New Years Day Meal

We made the traditional Southern New Year's meal- black eyed peas, cornbread, and greens. We always have a ham for Christmas dinner so we can save the ham bone for the black eyed peas. Last night I soaked the black eyed peas with 1/8 teaspoon baking soda. The reason you soak the beans and then discard the water and rinse and drain them is that it gets rid of most of the indigestible sugars that are in beans thus reducing flatulence. The baking soda helps get rid of even more. I cooked the peas with the ham bone, ~3 tablespoons bacon drippings, ~1/4 of an onion (chopped), and the rest of the leftover ham from Christmas cut into cubes. At the end of the cooking I added salt and pepper to taste and a good sprinkling of curry powder. Southerners eat black eyed peas for New Year's because the peas swell, and this ensures luck and prosperity. The greens ensure lots of cash will come your way, and the cornbread ensures lots of gold. We're not superstitious, but it's still fun. Jon wouldn't eat the peas, but he liked the ham and drank lots of the broth. Gray played in everything and ate a little. Jer didn't eat a ton, but he did eat some.

The music on this video is kind of melancholy, so if you're more in the mood for something cheery, don't press play for this one. It's a four minute video about the friendship Lucy had with Mr. Tumnus and Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia movie. The song is called Lullaby for a Stormy Night by Vienna Teng, and it is so beautiful.