A Decadent Holiday

stocking the fridge for New Year's Eve

AS the 2014 holiday season approached, I'd known the time for selecting champagnes to celebrate with was also upon me. As per usual, David and I celebrated Christmas with an intimate dinner at home prior to his leaving for his folks,' a few days ahead of the holiday. Since we'd enjoyed it so, last Christmas, I again opted for the infallible Bollinger to kick off our holiday season. A little more than a week later, I returned to my local PJ Wine and picked up three bottles of some of my favorite sparklers before heading south to Mondel Chocolates at 114th Street for some confectionaries--"the best in the world" (Katherine Hepburn).

"The time we shared... intimate conversation, and lots of dark chocolate (the best in the world) came from a small shop on Upper Broadway called Mondel's--turtles, almond bark, and breakup..."

--Kate Remembered, by A. Scott Berg 

Post-Mondel, I'd found myself on a hunt for real caviar on the Upper West Side and nearly took to Twitter for help in procuring it! I'd eventually found a modest jar at Zabar's near 80th Street; with a point of my finger, the two-ounce jar was sealed and ready for pick-up by 'P. B.'

good things come in insulated travel packs

As is often the case when David's home from school, the cooking (for our New Year's Eve dinner) was left to him (after all, I'd picked up the wine, caviar and sweets)! Alas, come the 31st of December, David was laid up in bed with a fever; we had to postpone the dinner to a later date. Then within a few days, I'd followed suit with a fever and in the days proceeding, a stomach virus to boot! It wasn't until nearly two weeks into the new year that the both of us were well enough (and free) to crack open the caviar and bubbles.

a delayed New Year's wish...

Ahead of our ailments, I'd been dropping hints to David regarding how we should enjoy the caviar: Do you think we should do the classic HB egg? ... or we could do baked potato like they did in Brideshead Revisited. David heard nothing of my comments... but ended up making both, twice-baked potatoes and French-style scrambled eggs!

I never do mind "brunch" for dinner!

Nearly two bottles of Moët (my favorite "over the counter" champagne) later, the Mondel chocolates (champagne truffles, cocoa almonds, chocolate-dipped apricots and almond bark) were the perfect end to our "belated" New Year's Eve dinner.

But, that wasn't all that we'd had...

To be continued »