Nieces Kathie and Julie planned a small family lunch on January 1, and they brought the majority of the dishes. Since husband John wouldn’t touch black-eyed peas, I had never followed the standard Southern menu of collard greens, black-eyed peas, and cornbread – all dishes to bring good luck in the new year. We had those three items plus ham, apple salad, a creamy lime Jell-o salad, and a sweet potato casserole. To top off that plentiful meal, I passed around Date Pecan Candy, a recipe our mother made for the holidays. Bob hadn’t really remembered the taste and was glad to have it again. Of course, being almost pure sugar, no one would want it again for another year, if then.
I scrambled to take a closeup so I could see faces and missed Michael, David, and dog Gumball.
Beth and Bob spent the night and did what they always do – made themselves very useful. I happened to take a photo of Beth cutting Panettone (pronounced with four syllables), an Italian Christmas bread/cake that I had never tasted before. They were given two huge ones and shared one with us.
Bob restored my bathroom sinks to working order. Both had mechanical stoppers that had stopped working, because something was too loose. He had never seen that particular type of connection and looked it up on the internet. There were two things he adjusted, and I know where to look now, not that I could fix one easily.
The year is off to a good start. I hope the same is true for all of you.
Mehrling Muse 
We had pork roast with black eyed peas, collard greens and cornbread muffins. That’s been our tradition ever since I met Pete.
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I suspect anything in the pork line would be good. My folks said pork was the main meat when they were growing up. Lots of people kept a hog or so, fed them scraps, and butchered once a year.
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I did have green and blackeyyyed peas but not being “home” cooked they weren’t very good. Not a miss spell. My young cousin always said blackeyyyyed peas and it was so cute.
Blessings come in all sorts of ways…A handy helper is one of the best.
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I liked your spelling of blackeyyyed peas. I had never prepared them before, so I looked at several Southern recipes before throwing the stuff together in the crock pot. All of the people at the table were raised in the South except David. Seemingly, they were okay. We have a LOT left over, though. We’ll eat them one more time and put the rest in the freezer.
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Happy New Year Anne. We are off to a great start!
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Wonderful! Glad to hear it!
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We are pork and sauerkraut folks up here. I love sauerkraut but only make it once a year. I must have eaten a quart since Sunday!
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John would have liked your dinner more than ours. He liked sauerkraut.
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You may have to grow up with it but with the interest in fermented foods, it should be more popular.
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What a wonderful gathering! I’m so glad you had a traditional meal plus more! I would love to taste that candy you made. I tried my hand at (mostly) sugar free pralines and they were well received. ☺️
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The candy tasted like Christmas to me. Candy and fruitcake were our Christmas desserts, and you know how the general public adores fruitcake. Not!
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I’m one of the weirdos that likes fruitcake, but sadly, no one else does, so I haven’t had any since I was a child.
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I used to make a dark fruitcake like my mom did, but not many liked it. After our years in England, I made a steamed pudding for Christmas Day. The whole family are it because they loved the brandy butter that was served with it. I skipped it this year, and no one minded. I’m glad to know you like fruitcake. There aren’t many of us who do.
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Your holidays were filled with visitors – that’s good. I have heard about the black-eyed peas being good luck, but don’t believe I’ve ever had them. We had no rituals but Marge used to put a dollar bill under a rock for prosperity and she always used a rock at the side of our house, so we did it too. That is a huge cake, which looks like a babka, only larger.
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It’s a sweet yeast bread.
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It looks good – do you put butter on it or toast it?
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You could do both. I have no idea what Italians do with it. I put some butter on it yesterday. If it is getting stale tomorrow, I’ll take your question as a suggestion and toast it.
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Yes, kind of like raisin toast … I’d slather peanut butter on it too, but then I put peanut butter on lots of things. In my oatmeal too after reading AJ did it.
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I knew a family that had peanut butter on the table for every meal.
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Well, it is supposed to be very good for you, especially the natural peanut butter. I’ve been buying the natural/creamy Jif, but I prefer the crunchy to be honest. Trying to be healthy is for the birds sometimes. I like it on Triscuits.
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I prefer crunchy peanut butter, too.
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I think I’ll return to it next time. Life is too short to eat blah peanut butter.
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If I dared, I’d use chocolate like you used peanut butter.
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Go for it Anne. You saw Ruth Soaper’s post yesterday about her chocolate cheesecake variety pack and she said her husband ordered her some fancy chocolates for her birthday. She is living the life chocolate-wise.
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Death by chocolate. What a way to go!
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I told her she only had one birthday a year!
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I don’t think I’ve ever eaten black-eyed peas. Will have to try that sometime. Happy New Year! Glad to see it starting off so well.
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With all the leftovers, we may have several cups left in the freezer the next time you visit.
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Very nice to gathering, I love & happy you had traditional meal plus. I love the tast that candy 🍭.
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If you can find a date to eat, just put it in your mouth with a huge spoonful of sugar. That’s what my mother’s Christmas candy tasted like.
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Nice , I like it’s. I can’t eat meat.
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I’m glad your New Year started so well and you got repairs done that were necessary by a loving family member. So nice to have family around for such a celebration. Have a Happy and Healthy 2023 Anne.
Huge Hugs
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We are starting the new year off with major repairs, but it’s all good. I’ve always seen one of the panettone cakes but have never tried one. Happy New Year to you, Anne! Wishing many blessings!
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My advice: get a small panettone. A big one might last longer than you do.
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We normally eat black-eyed peas, greens, and cornbread for New Year’s Day. This year, we were traveling to our new campground, so I didn’t cook. I hope you have a good year.
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Best wishes for a marvelous year.
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It sounds like a great start to the New Year! Nice to have family join you (and even better, they helped with food and repairs.) All the best for 2023!
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I bet the panettone would make yummy French toast too! Our New Year felt fresh. 😀
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If we ever get another Panettone, I should try your suggestion. French toast would be great with it.
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The internet comes in *so* handy for instructions on fixing stuff – even videos are often available!
We love Panettone too, and I ate it despite Covid destroying some of my taste ability!
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I hope you get your taste back.
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Me too!!
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