New Years

grapesnyeI was ecstatic to be reminded of an old tradition by Martha Stewart in her magazine this month.  

I remember doing this on New Year's Eve with some foreign friends many, many years ago and everyone had a lot of fun partaking in the simple ritual.

According to Martha, it's a Spanish tradition (my friends were French) to quickly eat a dozen grapes at midnight. 

The fruit being a predictor of the year ahead:  Each sweet grape representing a good month, each sour grape a less-than-lucky one.

So join the fun, thread a bunch of grapes onto skewers and serve each in a glass of Champagne right before the countdown. 

This is great because children and non-drinkers can also participate.  Just put the skewer in Sparkling Apple Cider or whatever beverage you are serving for the toast.

diet_plans.jpgJanuary is the traditional month for new diets. I get kind of amused reading this week's Time magazine which chose 3 of the new diet books to review. The first one disallows wine, salt, sugar and artificial sweetener. The second forbids carbonated drinks, coffee, gassy foods including cabbage. The third forbids dairy, white rice, and processed foods. And the last one forbids volume. Eat anything you want but just choose small portions.

Are you beginning to see a pattern here? Why does every new diet start off by telling you what you cannot eat?

People have had problems with excess weight ever since mankind began to grow food. The hunters and gatherers weren't fat. They spent a lot of time just searching for food and were grateful for what they could find. And the game and berries they found also spent time searching for nourishment and water and didn't store fat either.

But that was then. This is now. We are besotted with food, drink, choices, and chance. What on earth can we do?

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ImageI enjoy spending hours cooking in the kitchen. Doing the prep work soothes my frazzled nerves. Watching a dish slowly come together as the various ingredients combine their flavors calms me down.

Being in the kitchen is a great escape from a contentious world. Pulling together appetizers, a salad, main dish, and a couple of desserts, gives me a lot of pleasure. Good food promotes good conversation and well-prepared dishes tell our friends that we care about them.

I like to have the meal completed before everyone arrives, but sometimes, like this New Year's Eve, I know I'll still be cooking. The best solution is a colorful cocktail that refreshes and entertains while I'm finishing dinner.

Because there are edible pieces of fruit at the bottom, including a spoon means the cocktail is a drink and an appetizer all in one.

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sushi lhr2revsqb1qdytxbWanna save about $100, $200 or maybe more? Stay home for New Year's eve. And Valentine's day. This also works for birthdays and anniversaries. I'm not suggesting you be a party pooper, just that you do your celebrating at home. Turn what could be loud and boisterous into intimate and romantic with a meal just for two, or four if you prefer a little more company.

This isn't about a big multi-course extravaganza, in fact I suggest the opposite. Something simple, yet elegant and a bit of a splurge since you're not going out. One great menu is a seafood platter, mostly raw oysters, clams, poached shrimp, cracked crab, or if you can't handle that some takeaway sushi served with champagne will do nicely. The other idea is fondue. Don't laugh, it's really good! Make it two course and have cheese fondue followed by chocolate fondue.

The secret to fondue is to thicken the wine first, heating it gently after adding a slurry of cornstarch and kirsch or water, THEN add the cheese. Use whichever recipe suits your fancy (there are plenty on the internet) but if you use this technique you can't go wrong. Because fondue gone wrong is not pretty. I like to go light on the bread cubes and serve boiled mini Yukon gold potatoes, baby boiled white onions, and asparagus spears, but do whatever you like. For those on the Atkins diet, sausage chunks would be delicious, I'm sure.

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baconwrappedshrimpI always like to put the word "easy" before the word "entertaining," because I think entertaining should be easy, fuss-free, and uncomplicated, especially for the host or hostess. Making foods that are easy to put together, simple in their essence, and even easier to clean up are the key when entertaining on easy street. That the holidays are still in full swing and New Year's is just around the corner means that there is still time to flex your easy entertaining muscles. Any recipe that can go under the broiler and be done in minutes is my kind of easy. This shrimp hors d'ouevre is just that.

We all are familiar with the old-school appetizers of bacon-wrapped chicken livers, scallops, or dates. Well, there's also bacon-wrapped shrimp. Basically anything wrapped in bacon tastes good, right? These shrimp are jacketed in strips of flavorful applewood-smoked bacon. A dusting of hot paprika also adds to the smoky flavor of the finished bar bite. Clean-up is also made simpler since the pan is lined with foil. These hors d'ouevre are great for parties, especially on New Year's eve. They pair well with a variety of cocktails or a simple glass of bubbly. Now wasn't that entertaining made easy?

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