First footing done, also chickpea "mayo"

Handsome Son brought in the new year this afternoon, first-footing the house and bringing shortbread and ginger ale.

First footing is the tradition that if a dark haired man bringing food, fuel, alcohol and money is the first person across the threshold after midnight on New Year's Day, the family will have good luck all year. Food, a warm house, partying, and the ability to pay the bills.

It used to be a lump of coal was included, but I don't know who has that now. We were happy with what we had.

Added to Mary's cake and chocolate cherries, and a large pot of tea, it was a merry afternoon.

Yesterday I tried making that chickpea mayo I've mentioned. It's not mayo in texture more like thick cream. 

I did various things to mayo it up, including extra chickpeas and an egg. Never achieved mayo texture, but it does taste good. 

So I'm testing it here on whole-wheat with chopped parsley, ready to insert slices of this hard boiled egg, to make a supper sandwich.

Lovely New Year's Day, complete, a few minutes ago, with a flying visit from Gary to wish me HNY.

Online meeting with friends this evening.

Happy day everyone, try something new just because. 

 

Happy New Resolution

Happy New Year, all! I hope you saw in the new year happily. I did, with Handsome Son coming over and lugging stuff around and to the dumpster, and generally helping, as well as claiming a couple of things I promised him.  

Then we had a great dinner of pumpkin sausage soup, then fritters and peas, and finally a great apple rum raisin crumble.  There was farm produce throughout, apples from local tree, maple syrup from Mittens trees, pumpkin from farm.

We brought in the new year early, he needing to go off on his own plans, with a nice prosecco brut, and declared it a very good time.

Yesterday was divided between getting started at all, and weaving up a storm in the studio, for which go here if you want to see.

I have completed both my New Year's resolutions, no need to get  all carried away with ambition, namely to update my copyright notice to read the correct year, and to predate my checks with the same idea, so that by the time I write further checks, I'll be used to the right year.

And my prospective car buyer came over on another inspection, is interested, will decide in a few days, fine by me.  We had a lovely conversation about art, freecycling, cars, language learning -- he's Filipino Chinese, has Filipino, Chinese and English, and is relearning Mandarin. 

He asked to come in and see my art, really intrigued by it, and interested in watercolor painting himself. Very interesting man, full of family anecdotes and gentle complaints about his inlaws.  So it's more than just selling a car.  He grasps that the social links are good, too, with the business taking place at the same time!  And I finally found out why he has a Filipino first name, which seems Spanish, and a Chinese last one.  Parents from Fukien province, he was born in the Philippines.

 It occurred to me just now that he was my first footer! old New Year's tradition, that the first person to cross your threshold in the New Year, usually right after midnight, has to be a dark haired man.  Since HS had left well before, he didn't first foot this year. So I will have good luck this year anyway, since C. is dark haired, yay.