Every New Year's, we celebrate by eating a particular meal for dinner. Informally, we dub it "health, wealth, and happiness." But in reality, it's simply Hoppin' John, green veggies, and ham. The cornbread was there for, uh, taste enhancement. ;)



I regret that my picture isn't as awesome as the meal itself.

This year, our green vegetable was broccoli. Though I usually vouch for collards as a New Year's dish, my dad cooked the broccoli so well, I'm positive that we're going to be wealthy in 2007! ;) It was smothered with (good!) cheese--heady and strong--and freshly ground pepper. I couldn't resist stacking up the stalks for a photo shoot.

The ham and Hoppin' John were delicious as well. The ham was plain, but juicy; the Hoppin' John was as good as it always is (I only eat it on New Year's day!). The best way to eat it all was mixed together: the flavors meld so well, and the textures are varied. Mm, New Year's.

For those who aren't aware, the New Year's food breakdown is as follows:

-HEALTH is Hoppin' John, for reasons unknown to me.
-WEALTH is the green vegetables, as both cash and collards are green. :)
-HAPPINESS is ham, which is generally associated with prosperity ("bringing home the bacon," anyone?). It also makes me think of fat, happy pigs.

Happy belated 2007, everyone!

Believe it or not, this is a Wal-Mart donut.

Shock! Horror!

Despite it's ignoble origins, however, this little doughy delight was absolutely delicious. The glaze was sugary--a perfect complement to the mild dough--and fat, blue patches of berry were scattered throughout the donut itself.



(Not only that, but it looked so pretty.)

Wal-Mart, I'm impressed!

For New Year's, the 'rents and I drove to a resort hotel on the beach. We only stayed one night--just enough for a little relaxation. The only positive thing about car trips is the crazy junk food. For some reason, I always lean towards crazy, unhealthy goodies when I'm on the road.

We stopped at a typical gas station to refuel. Inside, there was a huge display of snack foods--cakes with sugary, crumbly frosting; various pickled meats in vacuum-sealed plastic; bags upon bags chips with two parts air to every part deliciousness. I was about to get a bag of "Beach BBQ" chips--it seemed fitting--when my mom spotted the boiled peanuts.

Now, I like boiled peanuts. They make me think of flea markets and hot summer afternoons. However, I didn't intend to part with my chips. I got to the front of the line, my intent clear. I was ready to pay. That is, until I saw... the Cajun-style peanuts!

Heck yeah!



The peanuts' brine was filled with pepper flakes and pungent spices. Normally, I bite my nuts open with my teeth, sucking in the salty liquid inside the shell. But the Cajun nuts? I broke them open with my fingernails. The brine was fairly too salty to handle--although the spiciness added a certain excitement to the mix.



The nuts themselves were soft and lovely. They were also quite large--a pleasant surprise!



In the end, my nose was running; I was sniffling ever so slightly. That's my seal of approval for any spicy dish: if I can get a visceral reason from the food, then it's certainly worth the effort of eating.

Well, instead of posting in a normal and timely fashion, I've built up a veritable stockhold of photos. I've finally gotten around to uploading them onto Flickr; now I can post my entries! I almost want to cheat and backdate everything, but... nah. What would be the point in that?

Be prepared for some serious blogging, folks. I think you'll find many delicious things in store for you--even if the photography's not all crisp and pretty.

I got a digital camera for Christmas! Now I can resume blogging. :)

I made potato curry on Christmas Eve. It was delicious, though it needed a generous pinch of salt to bring out the flavor. It was full of cauliflower and potato and crazy helpings of spices.







The finely-ground pepper is the product of my dad's new pepper grinder. It has a nice weight to it, a bit of heft. I can't wait to try his new rainbow peppercorns.

I ate my first passion fruit today. It was... a unique experience. I wish I had pictures right now! I took some photos with a disposable camera, but I won't have them developed for a while. When I get them, I'll upload them and whip up a post.

