We are in northern Florida for the holidays — Apalachicola, to be precise, on the gulf coast of the Panhandle.  We have a funky little cottage here — 1940s vintage and not in great shape, but we’ve covered a multitude of sins with paint.  Lime green, melon, periwinkle, aqua, yellow — get the picture?  If I squint out my study window, I can see the water.  We love it. 

I have a post in the works about the great food we’ve eaten with friends and family these last two weeks, but before I get around to that, a happy New Year is in order.  I feel rotten for not posting more frequently in the last couple of weeks, but Zoë’s death and some bad news about my mom’s health have knocked all the stuffing out of me.  I will do better (that’s a promise, not a resolution, so I am likely to keep it.)

Meanwhile, I have been inspired by a fellow blogger — Lisa over at the Homesick Texan — to start our year right with some lucky food, and boy will we need it, as 2007 promises to be a doozie! Black-eyed peas it is, and with all due apologies to true Texans I have created a hybrid of Lisa’s two recipes and further bastardized it by using frozen black-eyed peas.  Please tell me that won’t cancel out the good luck!

Here’s what I did:  sautéed some onion and garlic, added a can of Rotel and a chopped ripe tomato (a real one — more on that in the next post), threw in a bag of frozen peas and some water, some chipotle chile powder and some ancho chile powder and some Penzy’s southwestern seasoning for good measure along with some hot sauce, and some salt.  Cooked it all up, scattered some chopped scallions over the top with a squeeze of lime, and served it hot, with chips.

It tastes wonderful, and we ate it for breakfast.  The skies are clearing and we are going to walk on the beach.  A very good start to the year!  Thanks Lisa!!

Happy New Year to all!  It’s been a true pleasure getting to know folks in the food blogging world this last  year and I look forward to learning more, laughing more, and sometimes even crying more with all of you in 2007.  Cheers!