Happy New Year!

2007. Wow. I remember being a teenager and thinking "In the year 2000, I will be **30**. Man, that's old!" Ha! Look at me now. 36, soon to be 37. Now I think "Man, when I'm 74, I'll be OLD." It's gonna come fast and it scares the crap out of me. I don't want to waste a single minute.

Tonight we participated in a "progressive" dinner party. A very nice experience! We started with appetizers at one of our neighbor's houses, moved on to the main course at another house, and then on to desserts at yet another house. All of the kids stayed at our house with 2 babysitters. The adults had a relaxing evening. The kids were very excited for us to get them (around 8:45 or so) and bring them to the dessert house so they could count down to the New Year with us. We did East Coast count down, even if it was a little late...by about 10 or 15 minutes, thanks to my Tinna having to pooh! Oh, and it didn't take Delaney long to fall asleep tonight (11pm!), her eyes were closed before I finished singing to her.

We didn't take a huge amount of photos tonight and actually there aren't many at all of the men in our group. I guess that is because *I* wasn't the one shooting this time, so, on the other hand, there are a few of ME for a change! =)

Also, I'm listing here the recipes of dishes I made tonight. They include: bourbon slushies, Icelandic New Year's cake, and Toblerone Fondue (I think I've posted this before but it's been requested that I post it again!)



Rachel & Bella (dad Casey behind) having fondue. Rachel had the appetizer house.




New Year's Girls. Heather, Christina, Shannon, Debbie. Debbie had the dinner house.




Della, our next door neighbor...dessert house!




Delaney, ringing in the New Year.




The mama & Tinna.




Tomas.




Will was happy playing trains at Tomas' house.




Is Steve (Debbie's husband) a leprechaun in disguise?


Now for the recipes!



Bourbon Slushies

1 can frozen orange juice
2 cans frozen lemonade
1 cup bourbon (we use 1/2 bottle!)
2 cups tea (either home brewed or bottled tea)
Mix. Freeze til slushy.



Toblerone Fondue

2/3 cup heavy cream
4 (3 1/3 ounce) Toblerone chocolate bars, finely chopped
1 tablespoon cognac or Frangelico (I use Frangelico)

1. In medium saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer

2. Remove from heat and add chopped chocolate.

3. Let stand long enough for the chocolate to begin to melt, about 3 minutes.

4. Add the liqueur and whisk until smooth.

5. Transfer mixture to a ceramic fondue pot or chafing dish to keep warm.

6. Serve with dipping ingredients such as pound cake, angel food cake, strawberries, sliced peaches or bananas. (We also used big marshmallows which was YUMMMY!!!)



Icelandic New Year's Cake (from my Icelandic friend María's mom)

5 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup chocolate pieces (mini chips)
1/2 cup raisins
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup heavy cream

1. Beat egg whites and sugar until stiff. Add other dry ingredients to this gently.

2. Line a baking pan with parchment paper and place this "dough" on it. Spread out and bake for about 60 minutes at 300F. (275 - 325 was suggested but I use 300F)

3. Allow cake to cool.

4. When cake is cool, whip the cream until it has the consistency of...well...whipped cream! (DUH!)

5. 1/2 of the cake is broken into pieces and placed in a big bowl.

6. 1/2 of the whipped cream is spread on top of the cake in the bowl. Break the next 1/2 of the cake into pieces and put into bowl. Top that with remaining whipped cream.

7. Finish the cake by sprinkling chocolate raisins, salted peanuts, and strawberries on the top.

8. Eat and have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

(By the way...I started writing this blog entry at 11:11 and posted it at 12:01...I wanted it to be posted on Jan 1, 2007 but I guess it takes your start time instead of your actual post time. SO, I'm a bit disappointed at this moment.)