Happy New Year, Y'all!

Happy New Year, Y'all! Hopefully, you are facing January 1st happy, well-rested, and headache-free! Well, at least I'm happy . . . one out of three ain't bad! Now that the champagne bottles are empty, it is time to think about an easy, low-maintenance meal.

The holidays are all about tradition, and New Year's Day is no exception: In my family it is all about eating black eyed peas for good luck during the upcoming year. There are few things in life that are certain, but there will always be Hoppin' Jack (also known as Hoppin' John) on New Year's Day at my house. What will I eat this time next year? Hoppin' Jack. What will I eat on New Year's Day 2015? Hoppin' Jack. What will I eat on New Year's Day 2050? Hoppin' Jack!

There are PLENTY of similar recipes out there, but I like the ease and simplicity of the way we make it in my family. Most of the ingredients are already hanging around in your fridge or pantry, you don't have to slave over the stove, and it requires virtually no thought. Fair warning though: It has some kick to it (which I like since it doesn't require the addition of Tabasco, etc.). If you want to tone it down, just substitute diced tomatoes for the Rotel.

Celeste's Easy Hoppin' Jack

• Black Eyed Peas, 16 oz. bag of dried peas
• 2 cans of Rotel (one "Original" and one "Hot")
• Diced Ham, 8 oz.
• Chopped Onion, one small onion
• Cajun or Creole Seasoning such as Tony Chachere's, to taste
• Celery Salt, to taste
• One bag of 10-minute Rice

1. Soak black eyed peas in water overnight or for at least 6 hours
2. Drain the soaking water and rinse the peas
3. Add peas to about 2 liters of water in a stock pot. Cover and bring to a boil. Allow the peas to boil for 5 minutes.
4. Reduce heat to Medium and add the Rotel, chopped onion, seasoning, and celery salt. Cover with tilted lid and allow to simmer for 30 minutes.
5. Add diced ham, cover with tilted lid, and allow to simmer for another 20-30 minutes or until the peas are the desired tenderness.
6. While the peas are simmering in Step #5, prepare the rice in a separate pot according to the directions on the packaging.
7. When ready, scoop rice into a soup bowl and cover with the black eyed pea mixture. Serve with corn bread or a crusty bread (shown with rosemary potato bread) to the side.

Hoppin' Jack is my favorite New Year's Day tradition (Let's be honest, taking down the Christmas Tree and making New Year's Resolutions don't rank high on the fun scale). What are your favorite New Year's traditions?

Don't Think, Just Buy

Hi, my name is Celeste, and I am a candle snob. That's right, I'm not proud of it, but I like fragrances with such depth that I can practically smell the dollars bills I am burning when I light a candle. However, I am not without reason: I know a candle bargain when I smell it!

Despite my general candle snobbery, for several years I had a (rather serious) thing for the seasonal Glade "Glistening Snow" candle. That's right, I said it: There was a Glade candle that I liked, and I'm not even calling it Glad-Ay. Unfortunately, Glade had the idiocy to discontinue the scent which is why two-year old Glistening Snow candles are now being sold on eBay for $25.00 (I'm not kidding).

After a couple of Glad-Ay-Free years, I have to admit: Glade has struck gold again with its newest seasonal scent: Cashmere Woods. It is so, so lovely! In all honestly, the name is a complete misnomer: It smells nothing like cashmere and/or woods. However, it is a completely toasty, yummy, warm-n-cuddly scent that fills up a room in the very best way. For around $2.50, you too can have the best smelling home on the block. Grab a few while they are still available! Buy even more and you can sell them for $25 a pop on eBay in a couple of years.

