New Year's Eve 1999

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We invited some people over for New Year's Eve, to celebrate the coming of the new year in a more quiet setting, far away from the crowds of crazy people. It was a pretty nice party, though we plan on throwing a much bigger one next year to celebrate the coming of the real third millennium. Though that is still almost a full year away, so back to this New Year's Eve!

The menu was cheese fondue. For us, it's a pretty special and very much liked dinner. That comes from my family, because traditionally we would have fondue for Christmas together with an aunt, uncle and their son. When Kathy and I went to Belgium (December 1997), Kathy got spoiled by my mother because we had meat fondue and cheese fondue in the three weeks we were there. I never even had that much luxury!

It should be noted also that making cheese fondue was a special event for me (although a bit scary as well):

My mother tried making cheese fondue once, and it somehow did not work out. The cheese simply didn't bind properly, so afterwards she chose to buy the pre-made mixes.
I never made cheese fondue before, but from the time my mother tried it (and she is a very good cook), I had to conclude that it wasn't an easy thing to make.

To prepare for a long party, we conveniently used the top of our chest freezer as a snack table. And as you can see in the picture, there wasn't much room left. A shame that I didn't take a picture after everyone went to bed. There weren't many snacks left. Remarkably enough, no one had any signs of indigestion. In a way that must also have meant that the cheese fondue wasn't that bad.

Kathy was actually the official hostess of the New Year's Eve party. And like a real proper hostess, she took the job of pre-tasting very seriously. Note the cover of the vegetable dip in her right hand, and the first taste of the crackers, cheese and beef stick in her left hand.

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