Daily Blague

Happy New Year! Another decade begins to close.

We had a very tranquil New Year's Eve. The treats came first: icy Moët & Chandon White Star and an ounce of sevruga caviar. We listened to Blossom Dearie's first recording, made fifty-one years ago, when Kathleen was three years old and I was eight. I've known about Blossom Dearie for years, but I haven't really listened to her until recently. One of the songs on the first album that I'd never heard before is called "Comment-allez vous?" Kathleen misheard this as "Come on, tally-hoo!" Ms Dearie seems to go out of her way to sing with an American accent, but the song has a period charm. Once upon a time, it was very sophisticated.

It may have been the last of the sevruga for a while. This Saturday, which will be my fifty-ninth birthday, we're going to see how the American product is doing. It's a lot cheaper, and it's not bad. You may think that caviar is exotic and expensive, and perhaps even repellent (fish eggs!), but I read in the Times yesterday that sixty percent of the world's caviar is consumed in the United States.

For dinner, we had Veal Scallops in Apple Sauce - which has nothing to do with applesauce - and for dessert we had lemons stuffed with sorbet. There is really nothing quite so lemony as this Italian production. We had a very nice wine from Chile that a friend hard brought us, Piedra Feliz I believe it's called. Soft and velvety.

Because it was getting late, I started Radio Days before tackling the dishes. I don't know when we began the tradition of watching this 1987 Woody Allen film on New Year's Eve, but it may have been as long as fifteen years ago. The movie ends on New Year's Eve, 1943 or 1944 (I used to know), shot in what is actually the King Cole Bar in the St Regis Hotel. The St Regis is currently being reconfigured as a condominium, and I wonder what will happen to the bar, with its Maxfield Parrish murals. At dinner, Kathleen and I had tried to figure out the difference between a night club and a cabaret. Without success.

In the morning, I had a nightmare. Kathleen was very angry with me for having had way too much to drink and misbehaved. It was very convincing, and I was horrified. No more of that! Waking up, I woke her up, and begged her to assure me that I'd been dreaming. She was happy to do so. Perhaps she was anticipating breakfast in bed. In any case, you'll be happy to know that the $25 stollen from Eli's was pretty good.