Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a festive time and drank lots of excellent champagne or other beverage of choice. I celebrated the new year with a dinner party for my friends with children, then - after my 2 year old was asleep - went to a party at a neighbors. (Sadly my hubby had a headache and opted to stay home and sleep.)

It was quite the dinner - 8 adults, 7 children (ages 8, 3, 3, 2, 2, 1 and 8 months), 5 courses, and 3 wines! The menu was inspired by my recent find of some fun plates at the local dollar store. I covet square plates and other cool shapes, but haven't been able to justify spending the money since I don't have dinner parties very often. But at a dollar apiece, I couldn't resist these little rectangular and oval plates. They're too small for an entree, but are the perfect size for small courses!

Scallops with leeks, trout roe caviar and champagne cream sauce
Wine: Jaillance Cremant de Bordeaux Cuvee de L'Abbaye Brut
Non-scallop alternative for Sue
Butternut squash ravioli with rosemary oil
Wine: Bonny Doon Pacific Rim Dry Riesling
Mushroom stuffed quail with risotto, haricots verts, black poplar mushroom garnish
Wine: 2001 Colognole Chianti Rufina
I forgot to photograph the cheese board. We had three Italian cheeses - a Pecorino Tuscano (sheep), Maccagno (cow), Robiola Fia (goat) - and a loaf of no-knead bread, which we used for sopping up sauces in the earlier courses as well.

Caramel-hazelnut-chocolate tart with creme fraiche whipped cream
The kids were pretty good about letting us eat in relative peace. They had hotdogs, macaroni and cheese, and peas as their dinner. The house was an absolute wreck this morning though - toys strewn everywhere! Which is a relatively small price to pay for a grown-up dinner, I guess!