On New Year's Eve we had a glass of champagne with our friend Ellen Peckham and then took a cab home because it was so bitterly cold out. TD and I have never been very big on going out on New Year's Eve. When we got home we made a pasta with shrimp and mint, and an arugula salad with grapefruit and blue cheese. Mario Batali, eat your heart out.
It was nice to be home on such a freezing cold night.
On New Year's Day I made scrambled eggs with a little sour cream swirled in. TD's mother's family is from Italy so he grew up with panettone at Christmastime. We put slices in the toaster and it smells wonderful.
It was so cold on New Year's Day that I didn't leave the apartment. For dinner TD roasted a chicken from a recipe in Food & Wine by a former boss of mine, Steven Wagner who I worked for at Hearst and is an accomplished cook. With the chicken we had roasted potatoes and roasted fennel, and a salad. Steven Wagner had a great tip for salad: mix the salad dressing - olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a little mustard, salt and pepper -- in the bottom of a big bowl, then add the salad on top, and toss. It really coats the leaves better.
On the dvr we watched A Long Day's Journey Into Night, the 1962 movie starring Katharine Hepburn from the Pulitzer-prize winning play by Eugene O'Neill. Oh my heavens, have you seen it? At three hours long it's a bit of a commitment but it was amazing. I would like to visit the house in New London, Connecticut, where Eugene O'Neill spent summers -- it would be the setting for this autobiographical story about his mother, father and brother, addicts all. Not terribly uplifting, as TD noted, but very powerful and some beautiful language and Katharine Hepburn's voice ringing clear as a bell even when she is whispering.
Then off to bed.
3 comments:
What a great way to spend a holiday! Even here in Los Angeles, it was so cold, we had to wear long sleeved shirts!
But everything sounds delicious; as to Steven Wagner's tip, when I lived in Paris, salads were always prepared like that; dressing first - that same recipe, and then everything added and tossed.
Happy (cozy) New Year!
My first comment here. Wonderful menu! I live a train ride away and we walked to a local New Year's Eve party which we shall never forget the chill! It was freezing. My children shall not forget these times.
Happy 2009.
Sounds like a pretty perfect couple of days!
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