I don’t know if you all watch the parade on New Year’s Day, but when I was growing up, it was part of the ritual. And Mom always had a pot of Hoppin’ John on the stove, which we had to have a spoonful of for good luck. Hoppin’ John, for those of you who may not know it, is black-eyed peas. And we had hot corn bread to go with it. I tried making this traditional New Year’s dish a couple of years ago, and it was delish, though I don’t think my family was clamoring for me to do it again.
But, back to the parade. This morning I was talking with my dad on the phone, and he and Mom had been watching the parade. He said one of the newscasters commented that he had seen the Rose Bowl Parade in 1975, and this remark was met with general hushed awe. But my dad remembers going to the parade in the 1930’s and sitting on orange crates with his brothers and sister to watch the floats go by. Now can you beat that?
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Having black eyed peas and ham with cornbread is a new years tradition in our home too. My mother was born in the South and she said that her grandmother always told them that if you ate a poor man’s meal on New Year’s Day you would be rich all the year through. She says this with a smile though, because they were so poor that black eyed peas (usually without ham) was a frequent meal. Thankfully, my family loves it and I wonder why I don’t make it more often.