Saturday, February 3, 2024

Covid Chronicles. Chapter 101: New Year's Eve, Pandemic Style


Read chapter 100 here
Photos by Retiring Guy


Saturday, January 2, 2021 

Last year we enjoyed a festive New Year’s Eve dinner at a restaurant in Munich, its spacious interior resembling an old-fashioned beer hall, which was filled with raucous diners by the time we left. I wouldn’t have been surprised if everyone raised a stein and broke out in song. Perhaps they did so at midnight, by which time were long gone, 3 of us having to catch an early flight the next morning. (The photo of JoAnna exemplifies the joy all of us felt at that moment.) 




Two years ago we planned to join Mim and Tom and a group of their 
friends in Beloit for dinner, as we had done for much of the decade, until a snowstorm kept us home. 




This year the pandemic forced another stay-at-home celebration. Wanting to make the evening special, JoAnna planned a 5-course dinner, even preparing a menu to place at each table setting. I was an end-of-the-year, goodbye and good riddance to 2020. I bought the lobster tails, frozen, at the generically named Seafood Center, a Madison fish market so small that, due to Covid restrictions, no more than five customers are allowed inside at any one time. Ron and Margaret tipped us off about this place within the past year , and we have been consistently impressed with its high quality and reasonable prices. The tenderloin, of course, came from Knoche’s. We rarely buy meat anywhere else nowadays. 

JoAnna set a beautiful table, using the China and silverware her mother purchased at an estate sale in Manitowoc nearly 35 years ago. (Before Andy was born. JoAnna might’ve been pregnant at the time.) I went along with them on this excursion as I was curious to see the interior of the turn-of-the-century mansion where the sale took place. 

The crystal glassware was a wedding gift. 

Surprisingly, none of us felt overly sated at the end of our meal, mainly because we took a very leisurely approach. It made for memorable evening, in its own small way, though nothing compared to our final night in Munich last year, a celebration that capped a magical two-week visit in Germany. Just a moment ago, JoAnna called out from the kitchen, “We were on our way home from Charlotte last year at this time.” Our connecting flight between Munich and Chicago. 

Covid’s stifling impact makes us hopeful we can return to Germany next Christmas. We’ll see. 




As for clean-up. The rule in our household is that whoever prepares the meal is exempt from this duty. I spent about an hour in the kitchen getting things back to order. Since the china and crystal aren’t dishwasher-safe, I wasn’t able to take any shortcuts. Not a problem. I listened to the top 300 countdown on the Sirius/XM’s 60s on 6 channel. 

JoAnna and I ended up celebrating New Year’s on Halifax, Nova Scotia time. We were asleep by 10:30. The following morning, Andy confessed that he fell asleep before midnight while watching TV.
 

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