Hello 2007. Sayonara 2006. But before I can blog anything about 2007 it would have to happen. And other than cleaning up from our party last night 2007 hasn’t been too eventful, so I’ll fill you in on that party instead.
Six days ago we started thinking about what to do for New Year’s Eve, and after looking at all the options of people we could pay to entertain us, we decided it would be better to spend the celebration with friends. However, we were pretty sure all our friends were way cooler than us and would already have plans. So despite sending an evite out to 39 people, we were really just hoping we’d get up to four people. And that included us. So we were rather shocked when we ended up with a party attendance of 15! Wow, we are cool. You like us! You really like us! Or you like our desserts and our games, as we were having a dessert pot-luck and game night party.
Could someone please explain to my husband what a “pot-luck” is?
Now, I admire that Matt has aspirations in the kitchen. But he knows he has a habit of biting off more than he can chew. Which he likes to say is “we tend to bite off more than we can chew.” He seems to forget all my gentle suggestions that we cut back on our plans, which turn in to stern protests, which just get left behind. And then it is 3:00 in the morning and we are still putting together the damned trifle and then maybe, just maybe, he will acknowledge that maybe he could have listened to some of my suggestions about simplifying.
But if you read my blog entry about Thanksgiving, we do like to go all out and be elaborate. And the food for last night’s party was no exception. I’ll spare you the preparation spreadsheet (which I did do again. Also used Excel to put together the shopping list and everything. Yay Type A personalities!)
We mostly picked recipes from the Gourmet cookbook, so most of them are also available at epicurious.com:
Cranberry Cognac Trifle
Chocolate Cream Pie
Pear and Almond Clafouti
Black & White Cookies (miniature)
Kir Royale Sorbet
The trifle recipe says the active time is 2.5 hours. Yeah. Right. If you’re Julia Child and you’ve done all this before. It lists the start to finish time at 13 hours, what with all the cooling and the resting and all that. Neither of those numbers was realistic. It took us AT LEAST SIX (yes, 6) hours of active time. The good news is that it was the best tasting dessert on the table. The bad news is if you weren’t there last night you will never taste this delicious treat, because we’ll never be making it again!
The Chocolate Cream Pie came out amazing. And I’m really proud of my mini-Black and White cookies. I was praised for them being exactly what they are supposed to be. Apparently they are defined by real New York Delis, and all the delis out here make them wrong (I hear they are flat at Goldberg’s).
The Clafouti didn’t turn out so well. I’d never made one, or even heard of one. But the finished consistency is supposed to be puddingish (my cookbook said “Part pudding, part pancake, all delicious! In the description), and I way overcooked it to a rather bland tasting cake. How the real pears, real toasted almonds, vanilla extract and almond extract came out bland I’ll never understand, even if it was more cake than pudding. I don’t think I’ll be doing that again.
The Sorbet came out wonderfully. The Kir Royale is a French aperitif that is Champagne with a splash of cassis (black currant liquor). It was great. We had it just after midnight with our Champagne.
That was just the food we made. Everyone that came brought stuff too, so we had enough to feed at least 50. And there were 15 of us. And 5 of us are on Weight Watchers. Hmmm…
Ah, two pages in (I’m actually typing this in Word) and I’m just finishing about the food, and I haven’t even started in on the games yet. I’ll have to give that another post. For now, have a great start to 2007!
Here is what the final product looked like, placed out on our lovely tablescape.
A look at part way though building the triffle. The time-stamp on my camera tells me it was 2:22 AM when I took this shot.
A look at the final piece, after it has been dug into.
I might argue that this Chocolate Mousse Pie was the most delicious of our desserts.
But I think my mini Black & Whites were the best looking.
Matt and I just past Midnight.
Proof that there were people there, and it wasn't just me and Matt sitting around gorging on all that beautiful food we made.
4 comments:
I've learned my lesson: No more trusting "Active Time" ratings of recipes in the Gourmet cookbook.
Next time, I will triple it.
Brooke and I had a blast! :)
Dang! I missed all the fun, didn't I?
Sounds like you guys had a good new year's eve! Mine wasn't nearly as um... populus. But I did cook! I made stir fry for Chris and Becky and their new little baby (though the 7 day old didn't eat much), and Brandon and his wife (who's going to have her own baby any minute now). And I baked a cake.
My friends were impressed (or something) that I knew how to make any kind of food, even if it was just Minute Rice, frozen veggies, and a little sugar and spice. And the cake was out of a box, but everyone always says I make good cake-out-of-a-box, though I can't imagine it's any different from other people's box cakes...
But you know me, I want to hear about the games! Your blogs are beginning to sound like Mom's vacation reports!
Post a Comment