New Year's is about a lot of things: partying into the night, getting tipsy on Champagne, sharing a moment with a special someone at the stroke of midnight. But most importantly, the new year is a reboot, a chance to make some changes, to set a goal and go for it, to choose a new direction in life. Many cultures believe there's a way to ensure a positive outcome in the new year by eating lucky foods. So to guarantee your good luck, why not eat your way to prosperity and wealth? It's worth a try!
It's tradition to eat pork on New Year's Day since the pig symbolizes forward progress due to its predilection to dig things up with its snout. Whereas other animals, like the chicken who scratches backwards, is a no-no on New Year's. Southerners equate black-eyed peas and greens with wealth—the beans look like coins and the greens like money. Hoppin' John is one of those traditional dishes you'll find on the Southern New Year's table because it has black-eyed peas and bacon—what a winning combination.
Holiday Goodies
Holiday Goodies
Dip Day
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As a supervisor in a call center, I was always trying to find fun things to do with the team to keep them motivated. I love trying new dips so I thought it would be a good idea to put the two together and officially make December 21st "Dip Day." Everyone would bring in a different dip and it often included sharing the recipe because they were so good, garnering me a wide assortment of different recipes to use at parties and family get togethers. I moved to Florida in 1995 and although I do not have those wintry days to put up with, I still continue to celebrate "dip day" and the extra light it brings. |
Ina Garten’s Roasted Eggplant Spread Fig and Walnut Tapenade with Goat Cheese |
I always hated how it got so dark, so early in the winter. One day, a friend told me I just needed to manage until December 21st because that was the shortest day of the year and from
that day on it would get lighter a minute earlier each day. Growing up and working in Pittsburgh, anything that could help us through the cold and gloomy winter days was motivating, so I decided we needed to celebrate the day.
Cranberry Raspberry Relish
Thanksgiving is my favorite national holiday. It is not focused around the obligatory(bad) gift, it’s secular, and the abundance of flavors, color, and creativity in the food and recipes cannot be beat.
I started creating my Thanksgiving menu over 25 years ago, in a 2 bedroom duplex with a very small kitchen. The size of my kitchen didn’t matter, nor did the fact that I only had one oven. I was organized, made lists, prepped and did as much as I could in advance. My pumpkin soup and this cranberry sauce remain the two constants on my holiday table. Today, I may have a slightly larger kitchen, two ovens, an extra fridge, but the joy of this holiday remains the same.
Regardless, making a Thanksgiving meal requires organization, lots of prep, and time management. I do as much as I can in advance. This cranberry sauce can be made a week in advance, Pie crusts are made and frozen, soups are made 2 days prior, and all veggies are cleaned, blanched, and chopped the weekend before.
Lucky Money Stew
As with any Southern celebration, the table will be donned and decked with the literal pieces of our family’s legacy. A great aunt’s china, grandmother’s silver, or mama’s linens. We Southerners know our people and know their worth–a worth laden with sentiment, honor, and legacy if not anything monetarily per say. The memories of those who celebrated this meal are held dear as we utilize their treasures as we shepherd our lives into this New Year.
The garden shall provide our centerpieces. It is wintertime after all, and time to put the garden to bed for a long winter’s nap. Cedar, cypress, boxwood, holly, and magnolia will be clipped and set into a coiffure bouquet only the garden can provide. Pine boughs and cones, bowls of pecans in silver dishes, blue juniper berries and deep aubergine privet berries will augment the serenity of the season and a dose of color to our homage of garden greens. Touches of white from early Paperwhites, silvery artemisia, and popcorn tree will truly sparkle against the deep evergreens’ foliage, looking ever so dapper in any cachepot, tureen, pot, or pail.
We shall eat for progression, luck, health and wealth, and a myriad of good things, and will end the dining festivities with sweet morsels of Southern goodness. Our gardens and land shall be ever present as our décor–a gentle reminder of where our provisions were grown and raised. The food may be spiced with meaning, tradition, and superstition, but the lore has become a part of our culture. For a few hundred years, we had to eat what we had, what we grew. Though times have changed, eating that food, eating “poor,” is still cherished and revered so we may truly eat “rich.” We shall have rice for riches and peas for peace and be no worse for the wear. From this Farmer’s table to yours, Happy New Year!
New Year's Resolutions
Here we go again.
This is where Magical Thinking meets Enlightened Acceptance.
Here are some examples of Magical Thinking:
1.) I’m going to lose 15 lbs. this year.
2.) I’m going to eat right this year (less sweets and fat).
3.) I’m going to walk the dogs more often.
4.) I’m going to read more rather than play Jewel Quest on the computer.
5.) I’m going to re-do the garage/kid’s room/my office, without spending any money.
6.) I’m finally going to read that material about learning to do books on tape for extra money.
7.) I’m going to plan meals more so that everyone in the house isn’t grazing the whole day, including me.
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