There are far too many good luck traditions that must be executed on New Year's Day.
New Year's Day is always a stressful food day for me.
We have lived all over the country and we have too many food traditions
going around in our heads.
Plus I know I read way too much...
Do we eat pork and sauerkraut?
Do we eat Hoppin' John?
Do we eat black eyed pea salad?
Should the black eyed peas be fresh, frozen or canned?
Do we eat greens?
All of the above are supposed to be lucky foods.
Then there is a list of things you should not eat on New Year's Day.
You should not eat lobster on January 1st.
Nor should you eat chicken.
It has something to do with the way they swim and walk.
I think they do both backwards.
And according to Epicurious you can't eat enough lentils...they are the luckiest legume of all.
Darn.
And then there are cakes and puddings that have coins or nuts hidden inside...if you find the hidden treat you will have tons of money all year long.
We are having Jello for dessert...kind of hard to hide a nut in see through food.
You might be wondering why Jello?
My mom always made Jello with nuts and bananas and Cool Whip for a Sunday treat.
Sometimes I crave it.
Today is one of those days...only we are having real whipped cream from a can that you spritz...Den and I can't wait. It's ok because it came from Whole Foods and it's organic.
Oh and the Jello is organic, too...and in little cups...black cherry.
Thank you, Whole Foods.
But the tradition I love most is the one my friend Elisabeth shared...
Italians believe that you should wear red underwear on New Year's Day...new red underwear.
And you will be lucky all year long.
So...
with that I wish good luck and an awesome year to all of my family and friends.
And don't forget to buy red underwear for next year!!!
What are you doing to bring luck your way this year?
We have to have black-eyed peas on New Year's day. I always soak dried beans and load them with ham, onion, and tabasco sauce. We need to see if we can find bargains on red underwear after Valentine's Day.
ReplyDeleteYes we do...checking out Victoria Secret sales...I wonder if long johns count?
ReplyDeleteLove it! And my mom made that same Jello salad! Isn't that funny?
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen it anywhere else since....
Thanks for sharing the lucky things to do on New Year's...I have red underwear on today, but it's not new. I guess I'm out of luck then....
Don't know if you read my New Year's Eve post about "wear red underwear"...LOL...so funny, that I saw you posting about it! Love your post Patty!
ReplyDeleteThe jello mold brings back a lot of fond memories.
I remember the red-white-green layered jello, with the marshmallow-whipped cream in the middle, or green-white-red, for the Italian flag colors, ha, ha! That used to be a huge hit!
I did make a huge pot of lentils in the slow cooker, for New Year's Day for "good luck"
I don't look at it as superstition, it's more like a tradition!