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Sunday, January 1, 2012

New Year's Eve Progressive Dinner

We had the most fun celebrating the New Year with a few of our friends!  We decided to do a progressive dinner.  If you're not familiar with this type of dinner, let me explain.  A group of friends, preferably about 4-5 homes between them, travel from one home to the next for each successive course in the meal.  Here's how that played out for us.

We started with appetizers at the country home of some good friends.  What a spread!  Beautiful as well as delicious!  Crab Rangoon, grapes dipped in white chocolate and nuts, pastry cups of brie and hot pepper jelly, shrimp, chocolate cheese spread, fruit and more!  I always enjoy spending time in their home because they have a big old farm house and so many interesting collections of vintage items from lanterns to toys to furnishings and children's books.



Next stop was our house for soup and salad. My friend and her family hosted this stop with us.  We had two hot soups - hearty chili and a spicy Portuguese Kale soup, vichyssoise and Caesar Salad (minus the chicken) with Crispy Flatbread.  We're kinda out of town in a rural area.  Our home is styled after an old farmhouse but lacks the quaintness of a truly vintage home.  I love to fill it with vintage items to try to capture quieter times of the past.  After the food, some of the crowd gathered around the Victrola and as guys will do, began to try to figure our exactly how it works and how old it is.  We had a century of technology at work.  While the record played and the younger guys tested the machine(1910), the older fellows used an iPhone (2011) to check out the manufacture date based on the serial number!




Third stop, hosted by two families of good friends, was the main course with 3 types of lasagna (traditional, seafood and pesto - yum!), veggies and marinated asparagus wrapped in prosciutto!  By this time I was stuffed!
Definitely a party house on the lake, it's an equally interesting home in a completely different genre.  Ultra modern filled with an eclectic mix of sculptures, glass and leather with fun things to see everywhere you look!  And one huge, comfy, leather chair that my husband is still talking about!   Awesome!



Last stop was with more good friends for dessert to bring in the new year!  Petits fours, tarts, nut rolls, cookies and my contribution, plum pudding!  We attempted to light it with a little brandy but I think it soaked in too quickly.  All this with champagne and sparkling juices to toast the stroke of midnight!  Another amazing lake house with a sprawling basement room looking out across the water!  Beautifully decorated with a huge Christmas tree, retro kitchen and large inviting furnishings.




My thanks to all for a lovely evening!  We had a great time together!
The start of a new tradition?
I hope so!


Much herbal love,
   

2 comments:

  1. I love progressive dinners....looks like everyone had a blast!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks fun. I've seen my neighbors having them. I would love to host one sometime. Wishing you the best year!~Ames

    ReplyDelete

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