"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day." ~Edith Lovejoy PierceHappy 2010! I hope everyone had a wonderful New Years celebration!
When I worked nights as a registered nurse I always requested to work New Years Eve and Day so that I could have Christmas Eve and Day off, so I was never able to go to Times Square to celebrate with all the other revelers. Now that I am no longer working I don't think I'd be able to wait in the immense crowd for hours and hours in the freezing cold for that experience. If my husband and I don't go to a party on the eve we snuggle up at home to watch the ball drop on TV...we both prefer it!
I never make a formal list of resolutions, but I do reflect upon the year that has passed and look with hope to the year that is beginning, so full of possibilities. Always aware of how fleeting life can be, I try to keep a promise to myself to do something each day that makes me happy, to find joy in the little things and to put my faith and family first, above all else.
This New Year's Eve I made a delicious ragu which I served over a special pasta imported from Italy. My husband always associates this pasta with celebrations as it was often served at weddings in his hometown in Calabria, Italy.
We opened a nice bottle of robust red wine that my husband had received as one of his birthday gifts this summer, which we saved for a special occasion.
For a second course I made a savory smoked salmon and goat cheese tart, and roasted cauliflower with red peppers and capers. Both were served with the meat from the sauce.
Dessert was a tangy sweet lemon tart.
I will blog some of these recipes in a few days, as they were all scrumptious, but I'd like to take the time to give a big THANK YOU to a fellow blogger, Jenny Matlock, with the blog of the same name, who sent me a big box of lemons from her backyard tree in Arizona! I used some of them to make the lemon tart.
Just look at all these luscious beauties!Thank you so much, Jenny, for sending a box of virtual sunshine my way this cold and snowy winter!
If you don't know Jenny please pay her a visit -- you'll be in for a treat! She is a wonderful writer with a delightful sense of humor, and every now and then she reveals a part of her life on her blog that will bring a tear to your eye. She is brave, honest and strong beyond belief. I am so happy to have found her, and I think you will be too!
Happy New Year! Blog Friends are the Best!! Love those lemons. My Dad has 4 lemon "plants" that make some huge lemons but those are so perfect like they are fake..perfect! Enjoy. I love your post and your dinner seems so yummy! I hope you and your family have a Healthy and Happy New Year!! Hugs Grace
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post for the New Year. Your new years eve celebrations at home looked wonderful. And the food looks delicious. I don't make a list of resolutions either, I have hopes too, hopes for a better economy, hopes for people for a better life without so many worries etc.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year
Hi Pat! Happy New Year!!
ReplyDeleteI'm getting hungry; going to grab some breakfast... ;)
Blogtrotter has reached 500 posts on all blogs with some views of «La Petite France, Strasbourg»! Enjoy and have a first great week in 2010!!!
Happy 2010!! Hope your New Year is Great!!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Marilyn
xxoo
p.s. We watched Home Alone 2 yesterday ((again)). Anyway, because it took place in NYC I thought of you!!
Happy New Year Pat..omg everything looks so yummy!Although hubby and i have resolved to eating healthier (not cutting everything out but not being pigs either) ID LOVE that lemon tart recipe lol..it looks so good!
ReplyDeleteMercy, Pat! I'm starving now, and it's only 7:59 a.m.! LOL! Oh, that looks SO delicious! Tell, you what... I'll be right over for a plate and seconds. :-)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year...
XO,
Sheila :-)
Beautiful post Pat. I don't generally make a list of resolutions, but I do try to make a list of goals. I think I'm going to add making that lemon tart to the list! There is nothing like a fresh lemon straight from the tree, they are unbelievable. And those look wonderful. Hoping that you have a beautiful New Year! Kathy
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year! Fabulous way to ring it in, your meal looks amazing, right down to that lemon tart!
ReplyDeleteI tried growing Meyers Lemons here on Long Island, but it didn't do well indoors for the winter. You will having lemony things for quite some time, nice box! What an awesome gift!
Happy New Year to you, too, Pat! Your New Year dinner looked so delicious. I'm looking forward to getting the recipes ... especially for the ragu and the tart.
ReplyDeleteI love your new header, too!
Happy New Year to you Pat. What a wonderful treat you got in the mail. And wow, what a fabulous dinner you made - from the pasta to the torte you outdid yourself. That wine you picked to open was indeed special too. I'm going over to check the other blog now. Looking forward to the recipes. Love the new header too with the view of Brooklyn, but I have to say I miss the Brooklyn Bridge too.
