New Year's Eve Party Menu

[lillibet]

- Tower of Cheese - I'd do this again, but only make one tower (probably the raclette) and get it on the table faster, so the cheese would be even meltier

- gougeres with and without black truffle

- Benton's Country Ham w/red-eye mayo - I wish we'd had the time to slice more of this

- mushroom puff pastry bites - These were one of the highlights for me, very easy and delicious

- mini beef wellingtons - 6 lbs of beef was too much, but smaller bites seemed to work well

- deviled eggs with smoked paprika or caviar - the ones with caviar were less popular, all 3 doz disappeared

- cucumber cups with lobster salad - filled the extra cups with whitefish salad, which also got raves

- butternut squash soup - I ended up adding a can of coconut milk and a lot more veggie broth and would add still more if I'm doing shooters again, it really needs to be much more liquid, but people liked the taste of it--one squash makes plenty of soup

- chocolate covered strawberries

- cheese tray (Comte, Pt Reyes Blue, Bemster aged Gouda, Bucheron, Cabot Clothbound Cheddar with Italian cherry honey and marcona almonds) this was less popular this year, perhaps because of the Tower of Cheese, but Jason really loved the Bucheron

- pate - mousse truffee (pork & chicken) and duck with Sauternes - must remember to stick to just one

- gravlax with rosemary baguettes, thanks to Scott Lefton!

- crackers, baguettes

From Wegman's - simple online ordering:
- shrimp cocktail - 80 was not too many!
- veggie tray - skip next year
- macarons - disappeared quickly, many compliments
- mini desserts - very tasty, moved slowly
- mini cookie & brownie tray - very tasty, but many left
- mediterranean dip tray - skip next year
- fruit tray