are your curtains hung straight?

[Seveen]

during my new year's visits to jamaica the housekeepers always make sure the curtain are hung straight and neat

it's like a metaphor for getting your life in order for the new year

now i typically don't make resolutions but i am this year - the start of a new year is always a good time for reflection and . . .

I PROMISE TO QUIT SMOKING CIGARETTES!

what are you planning to do differently this year?

[Nanook]

Re: are your curtains hung straight?

Today is cleaning day. I'll even shampoo the carpets. Nice and fresh and clean for the new year! I didn't realize you smoked! Yes please quit.

More ME TIME! More shop time. More scooter time... Take more pics & get more serious about selling them. Can't add more than that cause I'll be hard pressed to do just those few things. Oh I know, new floors. It's time. I've been busy hoarding the flooring material already!

[Seveen]

Re: are your curtains hung straight?

<span style="font-family: 'Century Gothic'">I'm cooking Lucky New Year food</span>

Eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day is thought to bring prosperity.

The &quot;good luck&quot; traditions of eating black eyed peas at Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, are recorded in the Babylonian Talmud (compiled ~500 CE), Horayot 12A: &quot;Abaye [d. 339 CE] said, now that you have established that good-luck symbols avail, you should make it a habit to see Qara (bottle gourd), Rubiya (black-eyed peas, Arabic Lubiya), Kartei (leeks), Silka (either beets or spinach), and Tamrei (dates) on your table on the New Year.&quot; However, the custom may have resulted from an early mistranslation of the Aramaic word rubiya (fenugreek).[3]

A parallel text in Kritot 5B states that one should eat these symbols of good luck. The accepted custom (Shulhan Aruh Orah Hayim 583:1, 16th century, the standard code of Jewish law and practice) is to eat the symbols. This custom is followed by Sephardi and Israeli Jews to this day.

In the United States, the first Sephardi Jews arrived in Georgia in the 1730s and have lived there continuously since. The Jewish practice was apparently adopted by non-Jews around the time of the American Civil War.

In the Southern United States,[4] the peas are typically cooked with a pork product for flavoring (such as bacon, ham bones, fatback, or hog jowl), diced onion, and served with a hot chili sauce or a pepper-flavored vinegar.

The traditional meal also features collard, turnip, or mustard greens, and ham. The peas, since they swell when cooked, symbolize prosperity; the greens symbolize money; the pork, because pigs root forward when foraging, represents positive motion.[5] Cornbread also often accompanies this meal.

These &quot;good luck&quot; traditions supposedly date back to the Civil War, when Union troops, especially in areas targeted by General William Tecumseh Sherman, typically stripped the countryside of all stored food, crops, and livestock, and destroyed whatever they couldn't carry away. At that time, Northerners considered &quot;field peas&quot; and field corn suitable only for animal fodder, and didn't steal or destroy these humble foods.[6]

[Nanook]

Re: are your curtains hung straight?

I just started a wicked pot of green split pea soup, spicy and hot it will be the way I love it. Then I put a rack of ribs in the oven to slow cook.

I won't have to cook all weekend so I can get back to making new inventory. I've been on a roll this week and don't really want to stop today but it's mandatory I scrub my house from top to bottom for the new year! Might as well get food outa the way while I'm at it.

Now they say it won;t go below zero till midnight but then holy hell is gonna break loose. Might not even get above zero F tomorrow or Sat! Is OK, I have everything I need for the duration and welcome the opportunity to be forced inside.

[Seveen]

Re: are your curtains hung straight?

split pea soup sounds wonderful

i checked out your blog yesterday and saw some wicked new stuff

i was showing my co-worker your blog and she started crying over the ruby and sapphire story

she's an animal lover and started a non-profit here to help the animals

i may adopt a cat for sheba

[Seveen]

Re: are your curtains hung straight?

and black-eye peas isn't just an african american tradition

their roots go way back and around the world

__________________________________________________ ____________

Rice and peas is a popular dish in Jamaica and other Caribbean Islands. In the American South, a variation of this dish is called &quot;Hoppin' John&quot;, made of black-eyed peas cooked with rice and pork.

Texas Caviar, another traditional dish in the American South, is made from black eyed peas marinated in Italian salad dressing and chopped garlic, and served cold.[7]

In Portugal, black-eyed peas are served with boiled cod and potatoes, with tuna, and in salads.

In Vietnam, black-eyed peas are used in a sweet dessert called chè &amp;#273;&amp;#7853;u tr&amp;#7855;ng (black-eyed peas and sticky rice with coconut milk).

In Greece and Cyprus, black-eyed peas are eaten with vegetables, oil, salt, and lemon.[8]

In the northern part of Colombia, they are used to prepare a fritter called &quot;buñuelo&quot;. The beans are immersed in water for a few hours to loosen their skin and soften the bean. The skins are then removed either by hand or with the help of a manual grinder. Once the skins are removed, the bean is ground or blended and eggs are added which produces a soft mix. The mix is fried in hot oil. It makes a nutritious breakfast meal.

In North India, Lobia is cooked as daal.

[Nanook]

Re: are your curtains hung straight?

Yeah I've been on a roll this week Seveen! Tonks!

Got lots more planned and all weekend to make more...

I miss my Ruby and Sapphire and so many of my original dogs so bad...not to mention Buckaroo.

Well, no black peas but I guess I had the right idea with green ones, lol..and the pork. I didn't know that but I guess I just got lucky there!

[Jamaicamiss]

Re: are your curtains hung straight?

Ted and I love split pea soup. I make it vegetarian style for him, but it still is tasty. Warms the belly. I wish I had black eyed peas here. Used to enjoy them when I lived in Virginia on New years with pig jowls. You girls got me going. I may go home and make a pot.