Remember all that fuss about the world's computers not being able to handle the zeros in 2000? Hard to believe it is 2012 already! Mind you, this year we have all of the fuss about the world ending on December 21st, 2012 thanks to that darn Mayan calendar.
Sigh, there is always something, isn't there?
So here I am starting off the new year tired but NOT hung over. Those days seem to have left me in my youth (my hairline is somewhere back there too) and I can't say as if I miss them (although I do miss my hair).
We didn't do anything wild or crazy last night - just good food, good wine, and tons of laughter and silliness - isn't that the best?
We went Alpine with the menu - Swiss fondue and Piedmontese Bagna Caudo. The wine was all local - a Prosecco style wine from Huff Estates in Prince Edward Co and at midnight a bottle of crisp sparkling Riesling from Hinterland, also in Prince Edward Co.
We generally play some sort of game - this year Paul wanted to play Monopoly - a game we have but never play since I always go down in flames.
We started eating about 7:00 and finished about 11:00. The courses were all spread out . . . interspersed with property buying, lots of laughter, and giggles.
The first course from from an old fondue cookbook I found - Camembert wedges. The guests are supposed to fry their own in the fondue pot but I went 'lazy' and cooked them over the stove. The recipe called for a spiced blueberry sauce but I had some of mom's amazing cranberry sauce left over from Christmas day so I used that instead.
These were really, really, really good!!!
Since it is impossible to have too much cheese . . .
Course # 2 was a traditional swiss fondue - although I made it decidedly nontraditional by adding some gorgonzola that I had in the fridge. I liked the wee bite added by the gorgonzola.
With all of this cheese I wanted some vegetables. We debated just having a bit salad until I fell upon a Bagna Caudo - a traditional dish from the Piedmonte area of Italy. Translated, it means "warm sauce” or “hot bath.” The bath, olive oil, is gently warmed with garlic cloves and anchovies until the oil is scented, the garlic is softened, the anchovies are dissolved and tamed. I found all sort of recipes out there but I wasn't sure what was right so I asked my friend Diana - someone who lives in Piemonte should know! Of course I went with her recipe.
We dipped all sorts of par-cooked vegetables intothe Bagna Caudo. I confess that I wasn't too sure - there were 2 cans of anchovies and an entire head of garlic in this dip - but wow, it was good!!! I should know to always trust Diana.
We still hadn't had the main course by this point. Normally the oil fondue involves bits of cut up meat served with a variety of sauces. I went a bit different this time and used a new recipe from the fondue cook book - essentially tiny breaded pork meatballs. The crispy pork bites were served with 4 sauces. These were excellent - normally I don't like to mess with tradition but in this case we were glad that I did!
Dessert didn't fit in with the rest of the meal. I have a Cooking Light Supper club post due on wednesday so I needed to do something by then. This month's theme is 'Mexican Fiesta'. I decided to make a Mexican Chocolate Souffle cake and last night seemed to be the perfect meal for it.
We'd normally have a chocolate fondue and dip in bits of fruit and cake. These low-fat cakes were easy to make and likely resulted in our eating about 1/10th of the chocolate we'd eat in that chocolate fondue! They were easy to make and tasted delicious - more on the cakes on Wednesday!
Like I said, good food, good times!
What's up for today?
We have that game of Monopoly to finish and a ton of food to eat - my plan is to cook a multi-course feast from three of the cookbooks I received for Christmas. This should be fun.
Here's hoping for a New Year of promise, happiness, adventure, laughter, and health.
Wow! What a feast! I would have loved all that cheese and chocolate!
Posted by: nancyhol | January 01, 2012 at 01:40 PM
Happy New Year to you! I also began the new year rested and not hungover; I hope the Mayans give me some Brownie points for my maturity, LOL.
Yes, it seems like only yesterday that we were fretting about Y2K!
Here's to peace, good will towards all!
Posted by: Annie | January 01, 2012 at 10:05 PM
Wow, all that is just wonderful. Another friend was doing fondue as well and made a cheesecake fondue for the dessert portion...I had never heard of that one so that was interesting. Yours all look wonderful and wonderfully coordinated as well. I'm thinking I should do a fondue round soon for ballgame watching day one weekend in the very near future...probably going to steal a lot of your ideas, just so you know. Love the little Santa sitting on the sideboard, he's so cute like that. Tablesettings beautiful as always!
Posted by: Kayte | January 02, 2012 at 08:20 PM
Looks wonderful, Jerry -- that Mexican chocolate souffle cake has me drooling.
I hope that you and Paolo and the cats have a wonderful 2012. Perhaps I'll see you here in Roma this year!
Posted by: sandrac | January 03, 2012 at 10:40 AM
There seems to be somehting special about celebrating the new year with cheese and chocolate Nancy!! *smile*
Thanks Annie - fingers crossed for more Mayan goodwill.
Kayte - I've never heard of a cheesecake fondue - that sounds interesting.
The cakes turned out really well Sandra - love the mix of cinnamon and pepper with the chocolate. MMMM You should see me in Rome this year, not sure about Paolo with Zellers closings and stuff.
Posted by: JDeQ | January 07, 2012 at 05:42 AM