Happy New Year

Tags

New Year, New Year's Eve, new year's resolution, New Year's tradition, postaday2011

I’m back from my wonderful Christmas vacation with family and friends. I only wish I got this posted 12 hours ago…

Here’s to a Lucky New Year
There are many traditional foods that are thought to bring good luck in the New Year. My mom & dad make pork & sauerkraut; I don’t eat pork and Hubster doesn’t eat sauerkraut. Or you could eat black-eyed peas… I don’t have any in the cupboard so does listening to them count? We didn’t eat 12 grapes at midnight either. Toasting with champagne at midnight? We finally have one!

Then there are actions which bring good  luck in the year to come. Where I grew up, people run outside at midnight banging on noisemakers and shouting “Happy New Year” to the night sky. My first New Year here, the neighbors and my friends thought I was crazy when no one else followed me out the front door, so that idea put on the back burner. The first visitor should be a tall dark-haired man, check! We actually have two! Kissing your loved one at midnight? Ah, now we’re on a roll!

New Year's Bouquet

 

There are also the things I consider to bring good luck, but I have no idea if there are any roots to any of these beliefs. This list just makes sense for me to do, to start a new year with a bit of good luck.

1) Start with a clean house

2) Start your resolution before Christmas

3) Have fresh-cut flowers in your home

4) Have candles burning in your window sill

5) Celebrate with close friends and family, whether a few or many

6) Eat a sweet for breakfast (today we had grilled pound cake)

Wishing you all a healthy, wealthy and wise New Year! I want to know: What brings you good luck for the New Year?

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New Year’s Eve Pizza

Tags

Baking, gourmet pizza, holiday tradition, homemade pizza, Kids, New Year tradition, New Year's tradition, pizza, pizza crust

Every New Year’s Eve, Hubster and I make a gourmet pizza from scratch and fill up before we go somewhere to celebrate. This year, with the house full of boys, we were going to skip this tradition. After finding this post, I decided not to omit but to alter our tradition. Each child made their personal dough from scratch, measuring their own ingredients and kneading. Only one child’s dough didn’t rise, so I quickly swapped bowls with one that I had Hubster make. It was surprising how mindful the kids were, taking in the smell of the yeasty dough and the tacky feeling as they kneaded it with their floured fingertips.

Making Pizza

We used this recipe for our pizza dough, the boys had to mentally cut the measurements in half (look at me sneaking in mental math) and come to a consensus before measuring. After patting (or pounding) out the  dough, we rubbed olive oil on the top and sprinkled it with basil, oregano, garlic, thyme and marjoram. Hubster and I split a pizza and each boy had their own. On my half, I swapped the tomato sauce for greek dressing. I topped my half with feta cheese and artichoke hearts (the other blog reminded me of the artichoke hearts I had on hand). At least one pizza was gourmet. Hubster had an Italian blend of cheeses and turkey pepperoni. The boys all chose turkey pepperoni and (get this!) mushrooms.

New Year's Eve Toast

The boys were so excited to be part of the process and extremely proud of their end product. We were so excited and hungry, that I forgot to take a picture before they were devoured! The boys toasted the New Year with sparkling cider and Hubster and I toasted with sparkling wine. I topped the glasses off with frozen raspberries (which I had picked this summer).