New Year's Day Tradition

I had this very boring post
written up about how calm
and relaxing our first few weeks of the year
were since I couldn't find where I had taken any pictures.

Low and behold...
I found them...
and our first few weeks,
weren't as calm and relaxing as I had thought.

After we got home from our Christmas travels,
we got unpacked,
cleaned up from Christmas morning,
put away our new items,
then as per our tradition around here...
down came all of the Christmas decorations.


(Tony got the tough job of holding the candy canes
as daddy took them off of the tree!)

Another tradition with me is
the traditional New Year's Day lunch.
Complete with black eyed peas
and
collard greens.
This meal is supposed to bring you
good financial
luck in the new year.

Not sure if it works or not,
but we will never be able to
blame our finances on
NOT eating
black eyed peas
and
collard greens
on New Year's Day!

However,
due to our travel schedule,
we didn't get to eat it on New Year's Day...
we did however,
eat it on the first Sunday of the New Year,
so that counts too, right?

I am not a fan of "greens".
At least not the kind I grew up with:
mustard greens
collard greens
turnip greens

No thanks.
Not a fan.

I have slowly acquired a taste for some of the milder greens.

Then more recently,
my sister introduced me to kale
via her
Kale & Sausage Pasta

sauteed with garlic, onion, chicken stock
and white wine.

OH.MY.STARS!

I have cooked numerous batches of kale like this
(fresh).
Then for my "New Year's" meal...
I wanted to try the collards that way too.

I cheated and bought the frozen collards
but it worked!
(especially if you throw in a little bacon grease
and crumbled bacon too!)

It was SCRUMPTIOUS!!!

I ate it for lunch for the next week.
So we will definitely NOT be blaming
our lack of financial success THIS year
on NOT eating the good luck meal!



My sous chef even whipped out his new knife
to help me chop up some veggies.

However,
we decided that his new knife was a little
beneath him.
It didn't cut well enough for him.
So he graduated to a small "real" knife.