Originally published 12/10/21.
mmmm, I love New Years. the blank slate, the possibility of a new year, the reflection upon the old year.
but most importantly, I love the opportunity for another food tradition.
here are our new year traditions!
New Year’s Eve
We do an epic fondue set-up and we go alllllllll out with all sorts of fun things to dip.
Like, last year, we did a cheese sauce like this or this but used white cheddar and we had a whole spread of dippers - steak, grilled shrimp, chicken sausage, soft pretzel bites, potatoes, asparagus, brussels sprouts, apple, good bread, etc.
We prioritize gooooood steak/meat/seafood for this occasion. Like, the good stuff we normally wouldn’t buy. Last year Brett went to a specialty butcher for the best steak ever. And I’m not a huge meat eater, so the fact that I still think about that steak should carry some serious weight.
If we have a tonnnn of leftover dippers, I’ll make a big pot of risotto for a build-your-own-risotto-bowl situation later that week for dinner. THE BESTTTTT.
Sometimes we also do this great chocolate fondue (we use milk chocolate chips) with a bunch of yummy dessert/fruit dippers.
i store our fondue pot - since we only use it for New Year’s - in our Winter Box
New Year’s Day
We get stuff for gooooood Bloody Mary’s to make a Bloody Mary Bar. (And because I don’t understand the appeal of Bloody Mary’s, I get stuff to make gooooood mimosas.)
For breakfast (prepped the day or two before), we do something more laborious than what I’m willing to do on a normal weekend. Like homemade cinnamon rolls, homemade monkey bread, a good casserole, bagels, croissants, etc.
And, are you ready for this? Our newest (and arguably our most favorite) New Year tradition is on New Year’s Day, we have a legit build your own hotdog bar. I KID YOU NOT. And it is absolutely glorious.
I had read somewhere of a family who does this for their “eating pork on New Year’s for good luck” tradition, and I was like SIGN ME UP STAT.
We get good hot dogs, we make homemade buns (or buy goooood buns), and we invest in some fun toppings. I won’t inundate you with all the topping possibilities here, but I do encourage you to google topping ideas for a hot dog bar. The possibilities are beautifully endless. We love this tradition - an annual excuse to do hot dogs well. And the leftovers for lunch all week are awesome.
Did you catch that? We purposely chose fun traditions that could adapt well to differing group sizes (whether that be we’re eating them just us, we’re hosting a group, or we add on more kids to our own family) and traditions that could meet the needs of a variety of palates.
The end! We keep the rest of the New Year open to whatever sounds good that year - whether that be watching fireworks from our back porch with our firepit and smores, going to the awesome fireworks show at my parents’ neighborhood, or doing something completely different.
Did you enjoy this post? I’d love if you said hi on Instagram! I share allll the innerworkings of my routine-and-tradition-loving heart there. (Along with quite a bit of dinner ideas. Woo!)
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Cheers to special memories and intentional traditions! Happy New Year to all you lovely humans!
