Blini Party for Two

“I’m making blinis for an appetizer,” declared my boyfriend on Christmas Eve.  In my carefully planned “Holiday Menu,” I had designated the smoked salmon we bought for Christmas day, think a Scandinavian-style brunch would be a nice way to spend the morning.  Now I had a choice: be OCD and tell him that making blinis was a complete break from my iron-clad menu, or come to my senses and realize my boyfriend, having already agreed to make homemade ice cream and chocolate souffle for me, wanted to make me blinis.  Helllloooooooooo, you crazy lucky girl, shut your damn mouth.  I shut my mouth and made a mental note to buy cereal.  These blinis, a traditional Russian mini-pancake made with buckwheat flour, were light, fluffy and delicious.  We shared them with a white Burgundy (not the more traditional chilled vodka) before a dinner of pan-seared Chilean seabass.  His recipe was a word-of-mouth thing from his chef friend Lior, but I’ve also found a recipe here.  It’s inspired me to plan a Russian-themed dinner party with friends, adding caviar to the mix, and lots of chilled vodka.  Up here in the cold, snowy Catskills Mountains, it seems like an appropriate way to pass the time.