Life: Idiotropic

I hope you all enjoyed your celebrations.

About a month ago I'd toyed with the idea of staying in Paris a couple extra days so that we could spend New Year's there too, but it was good that we didn't. After all the riots that Paris dealt with over the summer, they cancelled all their big New Year's plans, so there were no fireworks at all - and none over the Eiffel tower, the usual big TV event of the night.

We don't have television, so we didn't enjoy the US celebrations - no Times Square or Dick Clark.

No Dinner For One. If you haven't lived in Germany since 1963, then you won't have a clue what I'm talking about, but, it is a very unique German phenomenon.

Dinner For One is a 15 minute comedy that two British actors did on stage in the early 1960's. A German television producer filmed it for television. Since then, it has become the most broadcasted television show of all time (worldwide) though it's NEVER been aired in either the U.S. or Britain. It is played, in Germany, every New Year's Eve - usually every hour and on every television station. It is entirely in British English, of course, but after years, most Germans have it pretty well memorized. People here have Dinner For One theme parties serving the same alcoholic drinks and drinking them with the actors. It is pretty much unavoidable on German stations this night and it is very funny. With only two actors, the butler goes around the dinner table during the "dinner party" acting as each guest for the senile Miss Sophie, speaking as the long deceased friend would speak and drinking their toast for them with each coarse. So, he is progressively getting more and more drunk and getting very silly.

We were too busy talking to watch t.v. this New Year's, but the "boys" (the grown men transformed into boys the instant they saw the little paper covered popping fireworks and matches) made the evening very festive with the endless light displays.

Fireworks are widely loved here with many BIG varieties available that have long been outlawed in the states, so just looking out the window over our flat farmland is a major fireworks display.

This was the best New Year's we've had in a long time. We spent it with friends and from 1930 until 0130 we talked, ate, and had a little wine. The kids played so well for so long that we barely knew they were there. The fireworks lasted hours -- not only our own display, but those all over the countryside.

Elise ran back and forth from the front yard to the kitchen bouncing as she ran with her ponytails waving around telling us all about the "popping fireworks" and hugging Rudy, the golden retriever, to comfort him. Arianna and Luci loved the sparklers. Tiara got to light one of the big ones.

The food was excellent with Olive Garden's Spinach dip, and trays of meats, cheeses, fruits, and veggies. I brought Rumaki and Artichoke Spinach dip. Both recipes are below.