Benne Wafers

First, I must congratulate my Gamecocks on making a run at a third CWS title in 3 years. That's pretty freakin' cool! Second, I must congratulate Arizona on their exceptional ball-playing in this CWS. Even though I wanted to hate Robert Refsnyder, I couldn't because he seemed like a really nice person. So yeah. And even though we didn't win, Michael Roth and Evan Marzilli (and Matt Price and Christian Walker, etc.) have my heart. This probably makes zero sense if you don't follow college baseball.

New Year's Supper

Well I certainly hope y'all are having a wonderful start to the new year.  I know I am with a Carolina win today and our first 11-win season.  It was a great game...for us.  I could say some not-so-nice things about Nebraska, but in the interest of keeping things positive I'll keep my mouth pleasantly closed.

I celebrated in Alabama, where I'm still staying.  The new year also marks my 4-year anniversary with Will.  I intentionally made our anniversary a memorable date since he's famously bad with months and dates and such business.

In Mobile, they drop a big ol' Moon Pie.  It's the best product placement I've ever seen.  I can only imagine the crowd celebrates with an RC Cola instead of champagne.  Because no other beverage complements a Moon Pie like an RC Cola.

We had a pretty traditional Southern New Year's supper.  Black eyed peas cooked with some bacon over rice represents good luck in the coming year.  Many Southerners eat the peas as Hoppin' John, a lovely dish of black eyed peas with onion over rice...cooked with pork of course.  Even our vegetables aren't really vegetarian.

I cooked up some collards, and for the first time ever actually enjoyed them.  Y'all, I've been trying to like collards for years now.  I think my taste buds finally changed because I thoroughly enjoyed these silky greens cooked down with a ham hock, fatback, a little vinegar, and some sugar.  At the top of the picture you can see the bottle of hot pepper vinegar.  Hot pepper vinegar is a must for greens of all kinds.  Cornbread is a must for greens as well.  Collards represent prosperity in the new year, so it's best to eat a whole mess of 'em.

The most ironic portion of the plate is the fatback.  Not everyone in the South eats fatback as part of the New Year's meal, but my family most definitely does.  It's supposed to represent good health in the new year.  How eating a bunch of salty pork fat makes you healthy, I'll never know.  But I eat it because it's tasty.  You can also render the fat and use it in your cornbread.  Truth.

I filled up a cookie jar and have slowly been working on its contents.  I've had a little help :)  I'm hoping to get a real post up while I'm here in Bama, so keep a look out this week!