New Year's Day, Welcome 2011

January 1, 2011, was born to a beautiful sunrise. A sunrise to which I was awake for. The moon was a sliver to the east and Venus was as bright as could be, hovering near the crescent. I puttered around in the morning and took various interior photos with my iPhone on its Instagram application - my favourite new thing. The sun was intense and the sky was so blue and clear, while the streets were caked in frost until well past 11 AM.







I finally took out to the store in search of my Cioppino ingredients. Eating fish on New Year's Day is considered lucky. I need all the luck I can get so why question tradition? It's true - proven on a found website entry entitled "Eat yourself lucky - good luck food for New Year's Day"

In North America, Asia, and Europe, people eat fish to celebrate the new year. In some countries, people associate fish with moving forward into the new year since fish swim forward. Other people think fish symbolize abundance since they swim in schools.

Of all places, I arrived at Safeway in Lynn Valley - my Dad's shopping haunt. As serendipitous as it can get, my dear old dad rang my mobile as I was deciding on crushed and diced tomatoes. I said hello and told him I was shopping at his Safeway.

Back home I sautéd 5 cloves of garlic, fresh celery, onion, olive oil, red curry paste, clam juice, diced tomatoes and then piled in the red deliciousness into my new crock-pot. The fish, crab, clam and prawn mix went in three hours later. Amazing.

Moira came over to test the creation and enjoy a glass (or two) of pink champagne. The sunset was spectacular and we both kept going out to the freezing balcony to witness the colours and capture photos. It was so amazing and quite beyond the camera lens scope. It just could not be captured as brilliantly as actually as it was taking place. That's the thing about life in general.


Cioppino Ingredients
2 Large onions, chopped (2 cups)
2 Medium stalks celery, finely chopped (1 cup)
5 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 bottle (8 ounces) clam juice
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
1/2 cup Dry white wine - used red wine
1 tablespoon Red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Olive oil
1 tablespoon red curry paste
21/2 teaspoons Italion seasoning
1/4 teaspoon Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Crushed red pepper
1 Dried bay leaf
1 pound Firm-fleshed white fish, cut into 1-inch pieces
3/4 pound Uncooked peeled deveined medium shrimp, thawed if frozen
1 can (61/2 ounces) chopped clams with juice, undrained
1 can (6 ounces) crabmeat, drained, cartilage removed and flaked
1/4 cup Chopped fresh parsley