Book of the Month

I've been reading a lot recently, and I have come across some good reads. However, it takes a lot for me to recommend a book. In part, I hesitate to recommend books because my taste tends to run almost exclusively to 1) historical fiction, 2) murder mysteries, 3) some combination of the first two categories. However, sometimes I find a book that I think my friends might enjoy despite the fact that it fits into one of the above categories (I say "despite" because, much to my surprise, I find many of my friends do not enjoy the same literary predilections as me). I think that The Pindar Diamond just might be one of those books (although, in all fairness, I read the book while performing my civic duty of sitting in the juror assembly room, so watching paint dry would seem comparatively fascinating).

Seriously, who wouldn't like a book that includes a woman who washes up on the Italian shore but left her memory at sea, the glamorous gambling houses of 17th century Venice, a daring woman who leaves a harem to return to a convent, a child that may or may not be a mermaid (I'm going to go ahead and tell you that it falls into the "may not" category), a motley crew of circus freaks, a man who lost the love of his life and possibly his fortune, and (perhaps most importantly) an absolutely enormous and impossibly lovely diamond?!?!? Sure, there are a few things that seem a little coincidental about the story, but don't the best stories usually involve a little bit of luck?

The Pindar Diamond might not be the most intellectual read of 2010, but it is certainly one of the most enjoyable. Fair warning: it is the second book in a loose series, but stands alone extremely well. I can sum up the first book with the following: Guy loves girl; guy loses girl. Not much to it. The interesting part is what happens to the guy after he loses the girl and the discovery of what exactly happened to the girl, and this book provides some of the answers.

Let me know what you think about the book! Do you think that there is a happy ending for the characters involved? Who do you think is the strongest female in the story? Do you like Paul Pindar? Do you trust him?

The Taste of the End of Summer

Although it will probably feel like summer for at least another two months, we are officially in the last few weeks of summer. I guess my culinary clock must be off by about three months, because this is the time of year I get the urge to brew my own iced tea and to fire up the grill (I go through a ridiculous amount of hot dogs during the months of August and September. You might want to buy stock in mustard).

The following salad is the perfect dish for this time of year: It is cool, refreshing, and makes good use of seasonal produce. Perhaps best of all, the salad takes about 5 minutes to make. The tangy fruit flavors make it a natural pairing with fish tacos, but its peppery bite would make it feel right at home next to a simple dish of pasta with olive oil and fresh sauteed veggies, especially if you substituted basil for the mint.

But as many of you know, I firmly believe that most good cooking begins with a cocktail, so let's start there.

I have been promising to post my favorite white citrus sangria recipe for a while now, but I have been putting it off because I simply can't find where it is hiding. Honestly, I haven't stressed out too much about locating it because I found a much simpler but equally delicious substitute . . .

New Age Wine

This has been a great summer for trying new wines, and I have found some lovely ones (Do yourself a favor and go buy a bottle of Hedges Family Estate's CMS White right now). However, the distinction of being named "The Wine of the Summer (and Probably the Early Fall Too)" goes to a light-hearted beauty from Argentina . . .

(view of the back of the label through the bottle . . . this one's for you Mom!)

. . . the charming New Age Wine. This crisp and slightly-effervescent blend features loads of sauvignon blanc flavor (without the bite), and is perfect for beating the heat. It has quickly become a dinner-party favorite around here (and at around $10 a bottle, what's not to like?). It is available at Spec's, World Market, and some high-end grocery stores.

My favorite way to enjoy it is as the Argentines do: With a slice of citrus! I know it sounds strange to squeeze fruit into your wine, but it is SO.DARN.GOOD. You must, must, must try it this way (Note: I am not advocating that you go around squeezing juice into all of your wines. This recommendation is limited to this particular wine). Simply pour yourself a glass of New Age and squeeze a juicy slice of ripe orange directly into the glass. Perfection! Salud!

Now you're ready to move on to the next step . . .

