New Year's Eve menu - advice needed!

[mp413]

I am having a dinner party for New Year's and need help planning dishes. It's a multicultural dinner featuring NYE traditions from Japan and Czech Rep (so far) so I need ideas for hors d'oeuvres and other dishes that could complement the mains:

- Japanese noodles with shrimp and squid
- Lentil soup

Because that's all carb-heavy I was thinking salad or some kind of other raw/light dishes would be good? Any ideas?

Oh, and I can get decent steak, charcuteries, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, eggplant, peppers, and basil possibly. For sundries I have nice olive oil & vinegars, sesame oil, mirin, truffle oil, canned hearts of palm, kidney beans, capers, low quality olives, maybe cornichons (I live in Chad!)

Would very much appreciate menu planning advice!

Thanks

mp413

[mamachef]

I'm thinking you need to do something red-meat- centric here: maybe an asian-marinated steak kebab? I also think a dhal might be a better choice than soup; less liquidy/filling, served over rice. and a bellpepper, eggplant and tomato bake would taste excellent with any of these, or incorporate as eggplant stuffed with rice and lentils?

[hotoynoodle]

lol, these cuisines are not exaclty complimentary.

instead of japanese noodles, maybe just the shrimp and squid with a miso or sesame sauce, or some other kind of japanese flavoring? it's too much to have two such carby dishes as mains, i think.

this link has some nice asian dishes on it which may help you:

http://rasamalaysia.com/recipes/hors-...

a charcuterie plate with good pickles, or pickled veg like the eggplant and peppers, would be a fine czech appetizer.

are you serving dessert?

is this a buffet or served meal?

[mels]

Is this a formal dinner or buffet/grazing style?

I would definitely add some vegetables in there to balance the meal. Also, in my opinion, you can never go wrong with a board with cheeses, charcuteries, some marinated vegetables (love mushrooms for this).