That means that we make it a goal to be able to stay up until 11 o'clock when the ball drops in New York on Eastern Time (we are on Central Time)! Believe me, it is a struggle! Pitiful, eh?
Gary cooked us all a delicious meal and I overheard Dave telling a friend this morning that "...it was a five-star dinner"! And, it was.
After some hors d'eurves and select wines, Gary began to sear some jumbo scallops and shrimp. He placed them all on a bed of Basmati rice and drizzled it with a mixture of balsamic vinegar and blood-orange infused olive oil (try saying that ten times quickly) Mmmmmm...
The main course consisted of beef tenderloin with a dijon mustard rub, garlic mashed potatoes that I am still dreaming about, and white and green asparagus. Delish.
Red wine was now opened and consumed until we sat down for coffee and a homemade dessert that Gary concocted that was like a chocolate mousse with crushed chocolate mint cookies and sliced bananas. I'm not a "pudding" person...but this was a great taste sensation!
We then decided to play a game to help us stay awake (I told you that we were pitiful!)...so, we got out Upwords. It is like Scrabble but you can layer the tiles to make words on top of words. Things were going fine until Gary tried to do the word "oye" and questions arose as to whether it was a word or not. Sharon and I were sure that it was the word spoken at the beginning of a trial..."Oye, Oye (Hear Ye, Hear Ye), Court is now in session!". Dave hadn't ever heard of it....but, laughingly we let Gary have it because we were beginning to be ready for the game to end! On the way home, Sharon phoned me to let me know that Dave was right....and that the correct spelling was "Oyez". Live and learn, right?
Between the wine and the delish dinner...tiredness began to really set in and we began to get slap happy and giddy. The last ten minutes or so of the game seemed to be torturous go on forever as the clock began to wind down to 11 p.m. The countdown commenced....and the ball finally dropped! Happy New Year to all!!! Kisses and hugs for a wonderful 2009....and then off we went back home.
It really was a lovely and fun evening...filled with great laughs and friendship and delicious food.
Who knows? Maybe next year we will take naps earlier in the day and actually make it up to midnight!?!???!!!?
....Nah.... : )
