Good Luck for the New Year

New Year’s Day has always been special for Tim and me.  I’ve always enjoyed hosting dinners on New Year’s Day and introducing people to traditional Southern good-luck customs.  Southerners eat black-eyed peas and collard greens for luck on New Year’s Day. Peas represent coins, and greens represent dollar bills.  Tim sampled these foods and my cooking for the first time on New Year’s Day.

I had been thinking about New Year’s Day over the last few weeks.  I knew that I would not be cooking such a meal in the RV, but I had really hoped that Tim and I could at least eat black-eyed peas and collard greens.  New Year’s Day just wouldn’t be the same without them.  But the closer we got to the day, the more pessimistic I became.  We wouldn’t be in the South, so we couldn’t even find them in a restaurant.

In desperation, I had considered buying a can of black-eyed peas and frozen collard greens, but even forgot that idea during our last shopping trip.  Things were not looking promising.  But, as luck would have it, we stopped for lunch yesterday in Folkston, Georgia, at the Okefenokee Restaurant.  Lunch was a traditional Southern buffet and included black-eyed peas and turnip greens (I prefer collard greens, but turnip greens will do).  We enjoyed our lunch and ordered one to go.  I was a happy camper!

Tim and I just finished eating our black-eyed peas and turnip greens, and now our luck is assured for this coming year.  What a relief!

Black-Eyed Peas and Turnip Greens Take Center Stage on the Plate
(The Fried Chicken, Sweet Potato, Okra and Tomatoes and Biscuit Were Also Yummy)