Back on the Chain Gang

Now that I can form complete sentences without hurting myself, I'll give y'all a quick recap of NYE.

I was assigned to make a cheesecake for the family and friends party. Thats fine, I can make cheesecakes in my sleep. Usually. This one got really ugly, what with cracking, and the overuse of buttered crumbs for crusts and toppings. It was ugly as hell. I was ashamed to take it in it's hideous state, so I concoted a sweetened sour cream/almond topping. It hid the ugly very well.

After a PMS induced meltdown over WHAT I AM GOING TO WEAR, I settled on my purple suede pants, gray boots and a black shirt. The five other changes of clothing were pitched in random piles throughout the bedroom. Joe hid, the cats hid, nobody wanted to deal with me in a non-fitting clothing rage.

After FINALLY getting out of the house, with the ugly cheesecake in tow, we headed to the family & friends party. Gotta love any party that starts with the host opening you a beer and offering you a shot out of a quart jar of moonshine from the freezer. The PMS gone, we commenced our evening with smiles on our rosy little faces. We promised everyone we'd be back.

Arrived at the work family party at the small Italian place in the big city. Plates of oysters on the half shell nestled in cracked ice were on every table. Oh my. It only got better from there. Each guest was given a flute of Prosecco, an Italian champagne to go with the oysters. Wow. I was feeling very luxurious. The rest of our party arrived, and the music started. The second appetizer was the most marvelous bruchetta. Just small pieces of Italian bread, barely toasted, with olive oil and shaved smoked salmon. Some had little bits of caviar on them. Oh my goodness. I could have just taken plates of that (and champagne) and been perfectly content. That was my first caviar experience. I won't be craving it or seeking it out, but I didn't hate it like I thought I would. They then brought out little plates of roasted salmon fillets with green peppers. My, my, my...and I don't even like cooked green peppers! Yum. That was followed by roasted asparagus with olive oil and lemon. Delightful. Sublime. Very springlike on this chilly winter's evening. More please!

The first pasta course was rotini with shrimp. BIG shrimp. In a light tomato sauce. Wheeee!! I ate some pasta, but all of the shrimp. The next course was some kind of white, creamy, buttery sauce over rotini. I could have eaten that all night long too. Amazing. It sounds like it would be heavy but it wasn't at all. Dessert was two small cream puffs covered in chocolate sauce with some melon, strawberry and pineapple. The chocolate sauce held a little surprise.....just the barest hit of cayenne pepper. It sounds weird, but trust me, it wasn't. It was the perfect compliment to the chocolate sauce, and the cream in the cream puff. It was fun to watch the other guests get the small heat from the pepper as they ate. During each course, each of us opened another bottle of wine we had brought. It was great fun. Everyone had two or three conversations going on at one time. Always the sign of a successful party. The group was going down to the square in the city to watch them drop whatever they drop on NYE. Obbie and I beat feet back to the first party.

Back across the river to the family and friends, where we relaxed and talked really loud and told really bad stories and jokes. And drank a little more. Given my earlier state of grump, I didn't think I should drink much, so I just switched to DC. The cheesecake was half gone, and I traded the half that was left for a big container of Uncle B's gumbo. Yeeeaaahhh baby....

All in all it was a good NYE. I generally stay away from the going out thing because of all the idiots, but this time I was glad I didn't stay on the couch in my jammies and order pizza!

Happy New Year everyone, I hope yours was safe, and whatever you did you had fun.