Happy New Year!

The ball has dropped in Times Square... the Conch in Key West... the Peach in Atlanta! Mr.W and I brought in the new year at a friend's house as I held the 11-week-old baby of another dear friend. What a sweet way to usher in 2009. There was lots of yummy food, too, brought potluck-style by various folks. I should have brought my camera for photographic evidence!

There were pigs in blankets that had evidently gotten too warm and threw them off... so I guess the pigs were actually laying ON their blankets. There was shrimp & cocktail sauce. There was cut-up pumpernickel bread with creamy dill dip, which is one of my all-time favorites. What could be better than bread dipped in creamy goodness I ask you? There was lots of hot cheesy goodness. There were stroganoff meatballs and meatballs in maranara. There were deep-fried cheese sticks and devilled eggs (of which I think Mr.W ate a dozen). I brought 3 treats to the party we attended: my chevre-mascarpone-blackberry cheese spread (this time I did 4 ounces of each cheese, then mashed 6 ounces of blackberries right inside for something a bit different with equal deliciousness factor), my famous jerk meatballs and a big platter of pajeon (korean scallion pancake)--one batch with only vegetables, and a 2nd containing also chopped shrimp. Lots of good food shared with lots of good friends.

It amazes me that we're now in 2009. It seems as though 2008 just flew by!

Mrs.W's Kitchen wouldn't be the same without you, my readers--let me take this opportunity to thank you. Thanks for subscribing, reading, commenting and lurking. Thanks for trying out my recipes and reading what I write. Thanks for your emails--they mean so much to me.

May 2009 bring you much joy, many blessings, and lots of yummy, yummy food!