[Sca-cooks] New Year's Eve/Day repast

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Dec 30, 2008, at 4:08 PM, Georgia Foster wrote:

> But I found myself wondering .... What is everyone else doing for  
> New Years Eve/Day?

I have no idea, honestly...

Tonight is when the worst of the weather is supposed to hit, so I'm  
not inclined to be either out in it or as anyone else to, say, drive  
through it.

Yesterday, possibly as the result of some sort of vitamin and mineral  
deficiency, I felt the need to go out and acquire a "mess" (what  
exactly is a mess, anyway, and does it differ in any sense but degree  
from "a whole mess"? Is there such a thing as a half a mess?) of  
collard greens, and we did the thing with the greens, the ham hocks  
and blackeyed peas, rice, and biscuits.

By the way, for those who might be wondering about the propriety of  
Yankees consuming such things (or who are perhaps surprised at the  
eminent good sense being displayed), I believe William Woys Weaver has  
in one of his books the lyrics to a song that was very popular in both  
New York and Philadelphia through the 19th century, extolling the  
virtues of bacon and greens.

Well, anyway, having gotten that particular jones addressed before its  
officially scheduled time, I've got my lady wife doing some sort of  
accounting thing online with her office, infesting the kitchen table  
with Excel printouts, and I was just unceremoniously handed what  
appear to be an approximation of the ingredients for yet another  
Lindy's-type cheesecake. Here, turn this into food, please, you can do  
it in two hours and produce one bowl to be washed, whereas if I do it,  
all perdition breaks loose, dogs and cats living together, and the end  
of all things.

Apart from that, and some vague idea of producing the World's Biggest  
Shrimp Cocktail based on things already present in the house, I have  
no specific plans.

I'm thinking the thing to do is produce scads of high-quality junk  
food (I have some soaked salt cod, maybe bacalaitos fried in olive  
oil?), place it in some central location, and leave it for whomever  
may be on the premises at midnight, and open a bottle of Veuve- 
Clicquot Ponsardin, and let the rest take care of itself.

As for tomorrow, who knows? We don't really celebrate New Years for  
real until next month, anyway ;-)

Adamantius








"Most men worry about their own bellies, and other people's souls,  
when we all ought to worry about our own souls, and other people's  
bellies."
			-- Rabbi Israel Salanter