Champagnes on New Year's Eve

I'm back tracking a little to blog about the champagnes that we drank to celebrate and welcome in the New Year. There were 10 of us and we polished off 2 champagnes to begin the evening's refection. One was a Veuve Clicquot provided by our generous friend for this event. It was fruity, dry and fresh tasting. My husband shucked 3 dozen oysters that we bought locally. One and a half dozen each of Noank bluepoints and East Beach blondes and needless to say, the oysters paired very well with the "Widow" (i.e. Veuve).

The other champagne was the total opposite of the Veuve Clicquot being a bit more yeasty and creamy. It was a 1990 Dom Pérignon that my husband thought was edging past it's prime.
We researched what other foods could pair with champagne and saw that fried foods make for a good pairing. In the end, we opted for chicken liver and truffle paté that we purchased from Fromage Fine Foods & Coffee in Old Saybrook and smoked

salmon on caper cream cheese on rice crackers. I found the recipe on line and modified the smoked trout to smoke salmon and it worked: Smoke Trout and Caper Cream Cheese Toasts. This was our start that presaged a leisurely and entertaining New Year's Eve gathering.
Note: The cream cheese directly on the rice cracker made the rice cracker go soggy. By putting the salmon on the bottom of the cracker and then putting the cream cheese on top of the salmon enabled the cracker to stay crisp but the presentation was not as appealing. Your choice. It tasted delicious either way.