Cool Watermelon Salad

• One good-sized hunk of seedless watermelon (see photo)
• Two juicy limes
• Eight to ten mint leaves (washed)
• Fresh-cracked black pepper (to taste)

1. Cube the watermelon and place in bowl.
2. Roll the limes on a counter to get the juices flowing, cut them in half, and squeeze the fresh lime juice over the cubed watermelon.
3. Rough-chop the mint leaves, discarding the stems.
4. Add 2/3 of the mint leaves to the watermelon. Toss gently.
5. Transfer to serving platter or bowl.
6. Using a pepper mill, crack black pepper over the watermelon in the desired amount. (Note: I normally use the amount of pepper from 5 turns of my pepper mill)
7. Garnish with the remaining chopped mint.
8. Serve immediately. (Note: You can cube the watermelon the day before, but the rest of the steps should wait until close to serving time if possible. The salad is best eaten soon after it is made, but it will last through the next day if kept covered and refrigerated)

THESE ARE MY FAVORITE END-OF-SUMMER FLAVORS . . . WHAT ARE YOURS?

Cicada Season

There isn't much to like about summer in Texas. It's so hot that your tires practically melt where they meet the road, everything is so sticky that you feel like you have to shower every hour on the hour, and the mosquitos that swarm around your ankles the moment you set your flip-flopped foot out the door are roughly the size of hummingbirds. But there are a few things that make summer in Texas tolerable: Fireworks, margaritas, and cicadas.

I'm sure that there are some folks out there who would disagree with me about this last bit, but those people clearly lack poetry in their soul or they simply just aren't from around here. To a Texas girl, the hypnotic part-rattle-part-whirr of a cicada is the sound of summer. It is the soundtrack to some of my favorite summer memories: Splashing around in the backyard pool as a child, drifting off to sleep at summer camp, taking an evening walk with my mom during the year after I graduated from college.

For a while the sound stopped, and I was convinced that cicadas didn't live here in Houston. Perhaps I was just too busy to notice, but I like to think that they just don't like apartment living. One of the true joys of becoming a suburban homeowner was the return of cicada season. I never actually see the little guys, but I can't get away from their noisy chatter and the remnants of the empty shells that they shed and leave behind.

After a long day, there is nothing lovelier or more soothing than to come home and sit on my velvety couch (it is too hot to sit outside), wineglass in hand and dog by my side, and listen to the cicadas singing their song of summer. Before the cicadas are gone, take a moment and try it for yourself (the dog is optional, the wine is not), because, in the end, taking time for yourself to listen and reflect is the ultimate indulgence.

Olive Oil 101

I am deeply, madly, truly in love with olive oil. I have flirted with butter and held hands with a spray substance that I actually can believe is not butter, but at the end of the day I am an olive oil girl at heart, so when Central Market recently offered an olive oil class, I jumped on the opportunity.

The class itself consisted of a lecture portion (and by lecture I mean we were lectured over and over to only buy extra virgin olive oil . . . duh!), an olive oil tasting, and then a hands-on cooking experience. The essential wisdom imparted by the class can be distilled to the following:

• Only buy extra virgin olive oil. Never buy light olive oil.
• Olive oil only stays good for about a year and should be stored in a cool, dark place.
• Everyone should have at least two olive oils: One for cooking and one for "finishing"

Finishing oils are what you use to drizzle over fresh pasta, use in dressings, and use as a dipping oil. If you are meant to taste the olive oil in a recipe, you should use a finishing oil. Discovering your perfect "finishing" oil is the fun part, and it turns out that tasting olive oils is a lot like tasting wines. What is the color and clarity? What does it taste like? Grassy? Fruity? Spicy? After tasting about a dozen pre-selected high quality olive oils, a clear winner emerged: Daniele Salvagno's Novello Prime Olive.

I am going to warn you right now: If you don't have a Central Market near you, skip on down to the next photo because what I am about to write will break your heart.

