N is for New Year

Phew!

Christmas is done! So happy.  Eaten far too much (as usual) and had much fun and many laughs.

Today is a furious day of activity as we have one set of guests leaving and the next couple of days will see the next set descending.  I love it!

And I'm turning my sights towards New Year's Eve.

So I'm digging out my various clocks from around the house to dot around the dining room, and printing Auld Lang Syne sheet music as the backing for A5 menu cards that are placed on people's places to keep everyone to my seating plan.

Am also dusting off the board games in case there's any time between the meal and midnight when we mark the occasion with fireworks in the garden, wave around sparklers and toast each other with champagne around the patio heater.

And the menu's designed to auger in the brand new year and is broken down into more courses than usual to keep it relaxed and keep people at the table as long as possible.  This year sees:

• Chicken Liver Mousse
• Stilton Pâté
• Crostini (bought or made in advance)

• Roast Leg of Lamb
• Potatoes Boulangère (with finely sliced fennel added)
• Mixed Greens (Kale, savoy cabbage, de-skinned broad beans, peas)

• Lemon Bars with thick double cream quenelles

• Cheese course (Brie, Comté and Stilton with grapes and crackers)
• Petits Fours (bought in) 

The lovely thing about ALL these dishes is that I can prep them all in advance and they don't take much stove time on the night so I can enjoy being with guests.  Depending on how energetic I feel I can make OR buy in the stuff. This is why the menu includes the chicken liver mousse, the crostini and the Petits Fours.

Last, but not least, I'm just need to print off my quiz which I use before the meal to get everyone's brains into gear after sofa slobbing so much in the last few days and kick off the table conversations.  Fingers crossed that no-one reads this before I hand it out on the 31st!