New Year's Eve Shabbat

Covering the hospitals on Christmas and surrounding days always assured me not having to do that for either Thanksgiving or New Year's.  Each could be festive, though the final day of the calendar year was nearly always a work day.  Festivities take place after work with the legal holiday something of a denouement with Bowl Games or just not having to go to work or check mail that day. 

Retirement takes a different perspective.  I no longer have work obligations on New Year's Eve so I can spend the day making a special dinner, much like on Thanksgiving.  This year it coincides with shabbos.  Since the span between supper and the Big Steel Ball knocking down New York comprises a lot of snacking with a split of bubbly when the Apple lights up, I've planned something of a contiguous indulgence from kiddush to welcoming the calendar transition.

Snacks tend to be milchig.  So will shabbos dinner.  Coulibiac, or Russian Fish Pie, always seems festive, making a small compromise with commercial puff pastry.  The price of mushrooms has gone up as has parsley.  Still I opted for Shop-Rite bunch parsley though leaves of my outdoor pot herb garden probably could have gotten me by.  Just enough steps to keep me engaged in cooking activities, not nearly as many as Thanksgiving.  A vegetable.  Got carrots.  Glaze with maple syrup or honey should contrast the fish pie, which already contains rice as the starch.  Cheesecake for dessert.  For some reason, amid a national cream cheese shortage, Shop-Rite has been selecting their house brand bricks for one of their leader sale items.  Add some sour cream or unflavored yogurt, sugar, graham crackers and eggs plus some patience in bringing items to room temperature and a multiday treat comes forth.  Sparkling cider in its finest form also on sale, to avoid the evil soda.

After supper snacks have been accumulating.  Cream puff mini's with a digital coupon, a few types of crackers.  Corn chips with salsa. We don't pop popcorn on shabbos, though.  

Kiddush to Big Steel Ball spans about six hours, though.  As attractive as these indulgences seem, unlikely I really want to make this one continuous meal.