Welcome 2012!

Del and I had a fun time ringing in the New Year at our favorite hangout in Carrollton, listening to Bluegrass and drinking from Mason jars - not the new fangled "upscale" pseudo redneck wine glasses made of jars glued to candle sticks that my niece and nephew gave me as a joke, I think. These were plain pint Mason jars as used by real rednecks. They don't fill them with wine, of course, but the pour is rather substantial. Note to self: One is enough for me, even when I'm a passenger.

David, Tracy and Rosa came for lunch after church on Sunday. We were always traveling back to Ohio on New Year's, so this was the first time Tracy and Rosa were subjected to Robinson Rules for Jan. 1. It's the only time I can think of when I consider it appropriate to invite friends and family to dinner, serve them foods I know they don't care for and bully them into eating them.

Our New Year's Day must haves are hog jaw, collards or turnip salad and black eyed peas. Because I knew those might be received with bounded enthusiasm, I also made a pork loin and fried okra and offered some of the chicken muddle I made on Saturday. David, Del and I enjoyed the peas, and I enjoyed the greens. Tracy and Rosa each ate one pea and one piece of greens. Everyone ate a piece of hog jaw, probably because I called it bacon. Rose dissected hers to remove every scrap of fat, and David asked me later what it really was. He probably thought bacon was too simple to be a superstition. Plus, he probably remembers that I told him liver was cowboy steak. It worked until Del came home unexpectedly and spilled the beans.

Fortunately, the okra and the chicken muddle saved us from breaking out the peanut butter. Nobody loves okra or chicken muddle like our Rosa.

The recipe for chicken muddle can be found at

http://bettyslithuanianadventure.blogspot.com/

My fried okra, made with frozen grocery store okra, is not as good as the home grown made by my mother and Tracy's mother, but it is pretty good.

Fried Okra Recipe

1 bag frozen, cut up unbreaded okra, semi thawed
1/2 cup white, plain stone ground corn meal
salt and pepper
oil to just cover bottom of large heavy frying pan (iron is best)

Open okra bag and pour in the meal, salt and pepper. Hold bag closed and shake, shake shake. Let sit while heating the oil until it sizzles when a piece of okra is dropped into pan. Give the bag of okra a good shake and pour in enough to cover the bottom of the pan with a single layer of okra. It's fine to crowd the pan and to pour in the loose meal. Let cook on medium heat until the bottom is brown. Then turn the okra and allow to brown on the other side. Once that happens, start to stir so that the okra will cook evenly all over without burning. Some of the browned meal will separate from the okra, but it will be delicious. We like it really brown and crunchy.

Note: Okra cooked this way will not look at all like the deep fried okra served in some restaurants, but it really allows the flavor of the okra to come through.