Wednesday, January 5, 2011

New Year's 2011: Favorite Dinner

I've never been one to stay up late and ring in the New Year (I'm usually asleep by 10). I do like to celebrate things though, so I thought it would be fun to start a new tradition this year!

Several years ago we had a Relief Society Enrichment Night dinner in our ward. There were 12 tables, 12 committees, and each table was assigned a month of the year, the food and decorations were to be based around that month. It WAS a bit over-the-top, but our ward was full of creative, talented and charismatic women, so it was really an event! Our table was February, and the sister in charge of the table had a family tradition that she fixed each member of her family (she has nine kids) their favorite dinner on Valentine's Day! I'm still not sure how she pulled that off - she's amazing! So, we contacted the sisters assigned to our table and asked them what their favorite food was. We had dinner of lasagna, baked beans, peanut butter twix, salmon, steak, rolls, etc. on pink, red and white plates with hearts and candy conversation hearts everywhere!



This New Year's Eve we deemed Favorite Dinner night. I asked each of the kids what their very favorite dinner was. Boo quickly rattled off "Macaroni and Cheese, rolls with butter, broccoli, peas, salad". (I know! Of all the delicious, prepared meals I make, that's the one she wanted - a meal from a box)


Notice how her favorite roll is the one right out of the middle of the pan.
Only on Favorite Dinner night!


Yaks' was "fish, Kung Fu Panda noodles (Top Ramen), peas".

I chose BBQ chicken pizza, and I wanted to make Josh a Seafood Stew that my Grandma used to make us, that I knew he would love.

I acquired the recipe, and Josh tweaked it to add a wide variety of shellfish (shrimp, clams, lobster tail, mussels). The stew alone was quite the undertaking (read: stressful), with each fish needing a different method of cooking, and I think we were both anxious about it turning out. Josh probably doesn't ever want to repeat this tradition, but I thought it was fun! The dinners were great, and afterward we worked off our meal with a little indoor soccer.


This game is called "rolly-rolly". Diddles is awesome at it.


I won!

We baked a frozen Marie Calender's Razzleberry pie, and we picked up a little celebration cake at the store for the kids to blow out a candle.
Isn't that cake cute? Perfect for the kids.


Boo said, "This is the best dinner ever!" Now no one can say, "you never make my favorite!" I'll say, "New Year's Eve...2010."


2-0-1-1

The following day Josh and the kids went outside to play in the snow. We got a nice dumping of snow and then some strong wind created an amazing snow drift at the top of our backyard hill.

It was perfect for making a snow cave!

I took pictures through the window from the warmth of the house (hence, the glare spots). They looked like they had a lot of fun!

They wanted to sleep in it. I'm glad they decided against that one.

That reminds me of this funny Sesame Street spoof on Man vs. Wild. Funny.

9 comments:

Golden Girl said...

I think I will "borrow" your favorite meal tradition. I love it! You guys are so fun!

Dianna said...

Great new tradition for your family! I think I'm too lazy too adopt it though. ;) Did the seafood stew turn out? That is quite a lot of snow you guys got. Thanks for sharing the snow fun. We miss it.

Plowgian Page said...

That is your backyard?! I don't think I've ever seen pictures. It is as steep as it appears? Looks like a built in sledding hill to me. Fun times. Love the snow cave.

Amy said...

@Dianna, Yes, it turned out! I like trying new recipes, it's fun.

@Angie, Yes, that's our backyard. It has a flat part, but the hill is pretty steep. It makes a great sledding hill in the winter. Behind that fence at the top is a huge soccer field, so we get lots of stray soccer balls rolling into our yard in the summer.

Sarah said...

Individual meals is, well...ambitious. I'll leave it to you. Glad everyone was pleased and that you had a fun time the next day.

kthom said...

You are such a fun mom. I don't know what I'd get myself into if I asked that question around here. I love it though. I was in bed at 10:15 and don't remember a thing past 10:21 or so. PAR-TAY! Maybe 2011 is our year...favorite meals and all.

Anna said...

That does sound like a fun tradition. I liked the Sesame Street clip. "De verdad?" "Si..."

Nicole said...

That is so funny about the ramen and macaroni. We always eat seafood for New Years Day. Eating fish is supposed to bring luck for the new year. And yeah, that is a HUGE yard!!

Liz said...

Amy, sometimes I read your blog and just wonder how on earth you do everything and then even do it well. I hope some of it was in your Farrer genes so it will come out in my personality eventually.