Resolutions? Some people make them; some people keep them; some people know themselves very well and say “yeah, not for me!” :::raising my hand:::
Foodwise, a traditional start to the new year is a meal of pork, greens, black-eyed peas or beans and rice (Hoppin’ John). But if the standard Southern welcome to the new year doesn’t float your boat, why not go with baby back or country-style pork ribs with baked beans? You could have a bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin (that’s a double oink!). You could have an appetizer of a southwestern black-eyed pea dip, Texas caviar, or other main dishes like a black-eyed pea soup or a sausage and bean stew.
Or you could just say “I’m going to make whatever I want to make!” And that’s good too.
However you greet the new year: bells, whistles, fireworks - or falling asleep early before said fireworks - here’s hoping it’s a good one for us all.
A decidedly summertime meal, but I had the pork and beans for New Year’s Day.
Boneless country-style pork ribs baked in the oven with a pork rub from TheKitchn, then slathered with Stubbs’ Sticky Sweet BBQ sauce for the last half hour.
Sides were homemade baked beans (which I had been craving for about a month). I used a half package of Rancho Gordo cranberry beans, and halved the ingredients in the recipe for Chef John’s Boston Baked Beans, linked below. I added a half tsp of ground ginger for some oomph, as my Mom always added that to canned B&M baked beans when we were growing up. I found it still too liquidy after 2 hours of baking, so I poured off 3/4 of the remaining liquid still in the baking dish, and added some squishes of tomato paste and a bit of cornstarch to thicken, then added it back in and baked for another 20 minutes.
I also made coleslaw with green and purple cabbage and grated carrots, and a dressing of mayo, Heinz Salad Cream, lemon juice, honey, and s/p. Added some pomegranate arils on top for even more color.
Woke up much earlier than I’d anticipated given yesterday’s 3 martinis, but felt fine
It’s still cold as ballz around here and won’t get above 0˚C until sometime next week. Ugh. Great day to stay home — my PIC watched endless sportsing games, and I continued my homework of catching up with NYers (look, Ma! Already got to the final July issue ).
Dinner was a delectable pizza courtesy of a 48 hour dough my PIC made last year ,
my sawce (pomi, garlic, anchovies, olive oil, TPSTO oregano, splash o’ red), mozzarell’ & four more cheeses. Toppings were roasted red peppers, shrooms, green pepper, and red onion. Calabrian chile condiment for heat.
Pork and sauerkraut is de rigeur in these parts, practically mandatory, but mom hates kraut and I haven’t found a locally-made version I like well enough to justify buying it for my own mouth. So instead, a ham slice in the grill, one of our fave mains, along with roasted orange cauliflower and some leftover risotto. Homemade applesauce too.
Aight this is the Nye dinner that spilled into 2026.
Scallops with Grand Marnier sauce
Steamed egg and cream with foie gras
Beef Wellington
Millefeuille
I ended up skipping the cheese and chocolate souffle as was too full
My PIC is finally 100% again (YAY!), and I was feeling like something spicy.
TJ’s pork belly sliced and air-fried with my PIC’s bok choy, plus egg-fried veg rice with leftover basmati from who-knows-when & half a leftover orange pepper.
The belly was almost 95% fat and therefore shrank by about 75%, so it was good that we had ample veg & rice to fill us up. The rice was murderously spicy, having used 5 bird’s eye peppers that didn’t stir-fry all that long. Best texture & prettiest fried rice I’ve ever achieved
Dipping sauces for the pork belly were apricot chile crisp chutney & the Vietnamese kumquat hot sauce. Mexicoke on the rocks was our beverage of choice.
We enjoyed another outstanding dinner at Lula, in Ridgewood, NJ, including an exceptional pillow soft gnocchi with Burgundy winter truffles and wild chanterelles; excellent swordfish; Hamachi crudo; focaccia; excellent mussels in a coconut green curry sauce and Thai basil. It all went great with an excellent cabernet and Malbec.
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