Sunday, January 2, 2011

A Good Beginning . . .

It rained all day yesterday -- a fine beginning to to the new year. Our pastures and our woods soaked up the blessed moisture as the snow melted and the soft rain continued to fall, melting the snow.
 
I was happy to catch a glimpse of what must be the same gang of turkeys that we watched grow from poults last year. The two hens are pretty much indistinguishable from their full-grown offspring now. The almost white one is still with them and they seem to ave picked up a few extras -- probably 'jakes' -- young males.
The house was filled with the smell of pork roasting, collard greens and black-eyed peas simmering with hog jowl and cornbread baking. On the television, various bowl games brightened the grey day with a confusion of colors. (I'm not a football fan myself but I live with one. )


It seemed to me the perfect way to begin the new year.

(This is late posting because our server has been down...)
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12 comments:

BB said...

Sure sounded good to me. Glad you enjoyed.

Marilyn & Jeff said...

It sounds a lovely start to the year. Love the wee glimpse of the turkeys - in fact I love seeing your world, so very different to mine.
Even your foods are different "pork roasting, collard greens and black-eyed peas simmering with hog jowl and cornbread baking". Roast pork I certainly know but we don't have collard greens and I have never had black-eyed peas myself or heard of eating hog jowl and I have never made cornbread.
It sounds like a meal Elizabeth Goodweather would cook. Maybe you could write a cookbook with the history of each recipe and an explanation about the ingredients.
About new Year traditions - I never grew up with any. Maybe other families do have NY traditions but none of my friends have them either.

Mel said...

Glad you had such a lovely day. I'm not much of a sports fan either, so I ammuse myself cooking up a storm. This is the first year I added black eyed peas to my collard and mustard greens and ham bone, trying to keep my mom's tradition going. While I was at it I made a pot of chili and a pot of Navy bean soup. At least I don't have to cook for a week or so! I am going to have to make cornbread though, since you got me craving it! It's lovely to have wild turkeys in your yard, and to watch them grow. Your rain photos are also lovely, a nice way to ease in to the new year. Hope it's a good one.

Lyn said...

The pics have a lovely quality..fitting for that homey dinner you're presenting..mmm, cornbread..I like to make mine with jalapenas and cheddar..so good...Have a Happy New Year...

Vagabonde said...

In France the New Year eve celebrations are bigger than the Christmas ones, which are mostly for children. At the “Réveillon” people drink Champagne, party, eat all kind of delicacies. But I don’t know any French people here so when I moved to Atlanta I found out about hoppin’ John, turnip greens et al for New Year. So I started making this dish on the 1st and have ever since. I made it yesterday but forgot that now we are only 2 at home, so we’ll have left over for at least 4 more days… but we like it. I wish you much success, lot of inspiration and great joy in your life.

gayle said...

We had rain all day here yesterday and some today! It was warm though. Your meal sounds yummy!

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

Yumm, I can almost smell the cornbread, peas and pork, but I'll skip the hog jowl...:) Outside your window is a beautiful view- nice pics!

Vicki Lane said...

Marilyn -- Collard greens are similar to kale --do you know that plant? They're related to cabbage but a dark green and not so strong tasting when cooked -- but not very good raw. And hog jowls (cheeks) are smoked and sliced and are pretty much like streaky bacon. Cornbread is made with ground corn (maize) and is crumbly like cake but not sweet -- at least not as I make it.

It's typical Southern cooking and Elizabeth Goodweather certainly cooks like that, though not all the time. I do have some recipes up on my website of food from the first two books. I need to add to it!

Mel -- I have lots of leftovers too and am plotting a soup for tomorrow.

Lyn -- My daughter-out-law made the cornbread and included green onions and cheddar cheese.

Vagabonde -- We used to go to New Year's Eve parties like that but the problem of driving home after all that celebrating began to take away the fun. So we stay home and toast the New Year -- with Prosecco this year.

Christine said...

All those good southern dishes on New Years Day...just doesn't get any better! We had rain all day too. We had been under fire alerts here in Florida because it has been so dry.

J_on_tour said...

It was nice to see the snow, but then due to the chaos it causes, it's nice to see it go. You paint a magnificent picture of scenes and smells inside your house.

Kath said...

I counted fourteen turkeys cruising our backyard on the classically overcast day they favor for appearing. And I owe them. In their search for the corn my neighbors throw out on their yards, but I hadn't, they scraped the snow off. And for the first time in December, I saw the warm browns and greens of earth!!
Kath

Kath said...

Does spinach count in the place of collard greens? I'm not a collard greens fan, but I thought - green?