By the time you read this post it will be 2023 so....... Happy New Year. No resolutions for me. I just want to remain healthy and happy and wish the same for everybody.
New Years Eve was spent in our apartment with our good friends Kate and Mike as it was our turn to host a dinner after the spectacular spread that they created for Christmas lunch. I had a couple of new recipes that I wanted to try out so it was the perfect occasion for this.
Our friends arrived around 5.30 as the fireworks were due to start at 8.30 and I wanted to allow enough time for us to eat dinner before we made our way down to the waters edge to watch the fireworks. Kate and I settled back with our glasses of low alcohol bubbles while the boys chose beer as their beverage of choice.
My darling husband made the Hor D'oeuvres to serve with our drinks and they were very light, refreshing and delicious. The recipe was called Prawn and Mango Hand Salads and were baby gem lettuce cups filled with small prawns and topped with mango and watermelon. A dressing of coconut cream, sweet chilli sauce and lime was drizzled over the top and was the perfect finger food.
By 7.00 we were ready to sit down to our main meal that was simplicity itself with a baked side of Salmon accompanied by a warm potato and asparagus salad. The side of salmon is an expensive piece of fish so it should be cooked with respect and this recipe was perfect. To my liking it could have been cooked a little less but everybody else around the table preferred their salmon to be cooked all the way through so it was a winner for them. The salmon (after being baked in a honey butter marinade) is topped with a beautiful dill cream sauce topped with cranberries, toasted almond, pomegranate and parsley. It looks so festive!
We decided to leave dessert until after the fireworks, so we quickly packed the dishwasher and cleaned down the benches before making our way across the road to the oceans edge to wait for the fireworks to begin right on 8.30. There were thousands of people lined up all the way along the beach to watch the fireworks. There are only two places that Cairns Council displays the fireworks and they are Palm Cove and the Cairns CBD. It had been threatening rain all evening but thankfully the rain held off for the fireworks but the minute we returned to the apartment it started to rain lightly.
Once we were settled back onto the apartment balcony I served the Crème Caramel that I had baked earlier in the day. No one was very hungry but we all had a small sliver to satisfy our sweet tooth. I forgot to get a photo of dessert but it was also a winner.
No, we didn't see in the New Year this year as were well and truly tucked up in our bed by 10.30. There was quite a bit of partying happening right along the length of the esplanade as evidenced by the empty bottles strewn along the pathway this morning. We never heard a thing. A big shout out to the Cairns Council workers though who were hard at it by 7.00 to clean up the mess. It begs the question why can't people put their rubbish into the numerous bins or at least into disposable bags. I will never understand that.
So that was our New Years Eve. We are having a quiet New Years Day. I spent the morning putting away all the Christmas decorations that were not much more than a Christmas tree and exterior balcony lights. The apartment looks almost bare with out them!
Once again, Happy New Year. May it be filled with Love and Peace. xx
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