Happy New Year!

Our plan was to spend the evening with old friends we seldom see, to make a Gorgonzola Cheesecake appetizer and bring a nice bottle of bubbly.

Instead (calling to decline at the last minute), I went to the store and bought NY steaks, mushrooms, fabulous green beans (there was spargle there in the bin next to the beans and I was sorely tempted) and some lettuce & a nice tomato.

Working backward, made a nice bleu cheese salad dressing (recipe from the Deborah Madison Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, a swell book), a tossed green salad of romaine and tomatoes. Popped oven fries ala Nicole (from another truly swell, and if you don't have this order it now cookbook Joie de Vivre: Simple French Style for Everyday Living) into the oven, cleaned the green beans, and in a nod to the festive nature of the day, actually tournéed two of the mushrooms. Slice the rest up and sauteed them with garlic and green onions.

Begin sautéeing the steaks by heating the pan up pretty well, and then fry the fat sides first to get a little of the beef fat in the pan. Then add some butter, salt and pepper the steaks and fry gently for about 10 minutes on a side. Add more butter. Put the two tourneed mushrooms in the pan face down to get pretty. Remove the steaks (and the mushrooms) and let them rest while adding some of the excellent red wine and a splash of brandy to deglaze the pan and make a nice sauce. Nap the steaks with the sauce and garnish with the carved mushrooms, put the sliced mushrooms and the green beans together, pull the oven fries out, toss the salad with the dressing, include a sweet and perfect Bosc pear, light the candles. Served with Allegrini Palazzo della Torre. Reflections on staying home for the evening, the past year, and how it seems as though we entertained more than in the past. Could lack of children have anything to do with that?

A nice glass of Nicholas Feuillatte to toast the New Year in Deleware and in bed, sound asleep by 8:30.

Up at 8:30 this morning preparing Hoppin' John for good luck for 2008.

Our best wishes to all of you, and if you are in the neighborhood today, drop in.