New Year's Eve 2007 - Nighttime

To say that our New Year's Eve treats were a bit over the top might be like saying that Lola sheds on occasion. We completely indulged in exquisite food, drink and fun. Brace yourself. This was crazy. I'm almost embarrassed to share the details. Here we go.

After snacking on cheese, bread, chowder and not one but three varieties of pâté, we felt it was time to move on to a dinner of crab.



Then to allow the adults time to finish dinner, we distracted the girls with new chef uniforms.



That worked until the girls remembered that we had ice cream cake for dessert.



Oh and what a cake it was. To make it even more special, we allowed the girls to eat it while watching the ball drop in Times Square on television. That event had quite an impact on Sarah. She's asked me several times since then if she can watch the movie with the ball dropping again.



At this point, we had to take a break. So, we took a nice soak in the hot tub. The warm water or Mike's threats, I'm not sure which, managed to get the girls into bed with very little resistance. There was nothing left to do at this point, but you guessed it, eat some more!

We started with oysters on the half shell. They were like little sips of cold seawater.



Then as it neared midnight, we began the caviar challenge. (See, I warned you this was crazy.)

In one corner, we had Russian salmon roe - strong, salty and perfect on blini with sour cream.



In the other corner was Italian Calvisius caviar - mild, buttery and best all by itself.



At midnight, we popped open a bottle of champagne, Dom Pérignon of course, to ensure that the evening was absolutely one of indulgence.



Insanity, right? Now, before you think we've gotten all fancy or that Sancho dug up a trunk of gold bullion in the backyard, I have to tell you that most of these treats were provided by Julie, Bridget's mom, and a goof up by Williams-Sonoma. You see, Julie is a lawyer with fabulous taste in food, and Williams-Sonoma made the mistake of not getting a Thanksgiving turkey to her on Thanksgiving day. Big mistake! As payment for their error, she saw to it that they provide a mound of delicacies for our festivities.

So thanks for the screw up Williams-Sonoma. And, thanks for sharing these treats with us Julie. I don't think we'll top that New Year's Eve feast.