New Years Foods... The Swanky and the Sensual

It’s not necessary to make New Year’s resolutions if you’re doing it right from the get go. Greet 2009 with a delicious party or sit down dinner!

Oysters and champagne are the epitome of celebratory foods. Imagine welcoming your guests with an appetizer of raw oysters or serving a sit down course of Oysters Rockefeller. A natural aphrodisiac, friends can slurp, laugh and get in the mood for their midnight kiss.

MarxFoods.com has a variety of the finest live oysters available including Pacific oysters, Virginica oysters, Olympia oysters, and Kumamoto oysters.

For a swanky dinner party, create several courses that can be savored in the hours leading up to midnight.

START THE NIGHT OFF RIGHT with:

Farmstead Cheese: Create a beautiful cheese plate with artisan Washington cheeses. River Valley Ranch features festive booze-infused Naughty Nellie and Tipsy Cow along with a very pretty fig and almond chevre. Mt. Townsend Creamery has incredible cheeses ranging from an intricately flavored cow’s milk cheese coated in vegetable ash to a nutty aged whole milk cheese.

Game Sausage Sampler: Skewer bites of wild boar, rabbit or duck sausage for a fun passed appetizer.

Zucca Butternut Squash Ravioli: Onebite of light nutmeg pasta filled with succulent creamy butternut squash paired with Amaretto cookies and parmesan will have you swooning in delight. A very traditional Italian dish, these pretty ravioli can be served plain or drizzled with browned butter and sizzled sage as an appetizer or pasta course.

SERVE AN ELEGANT SIT DOWN DINNER

8-Rib Rack of Lamb: A simple marinade of garlic, rosemary, honey and soy sauce will result in an amazing meal that will far exceed a typical roast.

Osso Bucco: Veal shanks braised for a few hours will result in fork tender, melt-in-your-mouth, fall-off-the-bone meat.

Kobe Beef Tenderloin: If you’re going to stick with beef, make it the king of beef. This meat is so richly marbled and full flavor: Once you go Kobe, you’ll never go back!

Kurobuta Pork Tenderloin: Also known as Berkshire Pork, this is a Japanese breed of pork known for its intense marbling and tenderness. Can be simply marinated or stuffed and is fabulous served with goat cheese polenta.

Truly Wild, Wild Boar Tenderloin: Really go out on a limb and give your guests something to talk about. Wild boar can be substituted in any pork recipe. It has a slightly sweet and nutty flavor and is extremely tender. Leaner than domestic pork, it’s an excellent way to cut calories around the holidays with out loosing flavor.

Smoked Duck: A fun alternate to turkey, duck is a little more exciting and because it’s already smoked you can skip the hours of cooking that would be spent on a turkey. Leftovers will make an awesome pizza topping.

If you’re throwing a large New Year’s Eve bash, keep is simple by sticking to appetizers. Kobe beef sliders, marinated spot prawns, osso-bucco filled ravioli and farmstead cheese will fuel your guests through midnight.

To ensure you’re celebrating with your guests and not in the kitchen all night taking care of dishes, serve New Year’s bites on elegant biodegradable plates made from palm leaves. Once everyone goes home, the eco-friendly plates can simply be tossed or composted—while still sticking to last year’s resolution to be more green.

Marx Foods.com, headquartered in Seattle, Wash. is an online specialty food company dedicated to bringing the highest quality epicurean products directly to the consumer’s doorstep. For a decade, it has been selling to white tablecloth restaurants nationwide. Consumers can shop for fine bulk foods by meat cut, eating style, seasonal items and gifts. To ensure freshness, most products are shipped via Federal Express overnight.