ReplyDeleteA beautiful post full of the things that make your life special. Blessings in 2010
ReplyDeleteThat box of lemons is such a treat. I am seeing some limoncello in the future!
Oh my, what a lovely post. I'm so glad you are enjoying those lemons..thank you for the kind words, too! You are really neat and one of the blogging treasures I found in 2009!
ReplyDeleteAlways beautiful, Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year!
This is wonderfully delicious! The pictures are wonderful. Oh, that lemon tart. . . !
ReplyDeleteIt's neat that you order pasta from Italy. Do you order olive oil, too?
Happy New Year, Pat... Looks like you had a FABULOUS New Year's Dinner... That lemon tart with those fresh lemons must have been delicious. What a great friend Jenny must be.
ReplyDeleteHave a great Sunday. It's VERY cold for us here in TN (about 10 degrees this morning)...
Hugs,
Betsy
Happy 2010! Who wants to go to Times Square when you can sit home and have your meal?Not me. Times Square never had allure. Snuggling home with festive foods has always been my mantra. I make do-able resolutioons or "food for thought." This is a good tikme of year to reflect.
ReplyDeleteWhen life hands you lemons... What a great box of them indeed! I will be sure to visit Jenny.
ReplyDeleteWe watched a live streaming feed from NYC this year. Everyone looked very cold and we saw way too much kissing. LOL!
Your meal looks divine...I'm looking forward to the recipe for the lemon tart most especially.
Have a wonderful Sunday, Pat.
Gosh, got so excited about lemon tarts that I forgot to say how marvelous your new header is and I like the subtitle very much as well. It fits perfectly!
ReplyDeleteOh..your meal looks delicious! I have a funny story. I made egg casserole for our New Years Day breakfast. We sat down and I was sooo PLEASED with myself for actually fixing something special (i.e., not from the microwave) and then took that first bite. And said to my hubby something isn't right it taste "bland"! Well, hubby added salt and pepper to his and we ate it anyhow. The next morning I reheated it and as we were eating it I said I didn't think I had forgotten any of the ingredients but went to check the recipe anyway. Hubby is thinking if I forgot it why would I remember. I came back laughing and told hubby I forgot to add the 2 tsp of salt and the 2 tsp of dry mustard. Well, it's not the first recipe I have ruined. We had a good laugh. We turned TV on to see NYC and Philly celebrate the New Year. Boy, were there a lot of people in Times Square. I couldn't do that - standing in the cold for probably hours with no room to move. I love your blog.
ReplyDeleteTeacup Lane (Sandy)
What I wouldn't give for a big plate of your ragu pasta and the lemons are to die for!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, Pat. I'm so glad you didn't go out and stand in that freezing rain. Your dinner is calling to me, especially the pasta and the tart. I didn't realize your husband is from Calabria. My father's father was, too. He came to this country as a young boy and was adopted by relatives, changing his name. My efforts to find out about his birthplace have always been dead-ended. I have the name of the town written down somewhere and, if you don't mind, will post it sometime hoping your husband might know it.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year my friend, Your Celebration Mosaic is so colourful and happy. Your food has me drooling, we stopped at the deli yesterday and came home with pasta and home made sauce, I think tonight that's whats on the menu, happy days, Kathy.
ReplyDeleteI love that quote at the top of your post. That lemon tart looks yummy! Happy 2010 to you, too, Pat! :-)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year! I love your new header! The pasta looks delicious. Can`t wait till you post the recipes.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a meal!! The lemons look so paintable, as a matter your whole meal does (lol). Looking forward to the recipes!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year again Pat! I wish you the best!
ReplyDeleteExcellent captures! Thank you for sharing.
That food looks so yummy! I hope that you plans include posting a recipe of that cauliflower, red pepper thing...it looks really good. And, I love, love capers!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I SO wish I had eaten lunch before coming over here, lol! I can almost taste the food (and that lovely Barolo -- molto bene!!) through my computer screen.
ReplyDeleteYour post is words to live by. I've had a rough couple of years so I've found myself focusing on the "blahs" the past couple of weeks. So I needed the reminder...that when life gives you lemons, make delicious tarts!! :-)
It looks like you had a wonderful New Year's Eve...complete with a most delicious meal. Now I'm off to meet Jenny...who knows how to give a good gift!
ReplyDeleteI watched your NYC festivities New Year's Eve...while some snoring was happening next to me. Happy New Year!
How kind of Jenny to send you all those lovely lemons. Happy New Year to you Pat, and your family. x
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