New Year's Eve

During lunch, my family was reminiscing about a fanciful New Year's Eve we experienced a few years ago--we took a Caribbean cruise on a Disney ship, which I thought would be elbow to elbow in sticky, noisy kids but was actually delightful and clean. For the big shindig, we stood on a balcony that overlooked many other balconies, sipping champagne and flinging confetti on the people below. One long strand of confetti landed smack on the lap of a woman in a wheel chair--she had no arms or legs and was attended to by a nurse/companion. I noticed the two of them earlier on the ship and found her delight in her vacation remarkable.

We joked about hitting the woman with just a torso, but she was an inspiration.

This year, we will be spending the evening on a quieter note. We are holed up at the lake house with a stack of movies and checkers and cards, and we will enjoy a three-hour meal one course at a time. Here's the run down (note: I can't claim they will be exquisite, but I'll do my best:

Curried Scallop Cakes
Camembert Walnut Pastries
Spinach, Artichoke, and Bacon Dip with Pita Chips
Spinach, Dried Cherry, and Blue Cheese Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing
Baked Stuffed Lobster Tails
Green Beans with Carmalized Shallots
Tiramisu with Brandy Custard
Champagne

If any of these dishes proves worthy, I will post the recipes tomorrow. Happy New Year to all!

Cindy Loo Who In October

What is it with people and Cindy Loo Who? Of my last one hundred blog hits, forty have been direct visits from regular readers, and fifteen have been as a result of people searching for "Cindy Loo Who," the little pixie from Seuss's How The Grinch Stole Christmas . A couple of years ago, I posted an image of the original Seuss illustration as compared to the TV cartoon image, and for some reason, that post is bringing in the crowds, relatively. Maybe it's the weather. It isn't even November yet, and already we've had frost and have had to dust off our winter coats. When it gets cold like this, I start to think about Christmasy things like listening to Nat King Cole and decorating the tree. It's ironic because I am offended when retailers start pushing holiday stuff early, but I don't mind my own private celebrations. When my sister and I were much younger and still living with our parents, we would pick a day in July, close the curtains to darken the ...

I'm In the Paper Today

Here is an article in today's Small Town Newspaper.

The Ultimate Storyteller—in Life AND in Death

I wrote about The Autobiography of Mark Twain in yesterday's edition of Small Town Newspaper. You can read it here , if you want. This is the photograph I had in mind while I read Clemens' dictations. He really was a masterful storyteller, even when rambling on about the poorly designed door knobs in Florence or in describing the Countess Massiglia, who he described as a "pestiferous character." About her, he said, “She is excitable, malicious, malignant, vengeful, unforgiving, selfish, stingy, avaricious, coarse, vulgar, profane, obscene, a furious blusterer on the outside and at heart a coward.” And I laughed out loud.

dive said…

Tarnation! I'm hungry again now!

Robyn, that sounds delicious, and a splendid way to bring in the new year.

Here's wishing you and the family a throroughly excellent and ludicrously enjoyable 2007.
Happy New Year!

3:58 PM

Old Knudsen said…

As usual food dishes mean nothing to me without chips.

fat french fries, not crisps.

4:55 AM

Neponset River Bridge Dig said…

so do have a personal chef to serve up up all those delightful dishes?

12:12 PM

Scout said…

Rich: me, I'm the personal chef.

2:04 PM