New Year's Party 2006

Hi All - For those of you who are regular readers, thought we'd share with you some pics from our first official soiree. We had a nice time seeing Eric's family down in Costa Mesa over Christmas, although it was bittersweet as Adrienne was still in the ICU due to complications from her most recent surgery, so much of our visit was up at the hospital in Hollywood. But I'm glad we could at least all be together. Hopefully she'll be released this week and we will be back down there this weekend and with luck we can have a nice celebration.

Our New Year's Eve was a bit more traditional. Eric and I prepared an 8-course meal for our friends. We ended up with 10 guests (plus one dog), and since Eric did most of the heavy-lifting in the kitchen and we were so well organized, it was fun and relaxing for both of us as well as our guests. Eric and I had a blast cooking together - another thing we have in common. Everything was homemade, from the ravioli to the sherbet and it all turned out pretty yummy if you ask me. What was even better is I was so exhausted the next day that Eric ended up doing all the dishes (I'm so lucky!)

New Year’s Eve 2006

Dinner Menu

Hors D’oeuvres
wine pairing: various bubbly

Santa Cruz Artichoke Soup
wine pairing: White Burgundy (unoaked Chardonnay)

Tuna & Red Onion Salad
Butternut Squash Ravioli with Sage Butter Sauce

wine pairing: Sangiovese

Blueberry Sherbet

Rack of Lamb with Spinach and Pignolas

Mixed Salad with Beets, Kumquat, Fennel and Chervil

wine pairing: Syrah

Assorted sweets and cheeses and nuts, and dates

wine pairing: Austrian Eiswein