New Year's Day

Hubster and I celebrated New Year's Eve differently this year. Originally we planned a small get together with friends at our casa, but it definitely wasn't meant to be- several people were sick, and a lot of people had other plans. That was actually totally ok with me and I was excited to have a more intimate night and ring in the new year with my favorite. So we got super dressed up and went to a wonderful restaurant called Thyme, which is located in Roslyn, NY. They had live musicians that night and they always have a wonderful menu. Bryan enjoyed pork chops, a Mediterranean vegetable stack, and autumn fruits baked in puffed pastry and I enjoyed roasted chicken, creamy polenta, and sauteed carrots and green beans. We followed our meal with a jaunt to the ocean to ring in the new year with prosecco and with any luck some fireworks (a lot of people set off fireworks here in NY, especially down by the water). We forgot the wine opener, but we toasted with water. Slightly sad, but we made a firm deal to either open it when we got home or start the following day with mimosas. Somehow even without the prosecco, it was still a very romantic and lovely midnight :) 

Anyway, the next morning we awoke feeling relaxed and refreshed, which is the perfect way to start a new year, in my opinion (and believe you me, I've started a new year feeling howyousay? The EXACT OPPOSITE of relaxed and refreshed...). Anyway, the day before B and I made a trip to Whole Foods to grab some of Applegate Farms "Sunday Bacon" (SO SO good- thick, no nitrates/nitrites, slightly sweet yet salty, mmmmmmm), dessert for our NYE, and anything else we thought we might want/need for New Year's Day. We work really well in the kitchen together- for years I've served as his sous chef for certain recipes (i.e. ice cream, short ribs, coq a vain), and he as mine for others (anything you need to bake or juice, and family recipes). Cooking and food are things that we really enjoy together and are a big part of our lives. That is part of the reason why I love cooking for him so much. He really appreciates it, and it's something we can talk about and brainstorm together about. We're basically the Neely's but Yankee -style. No big deal. 

Anyway, on Saturday morning we started the day with a little prosecco and OJ as per our deal the night before. THAT was a delight. Then we got to work on our meal. Bryan prepped the bacon. We bake ours in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes. It's glorious. No dodging nasty little oil snipers. Also, you can make waffles, fruit salad, and eggs while the bacon cooks. Uh. Maze.Ing.

I was a little lazy and used a whole wheat buttermilk waffle mix rather than mix flour, etc. myself, but it was easy and tasty and sometimes that's all you could really want. So I made the waffles, Bryan took charge of the eggs- plain with salt and freshly cracked pepper (I love freshly ground pepper. Not too fine though- I don't like a light dusting of pepper, I want to really see the black flecks throughout my food). Before we knew it, bacon was done!

Assembled our plates, brewed a couple of cups of coffee, and settled in for a mini marathon of Friday Night Lights and Modern Family. Seriously, WHAT could be better than that?!! Happy New Year's!!

Bacon:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil (makes cleaning up way easier).
Place bacon slices on cookie sheet- no overlapping! Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes, but turn each piece over halfway through (so after about 10 minutes) so that the bacon cooks evenly on both sides.

Scrambled Eggs:

Crack 4 eggs into a bowl, whisk them until they're broken up and stir in about 1 Tbs. of milk (we use non-fat). Bryan adds about 1 shake or pinch of salt and a couple of cracks from the pepper mill, too.
Melt a little bit of butter (1/2 Tbs.) over low heat in a frying pan and pour the eggs and milk into the pan. Use a spatula to constantly move the eggs around, folding them over until "desired doneness" (they aren't runny but not rubbery). Bryan also adds a teeny pinch of salt and pepper directly into the frying pan while the eggs are cooking.

Waffles:
I used 365 Organic Everyday Value Buttermilk Pancake and Waffle mix, and their recipe is as follows:
Combine 1 c. waffle mix, 2/3 c. plus 1 Tbs. of water or milk (I used skim milk), 1 Tbs. canola oil or 2 Tbs. butter (I used canola oil), 1 egg, and 1 Tbs. honey. Pour into hot waffle iron. Waffle irons obviously vary in terms of how you know when your waffles are done. Ours has a green light that switches on when the waffle is done.