A Southern New Year's Tradition

"As God is my witness, they're not going to lick me. I'm going to live through this, and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folks. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill. As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!" --Scarlett O'Hara

And she does lie, steal, cheat and kill, too, but it makes for a great story. Fortunately, all we had to do was go to the grocery store and pick up our southern victuals for a nominal price. In keeping with the southern tradition, we started the new year by eating black-eyed peas for good luck, and collard greens for wealth in 2009. Here is our pile of money before being cooked.

Some traditions recognize the greens as paper money, the black-eyed peas as coins, and cornbread as "gold." Well, Diannah's cornbread was as good as gold; it was absolutely delicious. She also brought the rice and the sweet herbal tea. Yum!


We finished it all off with caramel cake and speed scrabble. Happy New Year!