Ok, does everyone have their black eyed peas, collard greens, cornbread, and ham ready for tomorrow? Can't have New Years in the South without those foods. I've got mine simmering on the stove.
Here's an article on why we do this in the Deep South for anyone interested.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/edmonds/edmonds239.html
[font=Times New Roman, Times, serif]New Years Food[/font]
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A few times each year, your home-cooked menu is selected for you by family, local, regional, or national traditions. The most obvious ones we Americans enjoy ("enjoy" is a strong word; some of us arent obsessively beholden to traditions) are Thanksgiving with turkey, stuffing, and green bean casserole; Independence Day, Memorial Day, and Labor Day with hot dogs, hamburgers, beans, coleslaw, apple pie, and sometimes steaks; Christmas with ham and oceans of white-flour- and white-sugar-based pastries and confections; and Valentines Day with dinner out and chocolates.[/font]
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New Years Day is unique in its culinary norms. Black-eyed peas are the main requisite, long associated with good luck for the new year. How that association came about is lost to the ravages of time, just as are the origins of many particularly beautiful and centuries-old folk songs, such as those J. S. Bach used for his 300-odd chorales. All we know for sure is that the black-eyed pea tradition, as is the case for so many other wonderful food traditions, came from the South.[/font]
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Among the black-eyed pea hypotheses are that on Shermans crop-burning march through Georgia, black-eyed pea crops were left alone since Yankees thought they were weeds. Black-eyed peas and salt pork were all some Southerners had to keep themselves alive, so the tradition of associating these beans with good luck started there.[/font]
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Another hypothesis is that in the 19th century, farmers didnt necessarily know about soil chemistry, but they did generally understand that black-eyed peas dont deplete soil of certain nutrients; theyre a good crop for rotation. If you had enough black-eyed peas from last summer to cook some on New Years Day, that meant you planted a bunch last summer, so the soil would be good in the new year. From this, the superstitious belief evolved that eating black-eyed peas on New Years Day brought good luck the following year.[/font]
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And finally, since New Years Day is near the center of our perceived winter season in the South, and since dried beans store well, most farming families in the South had more legumes than anything else by the time New Years Day rolled around. You might as well make a good luck charm out of something you have to do anyway.[/font]
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Collard greens are another Southern tradition, but dont enjoy quite the same mandate as black-eyed peas. Some legends assert that black-eyed peas represent coins, and greens currency; hence, these legends dovetail with the Eastern European ones that hold you should leave a dollar outside your front door at night, and bring it back in on New Years Day, to set the pattern for bringing money into the house during the new year.[/font]
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At least interesting as the superstitions, though, are the recipes![/font]
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Some traditions involve cooking the greens with the beans. No, thanks. Most involve a ham hock or a pork neck bone. Thats a good trick, but doesnt quite hit the mark for me.[/font]
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For black-eyed peas, save yourself the three days of labor, and get them from cans. Drain and rinse them. Dice one thick slice of bacon, half a Vidalia onion, and one or three jalapeños. Sauté all in the closest thing you have to a cast-iron skillet, then add the beans. To thicken, mash some of the beans with a fork and stir. To thin, add 1/3 cup of a dry white wine. A little black pepper (you probably dont need salt at this point), and youre ready to serve.[/font]
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For greens, how long you cook depends on what kind of greens you have collard, turnip, or mustard. Taste along the way to test for doneness. In the closest thing you have to a cast iron Dutch oven, sauté another diced, thick slice of bacon, the other half of that onion, deglaze with 1/4 cup of white wine and 1/4 cup of white or cider vinegar, then add the greens and at least lots of any Louisiana hot sauce (make sure the only ingredients are vinegar, red peppers, and salt). Stir, cover, and check occasionally for doneness.[/font]
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Cornbread is an option (use unsalted butter and a little brown sugar with whatever recipe you have), but meat is not. Most Southern New Years Day meals though most Southerners nowadays dont really sit down to a traditional New Years Day meal include ham, while some include fried chicken. I nominate fried catfish. There are already thousands of recipes on the web for fried catfish; be sure to consider only those that involve cayenne pepper. It just isnt a satisfying meal unless your mouth resounds for a while afterward with the warm pain of pepper heat, and a traditional Southern meal is not successful if it isnt satisfying. You ought not to be hungry for many hours afterward.[/font]
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Some culinary traditions are wonderful merely because they create heartwarming experiences that tie us to our ancestors and progeny. Certain annual events are emotional punctuation marks in the overarching temporal map of our lives. Additionally, theyre the only opportunities many of us take to make contact with some of our more distant relatives, reinforcing the family ties and associations that make certain observances special.[/font]
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Annual culinary rites can be wonderful just for the food, though the traditions associated with New Years Day in the South are rooted in events that made and broke the lives of many, perhaps millions, of loving, vital people who wished only to live their lives as successfully and peacefully as possible for the benefit of their families. Knowing something about the traditions adds a little something to appreciate, a little emotional significance, a little connectedness to generations past; the psychic equivalent of a fresh dusting of Italian parsley. Add to that some bacon and hot sauce, and you know what the South and life itself are all about.[/font]
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Enjoy your New Years Eve celebration and the bowl games on New Years Day. But before you jump into the task of taking care of ordinary business in the new year our lives are busy and unexamined enough already take just a moment to savor something delicious, nourishing, and culturally significant. Black-eyed peas and greens are the closest thing we have to Stonehenge. Enjoy them this year.[/font]
to you all back in 2005 from 2006 
Only problem is he used cooking oil instead of the pine-sol
So I had a clean slick kitchen floor
I about feel on my rear the 1st time I walked in the kitchen
Oh well I did not say anything to him, it's the thought that counts, right
I have remopped(is that a word)the floor & I think all is well now
Ball drop? WHat does that mean?
