2014 is gone and 2015 is here!! I (kind of) rang in the new year in New York City, not the Time Square mess you’d imagine, but instead was the “very official” witness to my friends wedding at city hall in the city this year earlier during the day. I am so happy for her and her husband, and honored to have a role in her nuptials. It was quit the sight, brides and grooms lined up and down this old city building downtown, some with and some without family, friends, photographers; all waiting in a queue you’d expect at the DMV. It was all very exciting and fun.

Then I made my mad dash back to Grand Central and hopped on a train back to CT. I was picked up by Brett and Portia in time to watch the ball drop and enjoy about half a glass of processo before I passed out 10 minutes into The Darjeeling Limited. Happy New year! woo!!

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’ve worked in restaurants for a while up until the last few months I was able to exit gratuitously to focus on my full-time career and enoy being home a bit more than to sleep and show. But, if you’ve ever worked in the service industry, you know some of us latch of and become a family. And since my first job, and original place of waitressness, has closed many of us have stayed close. Some of us even went on to work together in other places together. Either way, every year on New Years Day we get together, drink bloody mary’s, catch up and reminisce about the good, the bad and the ugly times.

I’m in there, somwhere. (p.s. my dad is the dude 2nd to the left and look angry as hell…haha dad, what the-)

We also go to Modern Apizza in New Haven (in between bar stops on the same street) which this year is ranked #12 on the 101 Best Pizza’s in America. And if you didn’t know I am born and raised New Haven, CT – a.k.a the best pizza capital in the WORLD (according to me, sit down New York, I don’t want to hear it). In fact, CT had pizza spots mentioned at #76, 50, 24, 12, 5 and of course #1 (duh). So really, never argue with me about good pizza. All of these places are withing 15 minutes from my house. #byefelicia.

As far as New Years resolutions are concerned (or not because I spent the day stuffing my face with pizza) I don’t like to make too many. If anyone asks me it’s usually just “have a better year than last”, but this year I will make a personal resolution to my blog, to expand and explore more.

That was definitely reflected in my Christmas list this year and I was gifted an grill pan-

What can it be?!

-from my brother-in law and a meat grinder attachment for my stand mixer from my sister (thanks for supporting my blog and Brett’s ever-growing waist band!). My husband also bought me a meat grinder because-MEN (who don’t pay attention to women texting them as to what they had ALREADY bought their wife), but I digress…once I get my new sausage attachment working with that bad boy the skies the limit!

 Until then, I was able to break out my new grill pan for a “special” Christmas treat. Brett and I don’t have our own christmas celebration alone because we are running all over the place to visit family on Christmas, so I thought what better than to break out my new tools and make us a cozy dinner on Dec 26th.

The day after the holiday went to the store and planned my weekly meal. I also, picked up some filet mignon, asparagus and potatoes for the evening. I could think of a million things to grill but I wanted steak! yum. It’s also pretty resilient to a new pan. It says pre-seasoned and I brushed it with a bit of oil but my steaks still stuck a bit.

I patted my steaks dry and did just a simple salt and pepper on them (really, what more do you need?)

I should mention that I eat my steak rare- So a while before I even turned the stove on under my new pan I prepped my asparagus and potatoes. Baked potatoes take about 45 minutes in the oven so you have to plan accordingly. I also like to roast asparagus (in the summer I do it on the grill).

once they are trimmed, I just drizzle olive oil, salt pepper and cook for about 20 minutes (or until slightly crispy) at 350 degrees. I also like to shift them around a bit on the pan at least once just to even things out- they come out delicious.

Now onto the steaks-

For a rare-meduim rare steak I cook these about 4-8 minutes per size (10-15 min total). Rotating half way per sise-  90 degrees to get those fancy grill marks.

But really that brings up a great point- the time spent on cooking steaks depends on how thick the steaks you are cooking- duh. Luckily, google provided me with this handy-dandy chart for your convenience-

Perfectly rare.

Make a simple Bearnaise sauce and you have yourself a great and simple Christmas post-day meal….or new years meal?

So Happy 2015!!! I can’t wait to share some new meals that are new and exciting to me and hopefully you as well! If there is something you’d like to see me make/challenge me to make post it in the comments! I love off-beat requests-