It sure has been a busy weekend here in Fayetteville.
It all started earlier this week, when the furniture we ordered for Beth and Steve’s new apartment arrived. Michael and I had to be there for the delivery – and then we had to make sure everything worked, of course. But that meant we could start the moving process.
We could have started Friday, but the big story for the day before New Year’s Eve was getting to see The Cate Brothers at George’s Majestic Lounge. These guys are legendary here in Fayetteville and the show was packed. We went with our friend Andrea, and afterward the three of us went for sushi at a place on Dickson Street called Wasabi. Yummy!
It was a fun night, and we needed it. Because Saturday (New Year’s Eve) is when the work began. Beth’s brother Richard came down from Branson with a flatbed trailer, and he helped us move some furniture into the apartment, as well as pick up a few family heirlooms that he took back to Branson.
I’d like to say we had a rockin’ New Year’s or something, but we were all pretty tired from moving stuff and honestly I’m just proud that I stayed up until midnight. I watched some of the NYE coverage with Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper. Has Kathy Griffin always been so annoying? I used to think she was funny.
Anyway. Sunday (New Year’s Day) was the day we took the bulk of the items up to the new apartment in Springdale. Moving always takes longer than you think it will, so we didn’t get started on dinner until almost 7:30. And this was a special dinner.
Apparently in the south, eating black eyed peas on New Year’s Day is supposed to bring luck and prosperity for the new year. Michael’s take on the whole idea:
What is this beautiful creation?
Crispy black eyed pea fritter with cabbage & red onion slaw, pineapple pico de gallo, and avocado puree.
It tasted even better than it looked. And that wasn’t all! In fact, the fritter was just the appetizer for the main meal:
That’s right, jealous people. My new year’s day dinner was fried chicken with mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus.
I actually made those mashed potatoes. The chef’s contribution to my dish came when I told him I didn’t want to add any more butter, but I thought they still needed something. He added a fat dallop of duck fat. Yep, we found duck fat sold by the jar at Whole Foods. It made those potatoes heavenly.
I’ll leave you with a few shots of the plating of this meal.
Pretty cool that all this came from “we need to eat black eyed peas on New Year’s for luck!”