A dark skinned person came to my door this morning

[floridablue]

Actually he is my next door neighbor. Thus the family tradition passed to me from my English relatives will once again bring good luck for the year, he being the first to come to my door. In turn, I made the bacon, eggs, potatoes, toast & coffee so we could enjoy our own tradition of New Years breakfast together. And just to make sure 09 is a good year for us, we wolfed down a jar of pickle herring for good measure.

[merh]

1. what about the cabbage, ham/pork and blackeyed peas?

Happy New Year

[crispini]

3. Greens! Not cabbage.

Ew. Cabbage. :)

[merh]

8. ick, greens

yummmmm cabbage (my cabbage is green ;) )

HNY! :hi:

[crispini]

9. Well as long as it's green and leafy like foldin' money

I guess it will do the trick! HNY to you too! :hi:

[bertman]

32. That's what I said, crispini. But my wife, who's from New Orleans, said their tradition

calls for cabbage and black-eyed peas. Here in North Carolina where I grew up it was collard greens and black-eyes. Yummy.

Happy New Year to ALL!!

[DevonRex]

12. Turnip greens, not cabbage. And you have to have cornbread

and maybe even some buttermilk with it.

[merh]

14. the leafy cabbage is green

it works and of course, there is cornbread :)

HNY :hi:

[DevonRex]

16. Then you're covered. Now that I think of it, cabbage might be a

good way to ensure that one of my sons has good luck. He will NOT eat greens, but he loves cabbage with butter and salt and pepper. No matter how often I warn him that ill tidings will befall him, he refuses the turnip greens. I've tried kale and mustard greens to no avail.

So today, I will add cabbage to the menu. :hi:

[merh]

18. I've have tried to eat greens

I have had greens cooked by the best cooks around (true old south, home cooks, not restaurant pretenders) and I just don't like them sam, I am. They are bitter, no matter how they are prepared and how I am told they are not, they are. So I make cabbage much like you make it for your son. Mmmmm, cabbage is the best.

[MadMaddie]

26. Have you had fried cabbage?

Yummy.....goes well with fried chicken.

[MazeRat7]

20. Collards not cabbage.... but whatever to each their own.

Happy New Year...

Peace,
MZr7

[merh]

23. Happy New Year

:hi:

[1monster]

27. When I was a child in Pennsylvania Dutch country, it was saurkraut, pork chops, and mashed potatoes.

In the south, where I have lived for decades, it is hog jowls, blackeyed peas, and collard greens (sometimes mustard greens are substituted).

Saurkraut and collard greens are supposed to stand for money or prosperity for the coming year.

But my family won't eat collard greens, mustard greens, or saurkraut. :(

So I substitute baby spinach for collard greens and hide it in my own version of Hoppin' John (Ham, blackeyed peas, rice, tomatoes, green peppers, onions, and other ingredients that come to hand.

Today, we will have hog jowl bacon (first time I've seen that here), Hoppin' John, baked potatoes cut up and rebaked with onions and butter, and saurkraut. I've told my family that it is their PATRIOTIC DUTY as citizens of Earth to have at least ONE bite of the saurkraut to help insure that our personal, our national, and our global economy grows more healthy, stronger, and wealthier.

(For the uninitiated who think that saurkraut is inedible: Take a small forkful of saurkraut and add an equal amount of potatoes -- mashed or otherwise -- and eat... Not so sour at all.)

(on edit: moved a portion of a sentence from where it should not have been to where it belonged.)

[hootinholler]

29. Pork and Saurkraut! You bet!

That's the shizzle!

-Hoot

[merh]

31. I'm 3rd and 4th generation Polish

My mother a Texan (you would be surprised at the Polish heritage of Texas) and father from Michigan. He retired from the USAF in the South, thus this has been my home. So I've had the kielbasa and saurkraut and pork roast/chops and mashed potatoes for New Year's meal as well as the cabbage, ham and blackeyed peas.

I love saurkraut, a reuben or rachel sandwich is the bestest sandwich in the world.

[GentryDixon]

30. In our house it has always been beans for the new year.

Yum.

[hlthe2b]

2. No black eyed peas?

Well, you still have the rest of the day for those! LOL ;)

[Ioo]

17. that is a southern thing... my husband thinks I am nuts

[Kceres]

22. It IS a southern thing: black-eyed peas and ham hocks on NYD.

Yum.

[bertman]

33. WHAT!!!??? No hawg jowls??

[w8liftinglady]

25. I have mine simmering in the crockpot as we speak...will make fried cabbage later

Yum ;)

[Historic NY]

4. The herring was over the top.

[Genevieve]

5. . . .

huh?

:shrug:

[alphafemale]

19. Something about fair-haired/skinned people being associated with invaders.

Norse and Vikings. Don't know all the details.

[Ilsa]

6. I made my version of Hoppin John with

Blackeyed peas and we'll be munching it later today. Yum.

Breaking bread with your neighbor - it's a great way to start the new year!

[babylonsister]

7. Ahh, the herring! Creamed in our home when I was growing up, and

I forgot to get some.

Happy New Year!

[asjr]

10. My daughter-in-law has already

put the blackeyed peas and hog jowl on to cook. I can think of better fare than that to start off the new year. But she is superstitious and will not allow me to do any laundry on this day. I never heard of that before. But she is a keeper so I will eat some of it.

[madmom]

11. My m-i-l usually brings me cabbage and pork on new years eve, but

this is the first year in a very long time that she didn't. She has her brain (?) wrapped up in the "church" and I'm atheist so I am a pariah to her now. Her son and I have been married for 35 years and we both have always been non believers and now all of a sudden I'm a bad person.:shrug:

[onethatcares]

13. pork chops/saurkraut and mashed taters.

hmmmmmmm good. We're having the family over for dinner. For some reason, after all these years, all these little things have meaning to me. Peace to all, and Happy New Year.:yourock:

[dems_rightnow]

15. You're already screwed

If you ate pickled herring. You need to stop that.

[floridablue]

21. I learned the herring thing from Swedish people?

What am I missing?

[watrwefitinfor]

24. I just had a bratwurst.

Ummmmm. Not as good as fresh from the butcher shop, but the butchers down here don't know how to make the things. Fact is, there isn't even a butcher shop within a 100 mile radius.

But the Yankees came (bless 'em!), bringing bratwursts with them to the nearest supermarket.

I must confess some greens would have gone along nicely with the brat. Wish I'd thought of that.

Oh, and the secret to sweet greens is to grow them in a plot that's been well composted and mulched for several years. Then wait till after a hard frost to gather and cook them. Even takes the bitter out of mustard greens.

Wat

[Kalyke]

28. So people who are either allergic to pork or who are Jewish or Muslim

will not have a happy new year?

:cry:

I am Southern, but am extremely intolerant of pork. I also hate black-eyed peas.

We're having steak, baked potato fries and asparagus.

Can't hurt. LOL.

[csziggy]

34. Pork or the fat rich hog jowls are supposed to indicate prosperity

Leafy greens as mentioned above stand for folding green money. I've never been sure what Hopping John stands for.

But these days, steak and asparagus are a pretty good indication of prosperity in my book! So I'd say you are OK - maybe add salad for a leafy green. ;-)