If you are anything like me, then you prefer to spend New Year’s Eve at home with your loved ones. Maybe when I was younger I liked going out and watching the ball drop from a friend’s house or a restaurant, but now if that were to happen, I’d be looking at my watch just as much as I’d be looking at Times Square. There’s something nice about sitting in the comfort of my living room with my husband and a glass of champagne. It gives us time to reflect and appreciate each other without worrying about whose driving home.
However, I DO love a New Year’s Day party. I find this long, lingering brunch to be the perfect time to forget about work and obligations and just visit with friends and family. So we started a tradition of hosting this all-day, open house brunch a few years ago and it is really caught on. I find people to be in a more relaxed mood because the holidays have just passed and they have had time to unwind from their normal and perhaps hectic schedules. Since it’s brunch, we keep it buffet-style so there is minimal stress on me, as the host, as well. There’s no set time to eat or worries about where to sit-it’s just a big buffet that people can graze through as they please.Here are my tips and menu ideas for hosting a New Year’s Day party:
The guests: I invite everyone I know, especially neighbors who I have always wanted to have over but never found the time. I find it a perfect time for people to meet and get acquainted because of the relaxed setting and fact that they are probably pretty awake and alert being that it’s the middle of the day.
The time: I tell people that we’ll be having guests come between 12-1, but I keep the party and the food flowing all afternoon so no one feels pressured to leave in a hurry. If someone can’t show up until 3, that’s okay too, but if I could try to get everyone coming in around the same time, then you won’t hear cries of “why didn’t you tell me you were serving the ham at 1? I would have come earlier had I known.”
The mood:
The big table: The table is the heart of the party. People will be hanging around it all day so it better look inviting! You can accomplish this rather easily by sprinkling festive touches on the table like silver ornaments, holly or candy canes and maybe some of those “noise makers.”
I know nothing about entertaining and won’t pretend to here, but someone told me once that you set your buffet table from left to right. I thought this advice made sense because I would have just let every plate, fork and knife fight for its own spot on the table, but I like this concept better: plates, forks, knives, napkins on the left, then the actual dishes in the order that you want to serve them on the right, meaning if you want someone to ladle beef burgundy over noodles, then have the noodles first and the beef second.
Also, if you have plates that go with certain meals, then sit those right next to the serving dishes.But I don’t put every dish out on this big table-I like to do two things with snackies and appies too-if it’s a big appetizer with parts and small dishes-like a cheese plate-it gets its own table or two of these share a table. If they are smaller dishes, like nuts, they can be sprinkled around the house on coffee tables or side tables because they require so little room.
Then there’s the bar and glassware that also have to find a home. Set up a side buffet or clear off a counter top in the kitchen and make it so people can help themselves to a pitcher of some drink or a ladle from a punch bowl so you aren’t playing bartender all day.
Here’s what recipes I am considering for my menu for this New Year’s Day:
Alcoholic Drinks: Mimosas, Red Wine Spritzer, Pink Sunrise Cocktail, Champagne Pomegranate Punch-look here for Holiday Drinks
Non alcoholic drinks: Coffee, orange juice, juice and seltzer combos
Snackies (for littering around the house):
Sesame Five-Spice Roasted Nuts
Appetizers (on its own table):
Ham Country Pate and Cheese Platter
Warm Brie with Apple, Pear and Melba Toasts
Carmalized Onion and White Cheddar Dip with Apples and Dark Bread
Rachael’s Chimichurri Chicken Bites
Big grand dishes that sit on the big, long table:
Hoppin John Stoup with Rice(this is Rach’s traditional New Year’s Day dish)
Desserts:
Fleur’s Banana Cake (kind of like Banana Bread)
Rachael Ray’s 5-Minute Fudge Wreath
My aunt Rachel used to make this next cake back in the day, and it is to die for! It’s so rich and sweet that you’ll find yourself eating the entire thing if you don’t watch out! Aunt Rachel’s Rum Cake
Pannetone (I buy this)
I don’t know which recipes I will wind up actually making, but those are some of my ideas. Then of course, if anyone brings anything, I put that out too.What are you doing for New Year’s Eve/Day?
December 15th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
HELLPP!!! I am trying to make a penne rustica pasta dish for Christmas, and I am having trouble. I tested the dish tonight and it came out very oily. This is a cream sauce pasta, which requires baking to crisp up the top. When I put the pasta in the oven it was creamy, when it came out (15 min. later at 475 degrees) it was not creamy at all and it was very, very oily. Does anyone know what i did wrong? HELP!!!
December 16th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
Dear Mrs. Ray,
I am not replying to the information or remarks mentioned above but this was the only part of your website that allowed my operating system to use from your website.
