Happy 2012! I rang in 2012 in a pretty darn quiet way. PB had to work both New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, which means getting up at 4:22 (yes, he sets his alarm to precisely that time). Since I wanted to do at least a little something, I decided to go down to my parents' lake house for a bonfire and dinner.
I brought the weenies to party in 2012. Here's Brenda Lee and my little buddy Jenna. Except now Jenna's in 7th grade and taller than me, which I'm finding quite bothersome.
While Brenda Lee was happy to chill by the fire for the most part, Peggy Sue discovered that she could fish in the shallow water with the outside lights shining down on it. There was a lot of fish-watching and growling.
Clearly, the night ended somewhat early. I think this picture was taken around 11pm?
See the bunny in the picture? He's this creepy 1980s thing that was in the lake house when we got it, and my mom tried to put it in the Goodwill bin. My dad got him out and he creepily places the bunny everywhere - in bed under the covers, in the car, on the mantel. So he got to wake up to the creepy bunny on New Years.
I came home on New Years Day and decided to make a little progress on one of my 101 in 1001 - making a new Pioneer Woman recipe! I made Hoppin' John, and it was delicious! I've always had collards and black eyed peas on New Years, because don't we all know that you'll be poor all year if you don't?
Hoppin' John was an amazing way to have black-eyed peas though. Mmmm! Can't go wrong with bacon, jalapenos, black-eyed peas and rice all cooked in chicken broth. Delicious. Of course we had collards and pork chops too. Overall, it was a big win. And it was a lot easier to get motivated to make a dish with bacon than it was to cross off another 101 item, like, oh, run a marathon.
Here's hoping your first six days of 2012 have been just amazing!
