New Year Menu inspirations

... always happy to eat a good meal

The Content Reader

Dec 23, 2022

Quotes of the week

A few quotes to consider as we near the end of the year and are looking forward to the next.

1. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

2. “It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot

3. “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

4. “Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go. They merely determine where you start.” – Nido Qubein

5. “One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.” – Paolo Coelho

6. “The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.”- Michael Altshuler

7. “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll

8. “A year from now you will wish you had started today” – Karen Lamb

9. Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. – Søren Kierkegaard

10. “Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.” – Hal Borland

11. “If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.” – Paulo Coehlo

12. “The beginning is the most important part of the work.” – Plato

13. “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Mahatma Gandhi

14. “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” – Confucius

Hello,

I am writing this letter early since we are leaving for Portugal on Monday, and I don’t know how much time I will have this week. We have decided to skip the wonderful Swedish Christmas traditions and go away. We will visit Lisbon for a week over Christmas and then head north towards Porto, probably staying a night or two in Sintra and Coimbra on the way. We have not made a lot of plans so are open to what comes up. Hope to report from Portugal next time.

Musings of late

Sine we are nearing the new year and we tend to enjoy a special meal at this occasion, I thought it would be a good thing to give you some inspiration. What about the Nobel Prize dinner and two dinner menus from castle Glücksberg?

Nobel dinner

The Nobel Prize ceremony has come and gone. It takes place on 10 December every year, the day Alfred Nobel died in 1896. One of the biggest events in Sweden I would say.

A few facts on the awards, and you find a lot more on The Nobel Prize site.

Awards: 615
Laureates: 989
Prize categories: 6
Awarded women: 60
Awarded organisations: 27
Youngest laureate: 17
Oldest laureate: 97

The dinner takes place in the Blue Hall of the City Hall of Stockholm. The banquet has been held there since 1934. 1,300 guests can be seated and I guess, it is the biggest dinner event in Sweden. You would like to attend, especially when you read the menu card. Today the principle is that that menu should have a touch of Scandinavia. Let’s have a look and see what they served this year. The menu is in French, here in an English translation.

WINES

2012 Champagne Legras & Haas Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru, France
2021 Grattamacco Bolgheri Rosso, Tuscany, Italy
2021 Brännland Iscider, Västerbotten, Sweden

Coffee & Nobel Prize Museum tea blend
Grönstedts Cognac XO
Facile Punsch
Stenkulla Brunn Still and Sparkling Water

Stadshusrestauranger in collaboration with Chef Jimmi Eriksson as well as Pastry Chef Annie Hesselsta

This summer we visited Glücksburg castle in Schleswig Holstein. One of the most significant Renaissance castles in northern Europe, it was once the home to the ducal lines of the house of Glücksburg. Even a Danish monarch made it his home for a time. It is beautifully situated, surrounded by a lake. Today it is a museum and you can visit the castle and see how both nobility and servants lived. You can really see that people lived her, and it is more cosy and practical than most castles.

The dinner room is furnished with a laid table and figures dressed in clothes from the period. On the door you find menus for two dinner occasions. Something to be inspired by?

Menu du 11 mai 1902

Consommé aux profiteroles
Croquettes d'homard
Sandre naturel
Jambon de Prague
Canard rôtis - Compote, Salade
Artichauts
Glace de coca
Dessert.

Diner de 9 Décembre 1895

Potage clair à la royale
Petits pâtés de nouilles
Turbot, sauce de homards
Selle de mouton à la cardinal
Galantine de dinde au gelée
Faisans rôtis - Salade, Compote
Petits pois à l'anglaise
Pouding glacé de pommes
Paille de fromage
Dessert et fruits

Did any of the menus wet your appetite? Would be a magnificent New Year’s dinner, although the two last menus is somewhat more than we manage these days.

Lisbeth