New Year’s Eve Indulgence…what shall I bake? I know the party am attending to will have kids around. I wanted to do something different. Am sure after a week of indulging themselves with Greek and Filipino pastries, they will more than happy to try something new.

So I baked one of my favourite comfort food,
CRISP BROWNIES

I have been baking these for years and never failed to seduce the children’s sweet tooth. I also thought that with brownies which I cut into small cubes the kids can just pop them into their mouths, hence no need of plates.

You will find the recipe here. This recipe is adapted from the book PATISSERIE from the Time Life Books The Good Cook Series. One of the oldest cookbook I have here.

The moment I entered the flat, the kids jumped with joy Tita Sha has arrived. Here comes their playmate.. nah I just kept an eye on them as they played Snakes and the Ladders while eating some fried calamares the hosts had prepared. I was not there when dinner was served, I had other obligations to attend.
Just before midnight we went up to the 7th floor and watched the fireworks that sparkled in a distance. But it was a clear night. We could see the Acropolis and the suburbs of Athens. We went back to the flat dranked champagne and exchanged wishes.

Then the dessert was served. (Dont ask me what was the main meal… I missed it, but they had goat which was yummy and lots of shrimps and calamares. The kids gobbled up the brownies. I was right… they all loved the brownies.

As for the big kids, I made PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE . My first time to be honest but fear not, if I did well the PEAR UPSIDE DOWN CAKE..it was a matter of changing the pear with pineapples.
The only difference was, I added a bit of the pineapple juice to the caramel. Very tropical isn’t it? Pineapple cake served when the temp outside was almost like 5C. The recipe is here…

The ACROPOLIS just before the fireworks started.

Then we had the St Basil cake, Basilopitta, in which it was sliced into portions according to how many people were around.

The first slice is for Christ.
The second one for the House
Then we all got our slices I was not the lucky one who got the florin (the charm), the host gave €20 to person who had it.
That is the Greek culture we have adopted then came the Filipino way of throwing candies and coins.
Yippee, it was meant for the kids ok, but for them I am a kid so I joined the fun!

Well the party broke up around past 2 and I went somewhere else after that. I walked a long way as it was not worth for my friend to drive me home. So I decided to see Swiss Cheese at his work. He made me breakfast and waited till the dawn broke out. I saw the first sunrise of 2006 and cheered the first morning of the year with buck fizz.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!
Maligayang Bagong Taon
Malipayong Bag o Tuig
Kali Chronia

Oh… to kick 2006 with a great fun am sending this recipe and post to:
NEW YEAR’S RECIPE DINNER & PHOTO SWAP hosted by Canella blogging from Spain, Marcella writing from Argentina,
Elvira of Portugal and Cooking Diva of Panama Gourmet.