On the first day of 2013, (note the bad luck number 13) I decided it was time to stop following moms New Year meal which always included black eyed peas for luck and served Shrimp cocktail instead. The first thing the next day as I was taking out the trash, I fell on a patch of ice and broke every bone in my ankle. They kept me on pain killers at the hospital for three days before the surgeon could get to me. The first thing i saw on facebook this morning was a note from them and a picture showing that very dinner of nine years ago. I've been reluctant to quit including those ingredient since then but because it is really hard to find decent ham hocks any more, and because Charlie is getting tired of plain old black eyed peas, I decided to find another way to use the traditional ingredients in my Mom's Southern New Year day dinner. I deleted ham hock and collard greens and substituted pork sausage and spinach in a soup. I used corn chips for corn bread and then made some corn bread any way. I made black eyed peas and cheese into dip for the corn chips instead of cooking them with the ham and collard greens. The rest of the stuff was just added to round out the meal a little more. The shrimp is a recipe that got made because @Steve Irby and @Kim Shook recently endorsed it so I wanted to try it. There was a pineapple and mango salsa that I forgot to put on the table until after I took these pictures. Charlie invited a couple friends over and we all had a good time.
