Oh How the New Year’s Times Have Changed — But the Fondue is Delicious

It’s starting to have been awhile, but it’s not so long ago that I can’t remember the days when New Year’s Eve was a bit of a different occasion. Before kids, we usually got together with a group of friends for a party at our or their houses. There was certainly some drinking involved and maybe even some throwback drinking games. Ryan Seacrest was on TV hosting Dick Clark’s Rocking New Years Eve. Good times to be had for sure. Back in the single days there were celebrations out… usually involving a relatively sizeable entry free which covered food and drink for the evening.

But as the saying goes, kids change everything. So instead of playing flippy cup, I played a few rounds of Yeti in My Spaghetti. As a side note, I think that itself could become a drinking game, but that’s not a topic for now. After Crosby be and I did that, it was almost time to start the waves of dinner.

Since it was just going to be us and Korey’s parents, we decided to do a light meal with an appetizer and dessert. For the app, I wanted to make some cheese fondue for the first time.

Erik’s Cheesy Fondue Recipe (serves 4)

4 oz Grated Gruyere Cheese** 4 oz Grated Jarlsberg (or Emmental Cheese)

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 cloves diced garlic

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch

1. I used our induction burner with our porcelain coated fondue pot on the lowest setting (power setting 1 or about 140 degrees) to first heat the garlic and wine to a simmer.

2. As that’s heating up, mix the cheeses and toss with the cornstarch

3. At that point, I slowly started to add the cheese mixture. Make sure that it doesn’t get too hot! The cheese should slowly start to melt. If there’s a little bit of separation at the start, don’t worry too much

4. Slowly continue to add small handfuls of cheese until all of the cheese is melted.

5. Finally, stir in the lemon juice

Dipper Ideas: Crusty bread, grapes, pretzels, lightly steamed veggies (broccoli, zucchini, carrots, etc)

Kim made some beans using the leftover ham bone from Christmas dinner which hit the spot between the two courses of fondue. Given that today was also a Saturday, we were lucky enough to have the college football playoffs going on. I think it was the first time I can remember not wanting to watch the normal NYE TV broadcast. Then came the chocolate fondue!

Korey’s Creamy Chocolate Fondue **(serves 4)

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels

1/2 can (7 oz) of sweetened condensed milk

1/2 can (3.5 oz) marshmallow fluff

1/4 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

All you need to do is melt all the ingredients together and whisk until smooth.

Dipper Ideas: strawberries, grapes, pineapple, graham crackers, marshmallows, pretzels, pound cake, bananas

The rest of the evening was relatively uneventful, but that was perfectly fine with me. I don’t need a flashy night out or a hundred person party to have a good time on New Year’s Eve. Like just about any other night, it’s quite alright with me to spent it with the people I love most.