Happy New Year!

We spent New Year's Eve this year with Bertrand, Claire, and Bertrand's daughter, Lisa. Matthew and I were treated to a French feast prepared by Claire. We started the evening with an aperitif of champagne and sliced baguette with creme fraiche and smoked salmon. The meal began with a seafood course of Noix St. Jacques and Crevettes (scallops and shrimp). Next, we had frog legs sauteed in garlic and butter and gratin dauphinois (a creamy potato dish). Then, we had a cheese course. Unfortunately I can never remember the names of cheeses that we eat! Finally, we had dessert (the only part of the meal I was responsible for). I made chocolate fondue with a variety of fruits for dipping. We sat down to dinner about 10:00pm, and we did not get up from the table until after 1:00am! We asked Bertrand and Claire if there was a ball dropping or any other tradition to ring in the New Year. After the puzzled look we received, Matthew and I tried to explain the tradition of the ball dropping in Times Square. We then told them about the year we went to Atlanta to watch "The Peach" drop. The ball dropping is such an important tradition in the US, but trying to explain it, I realized how silly it sounds (it especially sounded silly when we were trying to describe the giant peach in Atlanta!!!). It sounded even more absurd when we told them how people stake out their spots in Times Square the morning of New Year's Eve and don't move in fear of losing their spots. "People stand there for hours to watch a ball drop?" It does sound pretty lame. Oh well! I guess you have to grow up watching it every year to fully appreciated it. Our entertainment for the evening was when Bertrand convinced Matthew to play his guitar. There was lots of French and English spoken. We always laugh when words come up that sound very similar, but mean completely different things. For example, when making the smoked salmon appetizers, Claire asked me to put some "paper" on top. Paper? We finally figured out that she was meaning to say "pepper". I had never thought about how similar those two words sound! Bertrand was laughing when Matthew told him that we had duck for dinner one night when Mom was here; however he pronounced the word "connard" instead of "canard" for duck ("connard" is an a** hole...definitely not the kind of mistake you want to make when ordering from the butcher!).