Novello Prime Olive is only available at Central Market, there are only around 1500 bottles of it (mine is hand-numbered 282), and it is around $20 a pop. But if you can clear the first two hurdles and live with the third, this stuff is the nectar of the gods! The flavor is fruity with a hint of spice on the finish (according to my very developed palate. Alright, I'll confess: According to the lady who taught the class who had a very developed palate). It is a gorgeous shade of emerald green (see the photo above) with a faint swirl of something slightly cloudy in it. The cloudy stuff is what makes this olive oil so delectable: This unfiltered olive oil is ribboned with the tiniest bits of olive pulp and skin. Soooooo delicious. In fact, it is so good that you can understand why the owner feels compelled to sign his name in gold on every box. If I made something this good, I'd be signing autographs too.

http://moreplease.centralmarket.com/foodie-faves/central-market-exclusive-olio-novello/

I have used it on pastas and pizzas, but my favorite way to enjoy it is as a dipping oil.

Dipping Oil

Gently stir the following ingredients together and serve with fresh chunks of ciabatta bread:

• 1/4 cup of Olive Oil
• pinch of salt
• couple turns of fresh cracked black pepper
• pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 clove of garlic, minced
• Optional: a few leaves of fresh basil (chopped), grated parmesan cheese, sundried tomatoes, or whatever sounds yummy to you!

No Central Market? Want a quality olive oil for about $5? Ybarra Aromatico was a very close second to the Novello for me. This inexpensive olive oil is widely available at grocery stores and online, and it has quickly become my everyday olive oil. It is good enough to stand on its own and use as a dipping oil (see the recipe above).

What about olive oils for cooking and baking? My two favorites were the Iliada and . . . (surprise!) the Colavita, which can be found on the shelf of every grocery store in the United States. Either of these would be lovely when baking the . . .

Olive Oil Cake

(by Emily Swantner)

• 3 cups of flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 cup of EV Olive Oil
• 2 teaspoons of grated orange zest
• 5 large, cold eggs
• 1 cup of sherry
• 2 teaspoons of demerara sugar (a grainy, raw sugar)
• 1/3 cup slivered almonds

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease and flour two loaf pans. Sprinkle the bottom of each pan with the demerara sugar and then top with the slivered almonds.
3. Thoroughly mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside
4. Using a mixer, beat the sugar, oil, and orange zest on high speed until well-blended.
5. Add the eggs one at a time to the step 4 mixture while continuing to beat until thick and pale.
6. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture. Beat on low speed until blended.
7. Add 1/2 of sherry. Beat on low speed until blended.
8. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture. Beat on low speed until blended.
9. Add 1/2 of sherry. Beat on low speed until blended.
10. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture. Beat on low speed until blended.
11. Pour the finished batter into the pans, covering the sugar and almond layers.
12. Bake in the oven for 45-60 minutes (or until cake tester comes out clean). Allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing from pans.

Don't Think, Just Buy

I love Lands' End. I still don't understand why the apostrophe comes after the "s" in its name, but I love it none the less. For those of you who don't think Lands' End is cool, you are soooo missing the boat. Sure they still cater to the older set, but they have more modern fits for us fashionable gals, too. And if you haven't checked out their "Canvas" line (think J.Crew-style clothing and accessories) you should do it now!

http://canvas.landsend.com/

Anyway, the above top may look plain in the photo, but it is a FANTASTIC piece and you should order one in every color. I initially bought this tank thinking that it would be something cute to toss on while I attempted to beat this Houston heat . . . the less clothing, the better.

I completely underestimated this top.

With its uber-fine knit and adorably pleated scoop neck, I find myself throwing one of these on once every few days. Because they don't look t-shirt-y, the are totally work appropriate. I use them as the shell layer when I am wearing suits.

The best part? Currently $6.99. Yes, that's right: $6.99!!!!!! Buy one in every color right now while they are still around.

I bought it in coral, navy, and white. Runs true to size.

http://www.landsend.com/pp/SleevelessCottonJerseyPleatedScoopneckTop~208782_59.html?bcc=y&action=order_more&sku_0=::HKN&CM_MERCH=IDX_00002_0000000020_0000000117&origin=index