hoppin' john

I mentioned to a nurse who gives me my bi-weekly shots that we had "Hoppin' John" for New Year's Day--as we have for years.

She had no idea what I meant, so I told her.

Bern and I aren't true Southerners, we're from Appalachia and neither of us ever had Hoppin' John in our childhood. But I found out about it at some point and we started a New Year's tradition.

Here's a little verse many of you will know:

"Beans, beans, a wonderful fruit,
the more you eat the more you poop.
The more you poop, the better you feel,
so eat your beans at every meal."

The main ingredient of Hoppin' John is black-eyed peas, which are, of course, beans not peas. And they work like the verse says, believe you me.

Then their is rice to mix with the black-eyed peas and some kind of pork (we had ham) and cooked kale.

That's Hoppin' John. And it is gooood!!!

There's a story to it--the kale stands for green money, the rice is for happiness, the black eyed peas are for health and the pork is for luck in the coming year.

Or something like that--I may have everything but the kale.

I really love it, but be prepared to always be near a toilet for a couple of days....