New Year's Day Meals.

In the Hawthorne Household, we have a traditional New Year's Day meal. And I must interject here that I never had this on my mother's Southern table for New Year's. Or if I did, I don't remember it. And if I did, I wouldn't have eaten it. But, Mr. Hawthorne insists on black eyed peas and greens for New Year's. So, here you have it. First, a black eyed pea salad.

My mise en place: My cooked black eyed peas Green pepper Assorted red and orange sweet peppers Green jalapeno

Canned corn Onion Green onion Celery Cilantro

I added the can of corn to the black eyed peas.

I chopped up the peppers, the onions, along with some red onion, celery, and cilantro.

And added all to the corn and peas.

Now, for the dressing. I have olive oil, homemade vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper, garlic and shallots, and fresh oregano and thyme.

First, I squuzzed the juice of 1/2 lemon.

Maxine had given me a small bottle of homemade vinegar, which I added to the lemon juice. In front, I have minced shallots, garlic, thyme, and oregano.

I added the minced ingredients to the lemon/vinegar.

Just a teaspoon or two of sugar went in. My lemon/vinegar/herb mixture is ready, along with salt and pepper, and olive oil drizzled in. Oops. Almost forgot to add in the leftover diced cucumber! I know it was in my original thinkin', and I forgot to add it. And you know, you could add diced tomatoes to this. That would be very good.

My black eyed pea mixture, with extra cilantro and last minute parsley, and a cup of dressing.

Decided the black eyed pea mixture needed more cilantro and some parsley.

Added the dressing to the peas. And my pea salad is done.

Here, Mr. Hawthorne is cutting the rest of the ham off the bone for his ham salad.

Here's all his chopped ham and the ingredients: Celery Mayo Mustard Sweet relish Hard cooked eggs. (He didn't use the Sweet Mixed Pickles after all.)

Just take it all in and duplicate for a delicious ham salad.

Mr. Hawthorne's Ham Salad.

Here's my lunch. Two Triscuits with ham salad and my black eyed pea salad.

Close up. This was delicious.

Ham salad on a Triscuit.

Close up of lunch. Ham salad and black eyed pea salad. Next, I went to another traditional food for New Year's Day. Greens.

I went out to the garden and picked kale and mustard greens.

Washed the leaves off very carefully.

Here's the rest of the ham bone with all the meat mostly pulled off.

Ham bone goes into the greens. ACTION SHOT!

Ham bone in with the greens.

Cook for a couple of hours until the greens are reduced. Thusly.

I added in a few sliced potatoes and cooked for another hour.

Here's the finished product. Kale, mustard greens, bit of ham, potatoes, butter, and cider vinegar on the greens. Absolutely delicious. Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve Dinner

A bit of the bubbly.

Mr. Hawthorne shucked oysters.

























I made the topping: crumbled bacon, chopped onion, spinach, mushrooms, champagne, and cream.

Add a bit of parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, then crumble some Ritz and pop it under the broiler.

My friend, "Maxine," made a lovely black-eyed pea salad with pimientos, yellow, green, and red peppers out of my garden, onion, tomatoes, sliced shrooms, crumbled bacon, and Good Seasons Italian dressing.






From top left:

Green Bean Salad:
Blanched green beans, kidney beans, chopped red onions, feta cheese,

toasted almond slices,
and Good Seasons Italian dressing

Next, the Black Eyed Pea Salad.

Then, my sauted mushrooms, onions, and green peas, with wilted iceberg lettuce.

And a happy little oyster.