So how did I eat out the old year? I had elk. Now I’ve never had elk before, but a neighbor had a goodly supply, that he shared from a recent hunting trip. Robin cooked a tenderloin with her sou vide device, that brings meat to perfect doneness. No guess work.

Potatoes roasted in duck fat share the platter with the elk tenderloin as it gets a topping of mushroom-brandy sauce.

For even more flavor, Robin made an inspired mushroom sauce, using porcinis and black trumpets, that she had dried earlier in the year. A buttery sauté of onions, a splash of cream and brandy, and we had a splendid sauce for a cold winter’s night.

The sou vide devise got the meat to a perfect 130 degrees.

Side Dishes Pull the Meal Together

Zucchini, carrot, and onion sauté. 

Green salad with feta cheese and homemade vinaigrette.

We finished the meal in time to watch Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen do their best to create a unique New Years’ Eve countdown. Dessert helped: a bread pudding with rum sauce.

Our Own Unique Celebration

Every culture has its own way of ushering out the old year and embracing the new. Some are quaint, even humorous, but none so much as Colombia, South America.

This year we went with the Latin celebration in deference to JC, my son-in-law. Besides, black-eyed peas have let me down in recent years.

The grape-eating tradition.

As is the custom in Bogota, we toasted the New Year and ate 12 grapes, one for each month and made a wish with each. The grapes were quite large, so I couldn’t eat but nine. No telling what that forebodes.

Members of my “bubble” walked around the outside of the house with a suitcase or bag in hand—a symbol of travel and adventure. Then JC’s cousin, Juliana, made two dolls out of scraps, effigies of the old year, to burn at midnight. Normally, this would be done outdoors, but this year we burned the old year in the fireplace.

Before tossing the doll into the fireplace, Juliana waves goodbye to one of the two effigies she made symbolizing the old year.

I must admit, I didn’t make it to the midnight hour, not even by New York time. But the traditions were kept under our roof, so that counts for something.

Whatever 2021 has in store, it can’t compare to the miserable year that we just symbolically tossed onto the ash heap of history. Good riddance 2020. We never want to see the likes of you again!

spacer height=”20px”]