Ring out false pride in place and blood, / The civic slander and the spite; / Ring in the love of truth and right, / Ring in the common love of good. - Alfred, Lord Tennyson, poet (1809-1892)

Around the start of the New Year, many Japanese households will take part in the annual tradition of mochitsuki (餅つき), the pounding of rice to make mochi.  Mochi, also called a rice cake, is pounded sweet rice that can be eaten in a sweet or savory dish.  In Japan, mochi has been eaten for New Year’s since at least the Heian period (794-1185).  At this point, mochi was actually eaten in hopes that it would bring your teeth and bones strength for the New Year because the mochi that was set out as an offering was tough to eat by the New Year.  Mochi sounds similar to the Japanese word for “to hold” or “to have”, so mochi is eaten in hopes of gaining good fortune over the coming year.  Mochi is so culturally significant in Japan that where Americans will look at the moon and see the face of a man, Japanese see rabbits pounding mochi.  posted by Samantha  https://asahiimports.com/2014/01/04/mochitsuki-a-japanese-new-years-tradition/

Butter Mochi--a classic Hawaiian treat made with coconut milk and mochiko (glutinous rice flour). All you have to do is mix and bake!  https://www.contemplatingsweets.com/hawaiian-butter-mochi/

I grew up with the tradition of eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day for good luck.  Starting with dried black-eyed peas, place your beans in a large bowl and add enough water to cover by at least 4 inches.  Let them soak overnight.  Drain your beans from the soaking liquid and give them a quick rinse under cold water.  Place beans in a large pot and cover them with 4 inches of chicken stock.  Simmer, covered, for about 1 hour.  Start checking after 45 minutes to see if they are tender and add more broth or water as necessary to keep them covered.  Add in a ham bone if you have one for even better black eyed peas!  Once your black eyed peas are tender you can season them up and add any extras you want.  Add some spinach or other greens during the last 5 minutes or so and season with some salt, pepper, and any other favorite seasonings!  Makinze Gore  https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a25658229/how-to-cook-black-eyed-peas/

The dish that black eyed peas are most famous for is Hoppin' John.  No idea where the name came from.  And depending on where you are from you might not even call it that, but simply black eyed peas and rice.  Hoppin' John is one of those classic Southern dishes that come with as many versions, stories and flavors as there are cooks.  At its core, however, Hoppin' John is rice, black-eyed peas (or field peas), smoked pork, and onions.  Black eyed peas are supposed to bring you luck if you eat them on New Year's Day, and they are traditionally eaten with collard greens.  Elise Bauer  https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/hoppin_john/ 

Syllabub is a sweet dish from Cornish cuisine, made by curdling sweet cream or milk with an acid like wine or cider.  It was popular from the 16th to 19th centuries.  Early recipes for syllabub are for a drink of cider with milk.  By the 17th century it had evolved into a type of dessert made with sweet white wine.  More wine could be added to make a punch, but it could also be made to have a thicker consistency that could be eaten with a spoon, used as a topping for trifle, or to dip fingers of sponge cake.  The holiday punch, sweet and frothy, was oftentimes considered a "ladies drink".  The milk and cream used in those days would have been thicker so modern recipes may need to make some adjustments to achieve the same effect.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllabub  Syllabub recipe--four servings   https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Syllabub/

PADUA, Italy (Reuters) - White-coated bakers are chopping nuts, dipping pastry into liquid chocolate and hanging freshly baked panettone Christmas cake upside down to preserve its domed shape.  Sweet smells have wafted through this building since 2005, when the local Giotto cooperative opened the ‘Pasticceria Giotto’, which they say is Italy’s only bakery inside a jail.  The cooperative says the re-offending rate among prisoners who work on their projects in Padua drops to 1-2 percent from a national average they put at over 70 percent.  Of the roughly 800 detainees in Padua’s Due Palazzi prison, 150 are paid to work on such projects, which also include a call center and workshops making suitcases and bicycles.  The bakery’s signature delicacy is panettone, baked to a traditional recipe that takes 72 hours to make from a precise mixture of flour, butter, eggs and sugar that is enshrined in Italian law.  Isla Binnie  https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-prison-bakery/italys-prison-panettone-offers-sweet-way-to-cut-crime-idUSKBN0JN0R920141209  

In 2021, Sotheby’s announced that the manuscripts, first editions, letters and bindings that make up the legendary Honresfield Library--assembled with passion by self-made Victorian industrialists William and Alfred Law at the turn of the 20th century--were to be offered at auction in a series of three sales starting in July 2021.  Working together with the UK charity Friends of the National Libraries (FNL), Sotheby’s then agreed to postpone the commencement of the auctions to allow for negotiations for the entirety of the library to be acquired by a consortium of institutions for the nation.  FNL has successfully raised over £15 million to purchase the library for the nation, and will donate all of the manuscripts and printed books to the relevant national, university and specialist collecting institutions, ensuring that as many people as possible can enjoy this treasure trove of English and Scottish literature. https://www.sothebys.com/en/press/the-honresfield-library-of-british-literature-saved-for-the-nation  

Best crime fiction, mystery and thrillers of 2021:    https://crimereads.com/best-crime-novels-2021/

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2476  December 31, 2021