us are drinkers, so I brought a bottle of 2000 cabernet to drink.
Either a 3-course or a 5-course meal was offered, with two choices for each course. To taste the maximum number of courses, Bill chose one and I chose the other, except for the entree. Here are the food photos and descriptions from the menu:
Pre-dinner snack (maybe amuse bouche?)
Cauliflower creme (smooth as silk and delicious)
Course #1
Trio of Salmon (Salmon roe on blini, tartar and olive wood smoked Balik lax with beets and fine herbes)
Twist on Waldorf Salad (Escarole, endive, candied walnuts, apples, celery root and gorgonzola cheese)
It has kind of become a tradition that we get together with our friends Palma and Brad during the holiday season. This year we had lunch at a beautiful Palm Desert restaurant, Cuistot.
Palma and I shared a bowl of Wild Mushroom soup, as did Bill. I just loved the little pot that it was served in.
And the soup was definitely to die for!
I thought my entree was the most unusual thing on the menu. It was called the Cuistot Lunch Box - it was served on a square plate with four sections. A small soup and salad, the entree that day was salmon and spinach topped with pastry. Last but certainly not least was a small raspberry creme brulee. I love trying small portions of several different items, so this was perfect for me.
I was excited to participate for the third year in the foodie gift exchange organized by Katie of Thyme for Cooking.
Last year my gift came from a blogger in Germany. This year I was thrilled to receive a package from Australia - from Kate of Manningroad.
Kate sent me an assortment of Australian spices:
Australian Bush Herbs
Aussie Meat Pie Spice
Australian Bush Pepper Blend
Murray River Pink Salt
Wattleseed Roasted
Mixed Spice
I need to read up on all of these spices to see how they should be used.
She also enclosed a darling little silver spice spoon and a recipe for Lemon Butter, which I intend to make very soon:
Ingredients:
180g butter, diced
2 cups caster sugar
3/4 cup lemon juice
2 tsp grated rind
4 eggs, beaten and strained
Method:
Combine all ingredients in top half of double saucepan. Stir over simmering water until mixtures thickly coats the back of a wooden spoon. Pour into hot sterilized jars. Seal when cold. Serve on toast, scones, or in pre-made tartlets with coffee shards.
Thank you so much, Kate!
Why is it that almost everyone makes resolutions for the new year? And, most of the time, breaks them not long after January 1st.
A major portion of them are about losing weight and eating healthier. Check - that's one of mine again this year. I want to lose at least 10 pounds before Bill and I go to Paris in May. That way I can try every flavor of Macarons I see!
But, just as important, I want to get back to blogging. Like a lot of people I got "writer's block" about six months ago. Heck, I didn't even finish blogging about Venice when I was there. I am going to remedy that and finish my trip blog posts.
See, if I promise to do that here in writing, I will have to follow thru. And following thru is important in life.
I had just a couple of restaurants that were must-do's on this trip, and Osteria La Zucca was one of them. A lot of my Slow Travel friends have been there and raved about the food.
So, I was really, really happy that Shannon and Kim chose La Zucca for our Monday night dinner.
All of the rave reviews were confirmed - the food was wonderful!
We started with a couple orders of Pumpkin Flan. Wow and double wow! It was wonderful!
I then chose a Lasagna special, but I am not sure what kind it was. I will check with one of my compadres and post later about it.
We also shared an assortment of vegetables.
And we shared three different desserts.
The weather gods are smiling down on us - Rain was originally predicted, but a gorgeous day dawned for our tour of the Venice lagoon.
We met our guide Andrea and the boat captain on a little canal-side calle (we had to switch the location because the trash boat refused to move), and off we went.
Our first destination was Murano where we cruised down Murano's main canal past lots of glass factories like this one.
Lots of great views.