From my limited knowledge, I knew that passion fruit has to be cut in half. So I grabbed a plastic butter knife and started sawing away, expecting the flesh to give. But no! The fruit was hard and tough. As I pulled the knife away, I saw a shallow groove of purple running across the fruit's circumference like a girly belt.

With lack of other options, I stabbed it. Juice dribbled out from the stab wound and pooled on my roomie's dresser. In haste, I ran to grab a napkin and wiped up the mess. I pulled it open to reveal a bizarre sight: green seeds covered in sacs of yellow pulp, piled up inside the thick purple rind like a mound of frog's eggs. It certainly is the freakiest fruit I've ever seen!

The smell hit me at once. Passion fruit doesn't have a fruity aroma. Instead, it reminds me of pine sap! It's a strong scent that makes me strongly think of Christmas.

As for the taste: it's interesting. The fruit itself is semi-sweet and mostly pleasant. The oddness comes from the texture. I suppose the best comparison is crunchy caviar. There's no other way to describe it! While the seeds are hard and make loud crunching noises when eaten, the sacs around the seeds feel slimy. They're almost gelatin-like, but at least Jello has firmness(!).

Right now, I'm waiting for the roomie to come back so that I can show off my latest Weird Fruit Acquistion. She's going to freak.

I'm going to assume that all good little food bloggers know about FoodieView. But to those who don't: for shame!

FoodieView is an awesome recipe search engine. While some of the interface is a bit iffy, it's far better than trying to wade through Google's search results. FoodieView tends to link to major recipe sites; as a result, it acts as a far-reaching search for all of your recipe needs.

Now, it's not perfect. But it's pretty awesome. I found my Buck-eyes recipe from that site; I found plenty of fun ice cream recipes there, too. (My boss made light raspberry ice cream with a recipe found on FoodieView. Unfortunately, he neglected to give me any!)

FoodieView also has a "browse" function. So, if you're feeling up for Indian food, you can poke around in the Indian category and see if anyting strikes your fancy. My only gripe with FoodieView browsing is that it's somewhat disorganized. You're also likely to see the same recipe multiple times--with or without slight variations.

Nonetheless, I thought I'd share the love. I hope someone finds it useful.

My digital camera died. Woe!

My posting might be even more erratic than it is now; my lack of camera is really distressing. I want to take pictures of food!

Luckily, I got a picture of my Blogging By Mail package before my camera went kaput. Thanks to Tac-Tac-Tac! I'll post about it soon, I promise! It was lovely!

My roommate decided that ramen was not enough for her--she wanted a real pasta dinner. So, using available resources, she cobbled together a "chicken parmesan" facsimile.

I was both amused and hungered by her creation. She gave me a bite; it was surprisingly delicious.

-----

1 pack of ramen (the cheapest brand possible)
1 jar of tomato-based pasta sauce
1 hunk of cheese, grated
1 can of chicken (alternately, use leftover chicken strips from recent family dinner)

1) Remove ramen from package. Set noodle block in medium-sized bowl.
2) "Borrow" suitemate's hot-pot. Fill with water, then pour boiling water into bowl with the noodle block.
3) Let set for several minutes (approximately 5-7). The noodles should be al dente.
4) Spoon desired amount of pasta sauce over noodles.
5) Listen to your roommate laugh at you. Watch as she grabs her digital camera.
6) Stir in can of chicken, allowing sauce to completely cover the poultry bits.
7) Sprinkle grated cheese over the dish.
8) Enjoy!
9) Remember to return hot-pot.

My mom and I spent a Sunday afternoon creating mini Buck-eyes as thank you gifts for the people at her work. In return, I got to eat lots of doughy peanut butter and returned to college with dozens upon dozens of chocolate-covered morsels. Mmm!



There were hundreds of peanut butter balls that had to be rolled, frozen, and dipped. After rolling the first hundred balls, my hands smelled nutty and felt oily.



It was worth it in the end, though. All of my college buddies loved them--as did I. While they tasted kind of waxy the first day due to my heavy consumption of raw material (i.e., peanut butter and powdered sugar), they tasted fabulous the next day.

And the next. They disappeared not too long after that.