a day in the life....

12.30.2014

Bon Temps Creole Cafe

We'll be open New Years Eve and New Years Day serving up our traditional Hoppin' John! Start 2015 with a bowl of good luck and help the Bon Temps Creole Cafe celebrate our 20 year anniversary as THE finest Cajun-Create Restaurant on the central coast! The favorite way to eat a Hoppin’ John meal is with collard greens and corn bread. Each item on the plate has symbolic meaning for the New Year. Black-eyed Peas represent “coins,” collard greens represent money or “green backs”, corn bread represents “gold,” and if tomatoes are added to Hoppin’ John it symbolizes "health".

The first written recipe for Hoppin John appeared in The Carolina Housewife in 1847. Most food historians generally agree that Hoppin John is an American dish with African/French/Caribbean roots. There are many tales or legends that explain how Hoppin' John got its name: It was the custom for children to gather in the dining room as the dish was brought forth and hop around the table before sitting down to eat. A man named John came "a-hoppin" when his wife took the dish from the stove.

An obscure South Carolina custom was inviting a guest to eat by saying, "Hop in, John" The dish goes back at least as far as 1841, when, according to tradition, it was hawked in the streets of Charleston, South Carolina by a crippled black man who was know as Hoppin' John.

according to a facebook quiz on how much time I have left on this earth....

20 days and 6 hours

hopefully I'll get to South Carolina, Washington D.C., Georgia, and Maine....better get on the stick!

tonite's movie selections were Super 8 and Fatal Honeymoon.

I do know that if my husband wants to take me scuba diving in Australia, I should be suspicious....got banged up some at work and had some quality time with an ice pack. will see if I can walk tomorrow.....was in the mood for a hamburger, so went to store on way home and came home and C O O K E D! it surprised the kids!