The Twelve Days of Christmas

Day Ten: Ringing in the New Year
Happy New Year!  I wanted a celebratory dinner, minus the work or expense.  One of my favorite solutions to that conundrum is lobster.  Buying live lobsters is pricier, than say, ramen, I suppose, but certainly cheaper than a fancy meal out.  Add a few more simple courses and you have an elegant meal that really doesn’t take much time or effort to prepare at all.  Once again, I won’t take credit for the food photography.  Might as well cook and let someone else man the shutter button.

Spinach and sausage bruschetta with Gnarly Head Red Zinfandel.  Because that's what was in the house.

Lobster and garlic bread.  And champagne, of course.  The order of wines doesn't quite make sense, but sometimes you gotta break the rules.

I'm one of those people who eats the salad after the main course.

My French heritage does not allow me to skip the cheese course.  Back to more Gnarly Head Zin.

And my sweet tooth doesn't allow me to skip dessert, especially after a special meal.  I made a tarte Tatin with sour cream whipped cream.  It looked kind of pretty before we attempted to serve it, but by that point, I think the wine and champagne were hindering both our serving and photography efforts.  It's hard to tell, but at that moment I was tipsily demonstrating my whipped cream quenelle making technique.  Espresso not shown.

The next day, we took a short hike up the Brown Mountain trail in the Tucson Mountains.  Just enough to stretch the legs, but not too much exertion after last night’s excesses.

 
And that night, in an Italian take on the Chinese tradition of long noodles for good luck in the New Year, I rolled out some pasta and graced it with a sundried tomato gorgonzola sauce made from leftover cheese from the night before.