Patrick and I danced the night away into the New Year until almost 5 in the morning!!! We contemplated going out to dinner or having dinner in and then dancing! Actually Patrick though about it; I was more than willing to have Patrick make dinner for the two of us!
The menu was exquisite. We started off with an assortment of 5 different Mediterranean spicy olives marinated in garlic and chili peppers from Spain, Greece, and Italy to begin the festivities! Next we had 12 Escargots (each) with warm, fresh from the oven, Homemade Baguettes. We then feasted on a Dungeness Crab with Homemade Mayonnaise. By this time I was wondering if I could possibly eat anything else, but when Patrick put down the next course in front of me….well, I thought, New Year’s Eve comes just once a year! The Veal with 3 variety of Mushrooms made in a White Wine Sauce, Gratin Dauphinois (Patrick makes the best scallop potatoes made with heavy cream, no cheese, but you would swear there is!) and Asparagus was wonderful! Next we 
had a cheese platter with three French cheeses, (a French Goat cheese for me, a Roquefort for Patrick) a Basque Etorki (Brebis) and an Irish sharp cheese for both of us and we began wondering if we could get out of our chairs, much less think about dancing!
Dessert was a recipe that I got from a great French chef, Claude Aubert who use to be the chef at Arnaud’s for many years in New Orleans, but has since retired to his native Provence. Patrick and I had the pleasure of spending a week with him and his wife in their beautiful mas (Provençal home) in the mountains. It’s a Calvados Apple Cake which calls for a good amount of the liqueur in this Normande recipe!
There was a promo on a Spanish wine when we were out shopping, so we bought a few bottles and were pleasantly surprised by both the price and the wine. We started off with a nice glass of Cristalino Brut Rosé Cava from Spain as an apéritif. It’s a blend of Pinot Noir and Trepat that went extremely well with the olives, around 8 p.m. The next wine was a white Burgundy, a 2006 Puligny Montrachet, to go with the first two courses; the escargots and the crab. This was followed by a 2005 Robert Mondavi Merlot. (We’ve never been disappointed by a Mondavi wine and this time was no exception!) It went perfectly with both the veal and the cheeses. As the evening progressed it was now close to ringing in the New Year when we opened a nice bottle of Moët & Chandon to toast in 2009!
Maya Muses: Today, like most days since the beginning of the holidays, I hesitated to step onto the bathroom scale, but as the title of my post says, this was a good start to the New Year! I didn’t even gain one extra pound! Perhaps it was all the dancing, but regardless, whatever it was, it calls for a celebration!!!
Photo Credits: Personal Collection
10 responses so far ↓
1 Mia // Jan 3, 2009 at 1:22 pm
I wish I had been there!
Now you have talked so much of what a wonderful,fantastic chef,Patrick is,so I am really looking forward to get the chance to taste some of it when we meet….
We were with friends of ours…Came home at 5 in the morning!
We drank a lot of Cava…Think it was the same as you drank!
But we did not ate much, since we had a party with a lot of food the day before New Years Eve, at their place…We were all a bit,well,tired,and stuffed!
But we had fun both nights!
I hope you had a good celebration!
2 Lynn // Jan 4, 2009 at 9:07 pm
You will! Patrick had a 4 star French restaurant for many years and he was the youngest chef in the history of the Savoy Hotels in London. He began studying at 14 in France, then Switzerland and by the time he was 19 he was already the Chef de Partie Entremetier at Claridge’s.
Here are a few photos of his restaurant that he sold:
3 Mia // Jan 5, 2009 at 1:05 pm
I’m impressed!
Will come with a empty stomach and all my senses open for a good meal,in more than one way!When we eventually will see each other!
I love people who find their true passion in life, and then follow it to wherever it will lead them…
This is the most fascinating thing,that if you follow your true passion in life,you never know where it will take you!
I guess you both know this!
Many of our friends live their lives “their way”.
But some of them don’t,sometimes it takes time to find out and trust the passion that is within us…waiting to be manifested…
To be in tune with this gift, we all have inside of us are such a tremendous joy,for yourself and for others as well…
Whenever we find it and have the courage to follow it…
Everything that springs from the urge to create and spread; love, beauty, joy, laughter, peace, etc.
Will Inspire, heal and in some way help others to see their own potentials too…
Because all of has this ability in one way or another….
The way we do it may be different….
But many of us get sidetracked or lose sight of our true potentials…for some reason or another.
But it is never too late..Some find it early in life,for some it may take a little longer..
I believe that to compare or compete is a big obstacle to trust your own gifts!
