2007: The Year of Cheese, Starring S.A.M. & The Admiral

At the NYE Gala, I asked Secret Agent Mom and The Admiral how their annual New Year's Day Feast began. "It started in my dorm room in college," The Admiral explained. "We made food--good food like a turkey--throughout the day to help get rid of our hangovers from the night before."

"How do you cook a turkey in a dorm room?" I asked.

The Admiral just looked at me and laughed.

"Are we having turkey tomorrow?" I asked.

"Oh no," he said. "Beef tenderloin, black eyed pea soup..."

"And magic cheese toasts," S.A.M. said in a funny voice. "They are the very best toasts."

"Magic toast?" I said.

"Oh and baked gouda ball," she added.

"BAKED GOUDA BALL! Now you are talkin'!" I squealed, still full of sushi, gyoza, and fried shrimp.

We arrived at the New Year's Day Feast around 2:00pm and discovered a table full of chips and dips (and bloggers and musicians and media elite). I hobbled my way to the kitchen where I found a barefoot and pregnant S.A.M. preparing something involving dough.


"Is that the gouda ball??" I asked.

"No, this is stromboli," she said.

"Mmmmm...okay," I said as I went in search of a mimosa and a place to prop my leg. Every so often more food would appear and I would ask, "Is that the gouda ball?"

"No, that's the magic cheese toast," S.A.M. would say.

"Eat some clams," The Admiral would say.


Finally, the gouda ball came out and it was everything I had hoped for and more. "I've only cooked it with the red wax on it once," S.A.M. joked.


It's just gouda wrapped in a crescent roll, but it is SO good. "It seems like it would need some kind of sauce," I said, "but it totally doesn't."

We topped the yummy gouda ball off with the equally yummy stromboli, beef tenderloin sandwiches, and the best black eyed pea soup ever. And two flavors of homemade ice cream! All those artsy types who split before 8pm totally missed out.