We have marvelous friends (more like family) who, for some unfathomable reason, decided to host a New Year’s Eve dinner and invited us to help cook (the unfathomable part of it was letting us help cook). What that really meant, of course, is that they allowed us into their kitchen to create a gigantic mess. Who does this, other than family?

Anyway, the huge mess we created did actually result in a delicious dinner. The menu was as follows:

Apple Rutabaga soup (served with 2008 Louis Roederer Cristal)

Royal Petrossian Caviar station

Tuna Fire & Ice (served with Mountain Field Treasure Junmai Sake)

Foie Gras on brioche (served with 2017 Bouchard Père & Fils Chassagne-Montrachet)

Uncrab Cakes with Crab (served with 2017 Paul Hobbs Chardonnay)

Wagyu and Marrow Bones (served with 1998 Rudd Estate Jericho Canyon Cabernet Sauvignon)

Bûche de Noel (served with 2003 Chateau d’Yquem Sauternes)

New Year’s Eve itself was celebrated with a bottle of 2006 Pol Roger (Winston Churchill’s favorite champagne)

I wish I could say that I didn’t eat after that for a month, but, alas, that is simply not true.

Happy (belated) New Year!