FatManSeoul

Ok, so I didn’t get invited to any hip parties this New Year’s Eve, and I’m too lazy and scared of driving to go out and find a party on my own. I stayed home and watched the Twilight Zone to ring in 2009. I also ate one of my favorite meals for dinner: My mother’s quiche.

Quiche is a savory egg custard tart. This one had bacon, spinach, swiss cheese, and onions inside to make a very confused quiche lorraine (traditionally ham and swiss.) My mother’s peculiar version uses cottage cheese, making it lighter and fluffier than most people’s.
After dinner, a neighbor stopped by with some cookies and sweets for us.

Her sweets were added to the pile, as we’d just finished baking some of our own traditional holiday fare. Every year my mother makes whiskey walnut cakes to give away as gifts, but a fair number of them never make it out of the house. They’re a family recipe from my great-aunt, and are essentially a boozy pound cake. They’re even more boozy when you consume them in batter form by licking the bowl and beaters, something I haven’t been able to indulge in in years. Mmmm, raw batter!

As the clock struck midnight Pacific Standard time, I made a small toast to the expired year with the last of my tawny port and snacked on the aforementioned whiskey walnut cake, some ginger crackers, and a few chocolate truffles. A sweet welcome to the new year, and a fond(ish) adieu to the old.