We always have to eat black eyed peas! It's a hard and fast rule in my family. My super-logical dad, educated with a masters degree in city planning and who spent 20 years as an engineer in the Navy, is so superstitious about this that I grew up thinking it was a dietary requirement to eat black eyed peas on New Years! So, anyway, we'll be having black eyed peas in the ham juice leftover from Christmas (as sort of a soup, maybe with some ramen noodles) and collard greens. Really getting in touch with my southern roots, I suppose!
M