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Sometimes, There’s No Place Like Home
For years, I fretted about whether or not I’d have a date for New Year’s Eve. But now, I’m totally at peace with spending the evening at home alone (as long as I’m with my dog). Just today, I decided I’d cook one of my favorite Marcella Hazan recipes, Spaghetti Bolognese for dinner tomorrow. On the way back from the market, I ran into a neighbor, and spontaneously asked if she’d like to join me. She’s a producer and gets screeners of the latest movies, so we’ll be watching Nebraska, sipping martinis and eating pasta. 2013 is ending on a tasty note. What are your plans?
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Sounds like a lovely way to usher in 2014! I am going to make a frittata (in my new cookware) tonight and prep for tomorrow’s Coq au Vin. A friend and her daughter may stop by tomorrow for dinner. Tonight will be spent working on my New Year’s resolutions–for me, the big holiday is New Year’s Day, not Eve, as I relish to opportunity to renew and reinvent. Yes, one can begin anew on any day, but there is something special about the January 1st (and the spring equinox, my other “new year”). While I’ve been jotting down my ideas for several weeks now, tonight I will hone my list and narrow it down to about 5-6 things (too many is counterproductive) that truly resonate with me. I will also work on my THEME for the year (as opposed to the goals, which are encapsulated in the resolutions)–a phrase or mantra for 2014. Once I’ve finished, I will write the theme and resolutions on a piece of paper and place it where I can see it (almost) everyday. This entire process is a marvelously solitary enterprise and one I look forward to. Of course, there may be a Manhattan or a Negroni in there somewhere too–will be ringing out the old year with a cocktail, as I’ll probably be asleep when the new one arrives.
Tonight I’m also going to launder my favorite sheets and put my new bedspread (silver!) and pillow shams on the bed so that I wake up in a new-look bedroom.
Happy New Year, Wendy!
So many lovely traditions, Petra. What was your theme for 2013?
Happy 2014, Wendy! My 2013 theme was Connection. I’ve reconnected with a friend I’ve not seen for 15 years, plus I’ve deepened a new friendship. I also entertained more, another form of connection. Funny, I looked at my resolutions list (4 of them) and didn’t accomplish any of them, but the theme WAS accomplished. The resolutions were fairly concrete, but I think the problem was that I didn’t have them displayed so that I could regularly view them; instead, they were in a file on the computer. I’ve changed that this year–my resolutions are hanging on my dryer!
This year’s theme: (Re)Invention
My resolutions include:
Write a poem
Trust myself (and my intuition) more
I just love the idea of a theme. Brilliant. Very “inventive!”
I had no plans until an article in the food section of my local paper peaked my interest. Now I am cooking an elaborate feast (spiced carrot soup, peppered filet roast with roasted cauliflower and an apple pie) for myself and another single lady friend. I am going to work on my Wisconsin Old Fashioned recipe for cocktail hour while listening to jazz in a classy little black dress and cozy slippers. As the holidays move on and I get more comfortable with myself and my surroundings I realize that the hype is just hype. I like having the impromptu in my life! Maybe one day it will be Hallmark Card amazing and maybe it never will. But as long as I am happy with me that is all that matters.
“If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with.”
Happy 2014 Wendy! Cheers to you and your little dog too!
Your New Year’s Eve sounds pretty Hallmark amazing to me.
Would love to know what a Wisconsin Old Fashioned is!
I will shortly shower and shave and dress up a little bit so I look nice but not sacrificing an iota of comfort. I will then drive to downtown Minneapolis (alone)to take in a front seat performance of the Broadway touring Cameron Mackintosh production of Phantom of the Opera. I will enjoy a glass of wine before the performance and people watch. I will be home by about 10:00 pm at which time I will build a fire in my fireplace, change into my comfy sweats, and watch the last episodes of season 2 of Homeland while eating my favorite take-out food. When midnight rolls around I will pause to watch the ball drop in Times Square. If I am still awake 🙂
So glad to hear from you, RS. Enjoy the theater. I won’t give you any spoiler alerts about the Homeland finale, other than WOW.
Had a different New Year’s Eve. Dinner at a Turkish restaurant on the Upper West with a tennis friend and her friend, also a tennis lover. So funny to listen to these two women, talk about their favorite European countries. One loves Spain the most–because Rafael Nadal is Spanish. The other is a Federer/Switzerland fan.
After that we parted company and I went down to a party in SoHo at the home of the poet Anne Waldman. This summer I had an in-between dating/friendship relationship with a woman I met dancing tango. She’s a poet and a filmmaker and is making a documentary about Ms. Waldman, who, I came to find out, is a big deal in the avant garde poetry world…As a young woman, she was a muse to Allen Ginzburg and then went on to lead her own “poetry” school. I have to admit I don’t understand much of this kind of poetry but was excited for the party because my friend was going to show the trailer of the documentary to kick off her IndieGoGo fundraising campaign. It was pretty cool, I have to say. And being amongst a roomful of poets was interesting, boring, bizarre and funny all at once. They weren’t so concerned about the time so it fell on me to find an app that tells time by the second and to lead the countdown. Yes, this was different.
If you don’t mind my asking, did you feel pressure to kiss someone at midnight?
I don’t mind you asking at all. I felt a minuscule amount of pressure. I kissed the cheek of someone I met at the party and who was near me when midnight hit. A small peck for my friend-the-filmmaker.
I always felt that pressure at midnight. It’s one of the things I really dislike about New Year’s Eve. I appreciate your attitude.
That sounds wonderful! Dogs are the best of companions. Desperate to see ‘Nebraska”, I am crossing fingers for it to come to my small eastern Washington town.
I went to sleep early on New Year’s Eve, content to stay home on a foggy, icy night. On New Year’s Day I cooked black-eyed peas and greens, boiled shrimp, and made cocktail sauce a la Ina Garten. It required a quick trip to the grocery store; my companion noted a woman asking for black-eyed peas after finding none on the shelf.
Black-eyed peas are invariably easier to cook after soaking them overnight, and nearly twice as good for lunch on subsequent days. I recommend spooning your collards into the middle of your peas, if anyone is interested in this healthy, inexpensive, and tasty food. Collards are delicious if cooked right, generally taking about two hours of stewing in sauteed onions, crispy bacon, and chicken stock.
I’ve never made black-eyed peas, but I’m now intrigued.