As always, we had our annual New Year’s pig roast. I’m pretty sure that even if I didn’t send out an Evite, people would still show up at my house. This was the 12th year and I have a feeling we’ll be doing it forever!

The day starts with the dressing of the pig in the morning – once it’s all stuffed with potatoes and other yummy spices, it’s put on the spit and starts cooking.

This pig was a little bit smaller than we’ve done in the past couple years – so it went on around 10am rather than earlier in the day.

After the pig goes on, we wait. People stop by all day to check in on it and enjoy the “cracklins” – basically the tasty skin that starts to form as it cooks. Mike has a special marinade that he pours on throughout the day that makes it taste even better!

Finally it’s time to cut the pig up. It’s quite the process that requires skilled butchers… or just a bunch of dudes with electric knives.

We had a blast this year, as always. We never really know how many people are going to be there, and every year it’s a great mix of people we’ve seen every year and new faces. Our friends and family all bring side dishes and we get to sample all sorts of amazing cooking! We celebrated both the New York (9pm) countdown as well as our own west coast countdown. It was a wonderful time!