Ringing in 2013

I just realized I never filled you in on New Years Eve celebration!  I was surrounded by tons of my closest pals so we could have done anything and had a great time, but it just so happens that the events of the evening were fun as well.  A friend of a friend rented out the downstairs of Park Avenue Tavern so for a low price (by NYE standards) we had appetizers, open bar, and tons of fun hats waiting for us just a few blocks from my apartment.

Because people rarely eat at those things, I decided to have a little pre-party soirée so everyone could coat their stomachs before heading to the main event.  Once the party grew to 12 people, we were no longer talking about a sit down meal so I had to think of items that are as easy as apps to eat but heavy enough to be considered dinner.  Unfortunately, I was terrible about taking pictures so there's only one awful one to share, but I encourage you to use your imagination.

The first of the heavier dishes was the antipasto lettuce wraps I posted about recently.  The other more dinner-like dish was buffalo chicken sliders.  I set out slider rolls and then allowed everyone to serve themselves from the crock pot where I had let chicken, cream cheese, and Frank's Red Hot simmer away for hours till it was pull apart style.  I set up some blue cheese right next to the pot so they could assemble their sandwiches as they pleased.  This was the winner of the evening - people went up for thirds!  I made stuffed mushrooms using crab dip as the stuffing (basically crab, onion, mayo, cream cheese, old bay, lemon juice, and hot sauce), set up some hummus and carrots for munching, and made dates stuffed with manchego for something on the sweeter side.  Dates are a hard thing to get people to try.  They don't look very pretty (just look at that pic below), and they're not common enough in America to not be a little on the scary side.  Once people taste them, however, they usually enjoy them so I recommend giving them a chance.

Of course, it's not New Years without a little bubbly, as evidenced by the six bottles of champagne our group went through in about two hours.  I pre-loaded each champagne glass with rock candy to make it even more festive.  It looks gorgeous and will make even the cheap champagne drinkable.  After the first round, we started adding a dash of pomegranate juice to the glasses as well for a little extra flavor.  Drinking fancy cocktails while dressed in sparkles makes you feel untouchable - a great way to start the New Year.