At least that is what I and Ulf have learned…
When we do it “Our Way”,it feels good and we have so much to give, and we receive so much back…
But if we try to satisfy every ones demands on how, they, think we should live our life’s, then,
we feel depleted of energy and may even loose our joy and start to doubt our way of living…
So we have to constantly remind our selves of this…To look within and see if we are follow our
true purpose or passion..
I’m not saying it is always easy…but it is very rewarding…and such a bliss…
Right now it is very cold here in Gothenburg..
The sun is shining, but since I am sensitive to cold I am staying inside!
Wish I were with you, lol, going for walks on the beach, sounds wonderful!
Now, I will take care of the dirty dishes, the old fashion way, by hand!
And then I will bake sour dough bread..
See you!
As long as we put in the energy of Love,it does not matter how we express or create it…
I will go clean the dishes now..and I’m doing it with love, I make our bed every morning with love, I bake my bread with love, write this with love…
It is easy…Love what you do and do what you love…you just have to get the hang of it! Make it a habit…just like brushing your teeth!
4 Lynn // Jan 5, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Well said Mia! Loving what you do makes all the difference in the world! Patrick loves to cook and believe me I am grateful for that. I really have no desire to cook and worse, no creativity in finding new ways of making things.
I stick to my usually recipes and that’s what I make. If I were the one cooking, it would be so boring because we would be eating the same things week after week. Lol!
With Patrick always experimenting in the kitchen, I can honestly say that after living with him for eight years the only recipe he likes to repeat is his Couscous. Otherwise it’s always different each time he prepares dinner; unless I ask him to make some of my favorites like his Salade de Chèvre Chaud or his Gratin Dauphinois.
My passion was always traveling and that’s what I did for most of my life; living in countries that I found interesting and wanted to learn more about, or visiting some of the wonders of the world. It was a constant feast for the eyes and the soul!
I’m like you, I don’t like the cold or the heat for that matter! I use to love the snow as a kid in Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh), but with age I prefer it being a nice warm temperature all year round!It’s 21° C (70° F) as I type here on my balcony which is perfect for me!
5 Mia // Jan 6, 2009 at 2:32 pm
I prefer that too…around +20 to +25 C,is perfect temperature for me…
So I would love to join you at your balcony,lol!
I love beauty and harmony, so my passion in life, I think, has always been to see or create this wherever I am..
I have always been open -minded….
Going in and out, in different “worlds” fascinates
me…To see that there are so many different ways of living in this world of ours!
So calling myself a Life-explorer…is a pretty good description of my way of living…..
My true passion I guess is to just be myself…
I can do many things,I have tried many things,
The one thing I need to be/feel, is free to explore everything…
The Sky is the limit they say..
I say it is so much more!
I have always had difficulties drawing within the frame/lines,and when someone asked me why,I answered:”-Why not?Who made up the lines,I didn’t,so for me they don’t exists!
There is so many ways to express your passion.
And it so wonderful to see and meet people who live their passion…
But also always try to find “new recipes,stretch their limits, or draw outside the lines”…….
If everyone got an empty canvas…
And were told that they could draw whatever they liked…That they should look within them selves to see/feel what was in there,wanting to come out…
And that whatever they came up with would be perfect…That they should not compare them selves with anyone else…
For me life is this empty canvas and what each of us paint on this canvas is perfect..even if others don’t think so….
Sorry…think I have to go eat something…
Think my brain needs food….lol…
Getting too,well, too whatever… Myblood sugar is low I think…feeling dizzy!
Got the picture?
6 Lynn // Jan 7, 2009 at 4:10 am
LOL!!! Mia, I always love your analogies in expressing yourself! By the way, how’s Tina? (Tell her I said hello!)
7 Mia // Jan 7, 2009 at 3:38 pm
I will tell her!
I write you an email about how she is!
8 Anne Adam ( Anthéa ) ! // Jan 12, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Lynn ;je viens enfin de decouvrir ton site et je vois que ton reveillon etait similaire au notre .je vous souhaite à Patrick et toi une excellente année 09 et te dis à bientot . grosses bises
9 Lynn // Jan 12, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Merci Anne! Patrick et moi vous souhaitons nos Meilleur Voeux pour 2009 aussi! (J’ai eu Monique au téléphone la semaine dernière et elle m’a donné un peu de tes nouvelles!!!)
Bises pour tout le monde!
10 A Good Start To The New Year! « Great Chefs // Jul 27, 2009 at 11:59 am
[…] Good Start To The New Year! Syndicated from A Good Start To The New Year!.Dessert was a recipe that I got from a great French chef, Claude Aubert who use to be the chef at […]
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