A Few of Bon Vivant's Parties: New Year's Eve

Have had so many parties since December that I figured it might be a good idea to dedicate some time to them. Often times I'm so busy with the preparation and playing hostess that I often forget to take photos. Luckily, Adorable Gourmet H took some pix on New Year's Eve.

If it's any indication of how my holiday season turned out, see the photo below of how it began:

That's not me dancing but I was a member of Daryl's harem that night. Yes, Daryl spun the wheel of fortune that night and the needle landed on the you'll-be-the-only-guy-in-private-room-at-Moun of Tunis-filled-with-women slot.

Here is a photo of the "spread." What you don't see close-up pix of are the wonderful Russian salads and savory pastries that Raven and I bought during one of our Russian Deli Crawls along Santa Monica Blvd. I have to give Raven even more credit since the Russian theme was her idea and she knew what to buy.

We first bought some cheese and meat stuffed blintzes and peroshki at the bakery with the Georgian bent. A loaf of brown bread was de rigueur. They also had some fabulous looking salads so we got "Russian Salad" (translation: really good potato salad), a wonderful diced beet, potato, and kidney bean salad (my favorite), and a very garlicky eggplant salad. Next, we headed over to New York Deli, everyone's favorite, and bought what turned out to be the most popular salad: the marinated shredded cabbage and cucumber with beaucoup de fresh dill.

It was pretty crowded at all of the delis but nothing prepared us for the Soviet era lines at Odessa Grocery. Stubborn me had to get the garlic marinated cherry tomatoes but I paid a price! Not only did we have to wait forever, but we were so packed in that I nearly got impregnated by the guy in front of me.

Raven and I got a ton of food for like $50 bucks or less. The next day I was worried that I wouldn't have enough food so I went over to my beloved cheese store and got a pound of Fra' Mani soppressata and a big chunk of the Basque cheese, Etorki, and it came to $43! Oh, the sticker shock!

Hiking Gourmet T who just finished her glass of Lakefront Brewery's Holiday Spice Beer. Or was it the Almond Champagne? Or was it the Limoncello?