Happy New Year!

After arriving back in Paris on Sunday morning with only a few minutes of sleep under our belts, we (I) got set figuring out what we were going to do for New Years. The original plan had been for the boys to do their seafood extravaganza, a tradition that they started last year. However, both Erik and Steve promptly fell asleep once they made sure the champagne was in the fridge, and I, always being focused on food, decided to take it upon myself to tackle the Inno right away in case it was closing early (it was special that it was open yesterday, being a Sunday and all).

Moules frites were on the menu, and whatever else could be scrounged up for a seafood platter. And Alex and I were making crepes. I picked up the necessities, which included two kilos of Spanish mussels, and a kilo of scary looking cooked shrimp, complete with heads and feelers. Luckily the boys were ready to help by the time I got home, and they nicely took care of cleaning up the mussels, which were pretty gross initially. But apparently only wild mussels have beards, and they were packed with a load of seaweed, so I guess it's a good sign that they were so messy? Aside from a bit of chopping, all the food came together easily. We used the Barefoot Contessa again, and her recipe for moules was easy and delicious. The frites were the frozen kind, and maybe I would have tried making the real deal if I hadn't slept on an airport floor the night before. The shrimp were ready to serve after a quick rinse, and I made a sauce out of mayonnaise and mustard to dip them in. Steve had also brought some mochi from Japan, which is a traditional Japanese rice cake eaten on New Years, so we toasted some of them and enjoyed them with nori and soy sauce.

And because all that wasn't enough, and our stomachs have been stretched to a ridiculous size in Italy, we had a cheese course, and cautiously sampled some of the Gorgonzola that we brought back from Novara. I say cautiously because the cheese ended up going unrefrigerated for much longer than intended on our trip home. But nobody seems to be sick, so we might enjoy some more today.

Dessert was crepes that Alex whipped up using the recipe from the Williams Sonoma Paris book, and we served them with a choice of fillings: Nutella (of course), honey, or sugar. Alex had also made chocolate mousse, that was to die for. At midnight we opened our last bottle of Champagne, and watched the Eiffel tower from our window. We were hoping to see some fireworks, but they weren't going high enough for us to catch a glimpse.



All in all, it was a lovely evening, complete with good friends, good Champagne, and good food. What more can a girl ask for?

Well, maybe sleep, and was our bed ever comfortable last night!