A Happy New Year’s (Eve) To You!

As I write this, I realize that most of the world has already celebrated the arrival of 2013.  But living in the Pacific Northwest, we still have about 6 hours to go until the appointed hour.  I am tucked into my house on this very cold night and am commencing to cook Hoppin’ John and cornbread.  I’ve been making this very traditionally southern dish every New Year’s Eve for about 3 years now.  It’s incredibly delicious and when you eat the leftovers on New Year’s Day, it is called Skippin’ Jenny.

Being from Seattle where we have no such traditions,  I don’t know the whys and wherefores of Hoppin’ John.  I just know it’s good and it’s supposed to be lucky!  Oh, and I was instructed by southern friends that you eat it over rice and with cornbread, so I am making that too.

The photo is from the cover of the January, 1951 issue of Ladies’ Home Journal.  The model, Joan Westfall of Raleigh, North Carolina, is an ‘Undiscovered American Beauty’.  Love her fresh face!  Being from the south, I bet she made Hoppin’ John too.  😀

Wishing you and yours a very happy, healthy, and lovely New Year 2013!  ~Marilyn