we don't need luck, we have magic beans.

Hello twenty-eleven! {and goodbye forever twenty-ten, I hated you for the most part}  I welcome you with open arms; full of anticipation and hopes for a better year.  A year ago today was a good day and one of my last for a long while.  It was the last day I spent with a family I loved, cherished and adored.  If I had only known I would have hugged them a little tighter, a little longer and told them all how much I truly cared. 

Hoppin' John

a history

Throughout the coastal South, eating Hoppin' John on NY day is thought to bring a prosperous year filled with luck. The peas are symbolic of pennies or coins, and a coin is sometimes added to the pot or left under the dinner bowls. On the day after New Year's Day, leftover "Hoppin' John" is called "Skippin' Jenny" and further demonstrates one's frugality, bringing a hope for an even better chance of prosperity in the New Year. During the late Middle Ages, there was a tradition of eating beans on New Year's Day for good luck in parts of France and Spain. The European tradition mixed with an African food item to become a New World tradition.  One tradition common in the Southern USA is that each person at the meal should leave three peas on their plate to assure that the New Year will be filled with Luck, Fortune and Romance. 

{cornbread and greens not photographed due to my forgetfulness}

Eat poor that day, eat rich the rest of the year. 
Rice for riches and peas for peace. 
- Southern saying on eating a dish of Hoppin' John on New Year's Day

"We had a promise made, we were in love."