Last night was an absolute blast. These dinners are just so much fun and at 14 years into the game, we're a well oiled machine - we all know we're doing the dinner so we don't make other plans for New Year's Eve. The only question is, who is responsible for which course? This year, a week before New Year's, Kathryn called and informed Peter and me of our assignment - the main course - in celebration of our engagement. Oh boy..
So, starting with the appetizers, here is a pictoral story of last night's fun-ness:
Me with my buddy, The Penguin at Kathleen and Kevin's.
The sublime salad course was at Kathryn and Steve's. Kathryn and Steve also poured the wine of the night: the Lurton 2005 Torrontes from Argentina. Omigod it was good - the most intesting white wine I've had in a very long time. And it is incredibly inexpensive: $8/bottle. It gets my vote here and now for the best wine value in the world.
Anyhoo, here we are getting ready to dig in.
We then trundled off to our house for the main course: Paella accompanied by a fabulous challah (baked by Peter). I chose this very traditional paella recipe and was in the kitchen most of the day. However, the work was fun and worth it - the paella was really fabulous.
Here we are just sitting down. Peter did a magnificient job setting the table.
The final stop was dessert and fireworks at Bernie and Sharon's. Here's Sam (in his Russian Army outfit) standing out back waiting for the fireworks to start. You can also see Steve crawling under the picnic table to grab some fireworks.
After Midnight, we headed home. However, we stopped by a few houses for some more fun. One set of neighbors tramped down the snow their front yard for their annual New Year's Eve Bocci Ball tournament.
The Bocci Ball Revelers:
Other neighbors who held a big outdoor party around a fire pit. You have to agree, that we Alaskans know how to have fun in the winter!
10:29:25 PM 
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