Winter has been cancelled because of lack of interest.

I think it made up to 70 here; right now it is a pleasant 68 on my patio and all my windows are open. It was either that or turn on the air condition while I cooked my New Year's dinner. It has been cloudy and some light rain -- far less than we need.

Since there is some discussion of receipes I will make an offering. As you know for all true Texians and many Southerners, black-eyed peas are de riguour on New Year's Day. If you don't have them, terrible luck will pursue you all year long. (And since this year has an extra day, we don't want that!)

The problem with black-eye peas is that they are utterly tasteless. In the past I have tried to disguise them as baked beans without a whole lot of success. So this year I tried something different.

Blackeyed Pea "Gumbo"
Printer version of this recipe

1 pound frozen black-eye peas
10 ounces frozen cut okra
15 ounce can tomato sauce
6 slices of lean bacon crumbled
1/4 onion, chopped
1/4 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 green pepper, chopped
tobasco
oregano
garlic powder
paprika

Bring 1.5 cups of water to a boil.
Dump in the black-eye peas and stir until the water boils again.
Cover and reduce the heat.
After a half hour add the okra, tomato sauce, bacon, onion, peppers and spices.
(I don't typically measure these -- just dump -- use your judgment.)
Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes.

The result is a bit like gumbo -- doubtless because of the okra.