New Years Eve Shenanigans

Well, our plans for New Year's Eve changed multiple times prior to the final incarnation. Originally we were planning to go out with some of Michelle's (my girlfriend) friends and some folks from my work. Unfortunately, the weather here in Beantown has been rather cold and icy lately and we were hit with another storm and 4 - 6" of snow last night. So a band of several people was whittled down to Michelle, two of our friends and me.

Instead of taking on the weather and the numerous intoxicated idiots who would no doubt be on the street, we decided to have a little low-key "Pizza & Movie" night at our place. So I began to make some sauce from scratch and get the house set up. The Welcoming Committee sat in waiting for the guests to arrive.

The first step once our guests arrived was of course to put them right to work, so I gave them some fresh home made dough and said "make pizza". At first it seemed that the geometrical nature of pizza was lost on Amy.

Amy decided to enlist Matt in the dough rolling process and things were looking up.

Soon enough, we had the assembly line in action, with me on sauce and chicken duty, Matt and Amy on dough and Michelle, er WHERE was Michelle anyway?

Both Amy and Matt said "We meant to do that!" when one of their "pies" started to take the shape of a Stromboli.

The key lesson here is go with the flow and take credit afterward.

Once the pizzas were all done, we sat down to watch "Get Smart" and consume the pies. Get Smart was a great movie and very funny. Steve Carrell was the perfect choice to play the bumbling Agent 86.

About half-way through the movie, it was time for desert. Cherries Jubilee was on the menu so I started to get things going.

For those of you unfamiliar with Cherries Jubilee, you cook fresh cherries in alcohol (usually brandy, but I elected to use rum this time around) and sugar. I added a little Agave nectar and corn starch to thicken up the sauce.

Once things have cooked a little, it is time for the fun part - FIRE!

That's right, you set the whole thing on fire and stir it up.

Once some (but not all of course) of the alcohol has burned off, you pour the flaming mixture over vanilla ice cream. Both Matt and Amy were dubious about this second stage.

I think my lightning fast transfer method had them both a bit concerned (note the absence of Amy and Matt in the following pictures).

And finally, you have flaming cherries jubilee and ice cream - YUM!

So we returned to the living room to watch the remainder of the movie and then play a little Mario Kart Double Dash to keep us awake until midnight. I will tell you that Matt and Amy are terror on wheels and take this game VERY seriously. At about 1 minute to midnight, we switched over the tv just in time to see the ball drop in NYC and toast the New Year with some champagne. All in all it was a low-key and very enjoyable evening.

Though it did seem that some of the attendees were slow to rise this morning. Too much rum or champagne perhaps?

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2old2Play!