STAY HOME NEW YEAR’S EVE.

And cook.

What are you doing this New Year’s Eve?  I’m staying home and cooking, eating and drinking. Okay, that’s what I did all year, but this one is special.

This will be a very different New Year’s Eve to ones we have known - and the best thing to do, I have decided, is to wrestle it to the ground, lock it up at home, and give it a big old smooch. Have fun with it. Make it something to remember. And make it easy on yourself and others to do and to enjoy.

So, what’s for dinner? With fresh Australian lobster at such good prices, that’s a shoe-in. Lobster salad. Split and grilled on the barbie. Yusheng, Singapore’s glorious raw-fish toss-it-high salad, traditionally reserved for the lunar new year, would be fun made with lobster instead.

If you still have some ham in the fridge ( of course you do, it’s never-ending), than consider spaghetti hamonara; a creamy, cheesy pasta dish that swaps out the trad bacon for chopped leg ham.

Or take a tip from Eater’s always-interesting Hillary Dixler Canavan, and pair fast food with Champagne. Way to go.

This night is about closure – thank you, goodbye, missing you already – but mostly about going in to the new year with love, resilience, curiosity and a sort of easy, relaxed openness to what 2021 will bring, bolstered by the fact that you are stronger than you thought you were. (Talking to myself, here).

Thanks for asking - I’ll be doing cold oysters and hot party pies, followed by a ‘grand aioli’ of prawns, fish, boiled potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, green beans and radishes. Terry is in charge of cheese and wine - a platter of Morbier, chevre and Comte, Chambolle-Musigny and Louis Jadot Chablis - and we’ll finish the year on my neighbour’s very fine fruitcake.

Happy new year everyone. Let’s hope it’s a good one, without any fear. No, let’s make it a good one.