I just wanted to thank you! it was refreshing to hear that you started and are supporting a program that feeds and helps the American starving and in need American’s. I know Oprea is a good friend of yours however she supports programs primarily that support African and her related roots as do many other celebrities. There are so many not only people of color but white, Asian, American Indian and Hispanics who need the help you have thoughtfully have targeted and are focusing on.
Whatever this message is worth which is just a veteran who fought for this great country and is grateful that someone like you is helping its people, ALL its People
Respectfully
December 22nd, 2007 at 8:26 pm
Hi Rachel,
Was wondering if you had any receipes in which you feature “bakers cheese”. This is the cheese from Wisconsin. I am looking for anything and everything.
Sincerely,
Pat K.
December 28th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
This is a great idea! I’ve never heard of a New Year’s Day brunch, but I love it! I wish I’d read this sooner so I could actually do it this year, but I’m going to put it on my calendar to plan next year.
December 29th, 2007 at 9:40 am
Dear Rachael, I just wanted to say how much you have inspired me personally. Just by watching your show and feeling your positive energy is definitely refrehing. You have accomplihed so much at your age and I wish you all the best! Keep making those great Italian dishes I look forward to many more “yum-o” shows! Your friend in a small state! Michelle Goad
December 30th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
[…] out the Last Minute Lady’s blog on what she does for friends and family New Years Day, or plan enough drinks of […]
December 31st, 2007 at 1:35 am
I like the sesame 5 spice nut recipe
heres is another salty sweet addictive snack food perfect for holiday parties like new years
http://seasonalcooking.suite101.com/article.cfm/holiday_crunch
December 31st, 2007 at 10:51 am
Thank you for refreshing my opinion of talk shows today! SO sick of the ‘Who is Cheating on Who’ platform (that ALL talk shows seem to be revolving around now) and accidentally caught your presentation this morning. What a nice surprise! You are a fine presenter and offer things that actually ARE helpful for everyday life, as well as extremely entertaining! You are now locked into my DVR for daily recording…just so I do not miss a day of recipes or guest interviews! A very Happy New Year to you and each of your visiting guests! (Plus, I have some pretty good italian ’secrets’ I may be able to share!)
December 31st, 2007 at 1:01 pm
I am a mom of 3 little ones (6,3,2) and going out on new year’s just isn’t an option! Rachel, you are my go-to gal for recipes, especially last minute (story of my life)! We are having a huge family get together tonight, and I couldn’t do it without you!! I must tell you this—-I am a full time teacher, but on Christmas break I get to watch you EVERY DAY! That’s my treat to myself! My girls sit with me and we hang out watching your show. Other than Barney, you are the only one on tv that can keep all of our attention (what a compliment, eh?)!! Thanks, Rachel! Happy New Year!
December 31st, 2007 at 1:43 pm
I luv this idea thank you so much!!! ,y mom and I luv your show so much…we wish we could see it in real life though…anyway have a great holiday. ^_^
December 31st, 2007 at 4:01 pm
do you have pork and saurkraut recipe?
December 31st, 2007 at 6:13 pm
New Years has always been a thing to look forward to every year in my family. As a kid I would always take a nap then my mom or grandma would wake me up ten minutes before it struck midnight and we would go outside and bang pots and pans for about five minutes. It sounds lame now that I am grown but back then me and my sister enjoyed every minute of it. I am now married with a 8-month old little girl. my husband recently lost his 17-year old little brother this past October. The holidays are just not the same and it will be hard to ever get my husband to celebrate the New Year. He feels the New Year won’t ever be great because he doesn’t have his little brother to start it off with. It is my little girls first new year, not that she really understands what is going on, but we are just sitting at home and watching T.V. Maybe someone has advice?
Sincerely
Tricia Wecker
January 1st, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Dear Rachael,
I want to respond to the writer above. I too think it is cool that you care about feeding the kids in the USA. Unlike Oprah you do care about the people here in our country. You are truly a down to earth kinda gal & I respect you for that. Your mom raised you right. You can tell you have a true heart. Your husband is very proud of you and I am sure of that. I too am very Italian and grew up with the values you grew up with. I am proud that you’ve come as far as you have. You deserve it. My Nana use to say “Ciao Bella” when she’d walk out the door. When you grow up in a Italian household everything is loud. It makes me laugh when I watch you on your show because you can tell you’ve grown up in an Italian family. I am saying you’re quite animated when you talk. Around our dinner table on Sundays we’re very loud with the wine being passed around, along with the pasta, meatballs and italian bread. Us kids use to fight over the spaghetti bibs. Do you remember those? They would have pictures of characters with pasta noodles on them? Guess you had to be there.
Take care
Anne