Smell ya later 08

Every New Years Day, my mom makes a big pot of black eyed peas and makes everyone who enters our home take a spoonful. “For good luck!” she claims. When I was a kid (and hated anything that was remotely related to the word “vegetable” or “healthy”) I had to hold my nose and shut my eyes to make sure she understood how incredibly awful that ONE BITE was. Did I mention I was a stubborn brat as a child?

Now that I’m older, wiser, and actually like veggies, I’m aching for my mama’s good-luck black eyed peas. I’m so not in the mood to do it the old fashioned way – I only have a few hours! Luckily, YumSugar had a great slideshow of BEP recipes for those superstitious southerners like me.

Before we go out, I’m having friends come over for a cheapo dinner of pizza, wine, beer, and – because you can’t party without it – chips, salsa and guacamole. I think I’ll also make these so everyone can have a little luck before we head into 2009. I have most of the stuff already. And everyone MUST have a bite.

Happy New Years! Ya’ll be safe now.

Top Chef Deja Vu

Ohhhh Top Chef. We love you so much that we watch your cheesey holiday specials. Twice.

If you weren’t celebrating Santa’s arrival with your family Wednesday night – or you DVRed it for Christmas morning and weren’t opening presents – you may have caught the Top Chef Holiday special. It seemed a little off to me. Why were they in Chicago when this season was in New York? And why were there no Season 4 favorites competing? Where was Twitching Andrew and his boyfriend Spike?!

Something fishy…but this made me remember:

There IS a Santa!

Eric Ripert as Santa?!?! REPEAT! I was a little sad – and bored. I couldn’t remember who won but I remembered Stephen (and his suits – very Barney in How I Met Your Mother….but not as awesome) losing on the first round and the Josie-can’t-find-a-can-opener business. But I couldn’t remember who won. So I sat through it to find out.

To me, it was just not a great episode – Marcel irks me. And there just wasn’t enough CJ to get me through it. It’s getting me ready for the new episode in January – new judge!!! I’ll miss Gail – although not as much as Beaker apparently.

Happy Holidays!

Adventures in Baking

I’m not a baker. AT ALL. My mother does the baking and somehow, I missed that gene. I’m much more inclined to make something I can mess up and it will still turn out yummy where as baking is such a science (and science and I don’t play nicely together) – a little extra of something and it goes to crap!

But I got invited to a Hannukkah party this Sunday at the boy’s parent’s house and I want to bring something. I always (always always) bring a bottle of wine and want to mix it up!

Slashfood had a cookie recipe this week for some cookies that looked so fool proof even the science-flunking nonbaker that I am could possibly maybe handle it. I don’t even need a mixer! And just one bowl!

Is this an appropriate thing to bring? I feel like if someone is nice enough to stink up their house making latkes, I should strap on an apron and say thank you the proper way, right?

Ya’ll bringing anything to a holiday party this weekend?

Texas our TexMex

This week is all about food – turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce (not that jelly stuff, the homemade stuff is really where its at), gravy, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, chocolate cream pie, and, um, ok I really like pie.

But before Thursday rolls around I have only one thing on my mind: real Tex-Mex.

Texas is known for many things: Barbecue, football, raising kids to be overly proud of their home state (example: The Grocery Hags). But TexMex is what I dream about at night when I’m in New York and is the first thing I want after I get off the plane in Dallas.

So I’ve been here 48 hours – and I’ve already had it. Twice. With plans to have my queso-guac-tacos-enchiladas-CHIPS-AND-SALSA-rice-and-beans meal at least twice more times.

And I guess the real question is, am I crazy, or just a girl in love?