NYE 2008

So once again we rang in the New Year at our downtown "luxury" apartment. This year there were more than 20 people who joined us for some fireworks and yummy food. Unlike last year, when we prepared a 5-course sit down meal, we thought we'd be a bit more casual and had a Mexican buffet. After a few days of recovery from the whirlwind Christmas, we were ready to cook again.

We- tamarind pork carnitas - cooked in the crock pot for 2 days (a huge hit!)
- home made chile rejellenos - we even baked the chiles
- black bean chile
- home made tomatillo salsa
- cole slaw
- Mexican wedding cookies
- flan brulee (okay creme brulee)

Plus most everyone brought yummy side dishes, appetisers and desserts.

We had a great time rushing in the new year with lots of friends, including Wendy & Shawn, Joy, Pat, Bill, Michael and Holly, Paul and Lynda, Rob and Andrea, Bud and Shannon, Friend and Jenny, and a few more guests. This will be our last year in the high rise living, which is a good thing because the new Infinity Tower is starting to block our view of the fireworks. We did get to see some of the tall ones from our balcony, but they weren't nearly as good as last year.

We're looking forward to moving to a new flat on 5th Ave. and Lake Street. It's a really cute neighborhood that's close to Laurel Village and all the Clement Street restaurants. While somewhat cozy, we'll definitely had much more room to move around. While they call it a 2 bedroom, we'll keep the 2nd as a formal dining room, plus there's a small office / nursery (we hope), and a large kitchen and laundry room. We'll be on the ground floor that opens up to a beautiful garden with a huge lemon tree (more lemon merengue pie!) - I'm told the current tenants live out there. We'll move on Feb 2nd. Hopefully this time the movers will actually show up! It should be a much more convenient place for people to visit (plus we can close off the living room with comfy pull out for overnight guests' privacy).