Dream with Our Eyes Open

We had our usual New Year's Eve date, a luxurious gourmet dinner at my friend Michael's. He loves to cook, and his wife Sharon makes the sweets. We had:

• Ceviche of grouper and scallops
• Salad of beets and goat cheese mousse with coffee (powdered, sprinkled on the mousse) and microgreens
• Squash mezzaluna (filled pasta crescents) with hazelnut butter
• "Duck, Duck, Goose" - roast duck breast, duck sous vide with the skin crisped, and goose liver pate, with Hoisin sauce and "Asian slaw" of vegetables, apples, and pears
• Cheeses with salty biscuits and gingersnaps: petit Basque ewe's milk, red Leicestershire, Le Fromager des Clarines, Long Clawson Limited Edition Stilton (only 100 of these were made)
• Black Forest Boule de Neige (dense chocolate cake with kirsch and cherries, covered with whipped cream); lemon bars with Chambourg cream; chocolate peanut butter pretzel bites and pecan turtles

Each course had wines, most of which I did not touch (not so good with the meds).

Today we had our usual New Year's Day date, a brunch at my friend Kat's that starts with a core of bagels and lox and then spins out to encompass whatever people bring. The Young Lady made pumpkin streusal muffins, smillaraaq made soft rolls, and I brought a bag of clementines (hey, the kitchen was all busy and I was doing paperwork!).

And I lost a crown on one of my back molars. That will teach me not to eat fleur-de-sel caramels.

:-(

Fortuitously, the host had some over-the-counter dental adhesive, so it's stuck back in for now. I'm trying not to chew on that side.