Fine Eatin'

A Southern tradition, the New Year's Day meal is probably my favorite meal of the year...even more so than Thanksgiving. And I love me some Thanksgiving, so you know I looooove the New Year's Day meal. I'm actually related to the two men who started the tradition many many ages ago...after living in North Carolina for several years, they decided to head further South. They were sea captains and one of their good friends, another sea captain, lived in South Carolina and they stopped off at his house on New Year's Day to pay him a visit on their way down. All he had to eat were peas and rice, but it was enough for the three friends. It was the first New Year's Day meal. And yes, the two sea captains were in fact Bogue and Weejer. 

Throughout the years, families have added more flavors and their own personal touches to the meal...making it even better. For as long as I can remember, we've always eaten that same meal on New Year's Day. When I met David, he had never had it, so, of course, I had to introduce him to the fantastic-ness that is The Meal. 

Well, we totally just finished eating it and I'm just sitting in a pool of pure exuberance. My tummy is so full and my eyes are saying "Please please please let us close." But, I'm like, "No! It's 7:16 pm. Pull yourselves together!" 

If you've never had this meal, then you've never truly lived. So, go ahead and start preparing for next year...

Each aspect of the meal has a certain meaning/something it will bring you and you're supposed to eat it so you'll have that throughout the year. Here's what you eat...collard greens (do y'all remember the collard greens episode of the Office? "I wish I had brought some colored greens." "It's collard greens." "Stanley, that's just ridiculous, you don't call them collard people. That would be offensive." ha...funny episode). Now, you can make your own collard greens and be in the kitchen for 92 years or you can buy them in the can...like a normal person. The collard greens will bring you greenbacks. 

You'll also need black-eyed peas. You can get other kinds of peas, but why would you want to. The peas will bring you luck and peace. 

Then you'll need some rice...any kind will do, but I mean...white rice is the least healthy, so might as well, right. We load it with butter...so, it's more like yellowish rice. Or you can do what my mom did when we were kids and get the blue butter (remember that? It was right on up there with the purple ketchup) and pour it all over your rice and cornbread and have blue rice and green cornbread...mmmmm mmmmmmmmm....that makes everything look appetizing. (It took us awhile to be able to eat rice again after that.) Rice will bring you riches. 

That leads me to cornbread. Mexican cornbread, sweet cornbread, your momma's cornbread...whatever. I like the sweet kind. It's like the sugar fairies came and sprinkled their tears throughout the batter and make it that much more joyful. Cornbread will bring you gold. 

Last, but MOST DEFINITELY NOT LEAST, are the hog jowls. They are about as gross looking as they sound...but gosh...ON EVERTHING THAT IS GOOD AND WONDERFUL IN THIS WORLD...they are...wow...they are...they make the angels cry...they make poets go blind just by writing lyrics about them...they make babies laugh for the first time...they're wonderful. When you bite into the crispy fatness, it's like biting into pieces of merriment and joy. Actually, that's what the jowls will bring you...joy and happiness. You can hear Handel's Hallelujah chorus playing softly in the background when you eat them. Hog jowls come from what's left after everything else on the pig has been used....it's what they trim off the fat off the bacon. One strip of jowl is basically 4 pounds of lard, 2 cups of pure unadulterated saturated fat, 3 tablespoons of cholesterol, a dash of ecstasy (the emotion, not the illegal hallucinogen), and a pinch of glee. Those of you who are judging me right now for eating them are the ones who have never tasted them. Ha...who's laughing now. 

Anyways...David is an awesome jowl cooker, so I took care of the rest of the meal...we threw in some sparkling orange juice, which had a bit of a kick to it...liked to have knocked me out...little bit sour...I, um, I would drink it with caution...or wear a helmet...and lit some candles and had a wonderful meal. Definitely a great way to start the year. 

We do eat healthy the rest of the year, so we go all out just the one day...otherwise our arteries would be completely clogged by February. The entire meal costs about $7 for four people. Mainly because they basically give you the jowls for free. And the whole point, in the words of sea captains Bogue and Weejer, is to "eat poor one day so you can live richly the rest of the year." You can't make this stuff up. 

Look at that cornbread. LOOK AT IT!! Thank you, sweet angel tears. 

This is half of the grease from the jowls leftover in the skillet. I would have put up a picture of the raw jowls, but I was afraid people would die after seeing them. 

Isn't it beautiful? It's like a song...on a plate.