Hey Ya'll. HAPPY NEW YEAR !

I wish all of my friends here a prosperous new year.

I sent the following to Buster in a reply to an e-mail, but after thinking about it a little, I thought some others may want to see it. Buster had told me that he'd never tried Black Eyed Peas... so I got to thinking that there may be other underprivileged folks out there. So I'm sharing it with all of you...

Buster,

You've just GOT to try Blackeyed peas ! The best ones are made from the dried peas, but they do take a while to prepare. When done right, they're hard to beat.

Having Blackeyed peas on New Years Day has been a Southern tradition since before the Civil War. It's supposed to bring good luck and prosperity.

Serve them with some finely diced sweet Vidalia Onion. Mmmm.... Served over rice, even better.

However, there are some good canned Blackeyed peas available also. Luck's is a very good one. Bush's is also pretty decent.

We eat them about once a week, but they're the canned version. I fix the peas, mashed potatoes, and grilled salmon. Mmmmm.... Takes less than an hour.

I only cook them the traditional way, a couple times a year, because they take so long.

But you can bet we'll be having them done the traditional way tomorrow. I'll be starting on them this evening...

Our New Year's Day feast will include Blackeyed peas, cooked the traditional way, fried chicken, done by my Parent's recipe (Pam calls it Scarborough Chicken, took me years to get the hang of it), and Mexican cornbread.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-eyed_pea

Duane