New Year 2010

So there is disagreement about whether the decade ended last night at midnight (whenever that was) or whether it doesn't end until midnight December 31, 2010; I'm hoping it ended last night, and that saying good riddance to a rotten decade (one that seemed to last at least 25 years...) is appropriate. On top of the obvious (9/11, Dubya, the elusive Papa Cheney, wars, market crashes....), there were the deaths (Daddy, Frank, Sidney, among others...), rotten treatment at jobs (me, Martin)... There were good things, too (weddings, most notably Sarah and Aaron's, and Aaron seems to be willing to put up with me, no mean feat...). Overall, though, I'm hoping 2010 will be GOOD...

Having said all that, we did the usual New Year's Eve celebration: the Curtz's came over for dinner. Unlike some years ago (say, about ten), we did NOT toast in the new year in Kentucky. Rather we started with France (at 6:00 p.m.), England (7:00 p.m.), Iceland maybe next...and gave up before we got out of the Atlantic, e.g., before 10:00 p.m.

I did better with the meal this time. Almost everything was actually ready before they got here. Champagne with gravlax (cured salmon) I'd made. The veal scaloppini (can't spell it) dish I made up with white wine, shallot and bleu d'Auvergne sauce, new potatoes and broccoli. Cheese--Roquefort, Brie and Gouda--and a VERY English two desserts: pears poached in red wine and Canneles. Was disgustingly pleased with myself for getting so much done ahead of time.

A New Year resolution (in addition to my plan to become a charcutiere...more on that in a bit): will use, e.g., USE, the silver we have. It's sitting there in drawers all the time. My mother's set of sterling probably didn't get used more than 20 times in her lifetime, if that many. Mary Ann did get hers out at Christmas, but she'd set the table about a week before Christmas and you couldn't eat there (a bit of a problem at 6416 Curzon, as they had only one table for eating) until Christmas Day, and I don't think she used any of it any other time. I do use the stuff more than that, and it is a bit of a pain to clean, but I've made a resolution to get the stuff out and use it...so there...the serving dishes, too.

My other resolution is to become a decent charcutiere; I got this book on Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian somebody, maybe Polyan. Ruhlman is a prolific food writer and Brian is a chef. So far I'm working on fennel cured salmon and duck breast prosciutto. Bacon and things are next (sorry, Aaron, I won't try to feed it to you...). Eventually I am going to have to come up with some way to smoke stuff, but I plan to postpone that at least until the weather is a bit better. Right now it's January 1, wretchedly cold outside (and inside, too, in some parts of the house), and unlikely to improve greatly for quite awhile.

Am also coming down with an acute case of wanderlust. Be warned, Phil Crowley...

Happy New Year; Bonne Annee...

Lillie