New Years Eve: Dinner at the Belmont and a house party

This is how we roll, literally.

We had a nice New Year's Eve this year. A couple of our friends graciously offered up their place for the bash. I'm not going to lie, after years of throwing big parties at our house I must say, I've gotten old and/or lazy and just really dread the next day clean up; especially with the recent reminder after our Halloween party this year. Besides, they have an awesome place at the AMLI downtown with a huge balcony and it's a perfect bachelor pad for parties.
So, being the girl I am I had to bring a few food items. Though I figured they wouldn't cater to the crowds I brought a few selfish veggie items.

Deviled eggs spiced up with pickled jalapenos instead of relish and cayenne pepper instead of paprika.

Hummus filled cucumber cups

I also made some stuffed mushrooms which were a hit! You can view the mushroom recipe here and the hummus filled cucumber recipe here.

So we carted all the goods over to our friends place and then rushed home to get ready for dinner at the Belmont. Brent was able to snag some last minute reservations and they had a great pre-fixed menu that included some nice looking vegetarian options.

1st Course:

Brent's braised pork belly over roasted butternut squash with rock shrimp,brown butter, and crispy onions. He said it was really good minus the shrimp; they were a little too shrimpy tasting.

My mixed green salad with champagne vinaigrette. It was light and flavorful!

2nd Course

Brent's broiled lobster tail with parsnip puree and oragne champagne butter.

My delicous wild mushroom ragu, with truffle oil, and parmesan polenta with sauteed spinach and herb roasted potatoes.

Dessert

Brent surprisingly ordered chocolate! He got the Godiva milk chocolate brownie with mexican vanilla ice cream and a bourbon pecan caramel sauce.

My lemon sorbet was tart and yummy.

House Party

I wore a 'customized' Betsy Johnson dress that I bought at Buffalo Exchange. Customized means I put in safety pins all over the dress to make it bunch up and allow the black petticoat underneath to fluff it out more and allow the petticoate to peep out the bottom.

I was pleased with my dress this year. First of all I got it for a great deal and second of all I was able to really make it mine! Everything came together last minute and though it was a little hard to breathe, it was worth it. The necklaces were fashioned from a couple of different strands I have to create that uneven necklace I'm seeing all over the place.
Once some of our friends arrived at the party we had a great time and brought in the New Year with some awesome people.
Happy New Year everyone. I hope it's a great year for all of us!

Amber (left), Kim (middle), Me

Me and Jennifer. I decided to punk out my gloves and Jennifer kindly recycled the fintertips.

V (left), Brent (middle), Lupe (right)

Jennifer wore some fabulous heels. I had to take a picture!

Kim's shoes are black suede 'Steve Madden Girl', that she got at DSW. Nice find!