New Year's Eve

It's the last day of 2013, and I'm glad to see it go.  It's been a heckuva year, with lots of work, lots of changes, lots of frustration and aggravation.  It's also been a year with a lot of love, a lot of joy, and a lot of fun.

I've got errands to run today.  Milady is working till noon-ish, and I have to make a grocery run.  Gotta get the fixin's for cabbage, black-eyed peas, and cornbread.  In these parts, it's a traditional New Year's feast.  Cabbage for luck, black-eyed peas for frugality, and cornbread for humility.  I'll cook a pork tenderloin or roast, because... pork.

Not that cornbread is humble, but it is a southern staple and source of pride.  The eternal controversy of adding sugar to cornbread splits families and friends.  Some say that sugar in cornbread is heresy, some say that cornbread isn't complete without a taste of sweetness.  Milady makes a dandy cornbread, and she normally makes two batches, at least when the grandkids are about.  One pone without and a bunch of Jiffy sweet muffins for the grandkids.

I don't know Milady's recipe, and I bet that if I asked her, she could tell me the ingredients but the amounts would be in question.  She just makes it.  Goes into the kitchen, stirs some stuff together, puts it in a black skillet and makes it.  The best cooks work like that.  Some cornmeal, an egg, a little milk, then cook the cornbread.  It's not magic, but it's close, and they don't think about it.  Like putting on socks in the morning, you just make cornbread.

This is also the day that I traditionally clean my blogroll, that little list of blogs on the right sidebar.  Blogs and links I read, if not every day, then several times a week.  If you're interested, go over and click on some links.  Good stuff there.

When Milady gets home at noon, we'll rest for the evenings celebration.  I'm not completely sure what we're doing tonite, but we always do something on New Year's Eve.  Christmas is for the family, and New Year's is for us.  We got formally engaged on New Year's Eve (when she proposed to me), and we keep that night special.  We'll drag in tonight after toasting the New Year, then get up tomorrow and finish cooking the meal.  Lots of family and friends over tomorrow for the New Year's feast.  Cabbage and peas are cheap, so we're cooking plenty.

Happy New Year's everyone.