New Years Eve Feast

Happy 2012, friends!! I hope you all had a wonderful December 31st. For the first time (since I was about 15) I made plans to stay in. After countless years of dressing up in glitter, spending way too much on a cover charge or a prix fix meal and participating in general holiday debauchery, I decided to change it up. I jumped on the "I'm excited to stay at home on NYE and cook" bandwagon (I turn 28 this year, after all) and had one of the best yet. Adam enticed me with his grand plans of a lobster dinner and from there we put together a menu.

Boiled Lobster - market fresh

(from The North End Mercato del Mare)
1 1/2 lb lobster with melted butter
Mussels Fra Diavolo - mussels steamed in white wine
bathing in a spicy red sauce with fresh parsley and toasted bread
Baby Red Russet Potatoes - olive oil & balsamic roasted
Roasted Asparagus - in olive oil, salt & pepper

On new years eve afternoon we purchased our seafood at Mercato del Mare, our vegetables at Haymarket, stocked up on necessary amounts of beer, wine and prosecco and settled in for a leisurely night of cooking, drinking, eating and watching the ball drop on TV.drinks round 1 | Lindeman's Framboise LambicPrepdrinks round 2 | Lindeman's Pomme LambicCook
drinks round 3 | Sauvignon Blanc Eatdrinks round 4 | Adami Prosecco
We had ourselves a serious feast! We don't cook that often to be quite honest, so I was pretty proud of how well this one came together. Somehow we timed everything perfectly and all of it was really really delicious. Not just another day, but a poignant mark in the passage of time, I believe New Years deserves all the celebration we can give, whether that means partying like its 1999 or staying in and cooking the night away. How did you ring in the new year?