Tradition

I dedicate this pot full of black eyed peas to Alberta Biehl. She's my Gram. Every year when I was little (and for her whole life long) she would make us eat black eyed peas on New Years. It's a southern tradition. Eating the peas is supposed to bring prosperity in the coming year. When I was little I hated those damned peas. I thought they were Mega, Mega GROSS. It was near torture to have to eat them. But I did. Because my Gram had me believin' pretty hard core that if I did not eat them I would be a busted up mess for the whole year. From the time I was about 16 until I was about 25 I skipped the peas. And guess what? I was a busted up mess pretty much that whole time. Coincidence? We will never know for sure. I am eating the peas now just to cover my ass. Better safe than sorry.

Here's a photo of my Gram and her best friend Florence from back in the day. These two women could cook. My Gram is the one on the right. How cute are they? My Auntie Florence passed away years ago... she was a riot. She was one of those women that was a true force of nature. My gram is 83 and still kickin' butt. I am going to call her up after I finish this post and tell her we ate the peas today. She will sleep better tonight knowing that we did.




The funny thing is I really like black eyed peas now.... all those years I agonized over having to eat them and now I think they are pretty darned tasty. Weird eh? When I went to the grocery the other day to buy some for today there was a mountainous display of them in the produce department. We are in the south after all. These people are all eatin' the peas today.

I cook them in a mixture of veggie broth and Martinelli's Apple Juice. I use Martinelli's when cooking just about any dried bean. It adds a great deal of sweetness and is nicely offset by a dash of cayenne pepper.

We are taking it easy today. A lot of people peeled out this morning to head back home after the holiday so the RV park is quieting down again. We are in the middle of some horrid arctic cold blast pushing down from the north so it will be a good night to snuggle in and watch a movie or two.

I will be continuing my story "How We Became a Tribe of Three" over the course of this whole month. I figure it is a good way to get through January since we will not be on the move and I won't have as many travel stories this month.

Oh and also... Rudy once again made it to the pages of "Stuff On My Mutt." I think this is his third time! What a celebrity.

Happy New Year!