Happy New Year!

I've had a lovely, low key New Year, which is just the way I like it. A little cooking, a little drinking, a lotta eating, a little knitting, a little blogging, and a lotta reading. This afternoon I went to a friend's open house, enjoyed some more food, wine, conversation, and then retreated from the house of screaming youngsters to a quiet fire and a good book. I'm enjoying a tasty Merlot given to me as a Christmas gift. Life is good.

Eating black-eyed peas is a New Year's tradition in the south, said to bring you good luck and prosperity in the new year. A Christmas gift of soup mix for black-eyed pea and barley soup was just the ticket. It's flavored with curry and hints of cinnamon; we added kale from this week's CSA farm box and garnished it with scallions. Delicious. I had more of it today (double the luck) adding a dollop of Greek yogurt. It tastes great.

Happy New Year all!