In Vake’s family, on New Year’s Eve, the kids were allowed to stay up until midnight, or to try to. (I still have a hard time with that.) New Year’s Eve was a time for the adults to get together for Tom and Jerrys. (I realized how dated that was when a friend 15 years younger than I had no idea what a Tom and Jerry was; and an even younger employee didn’t know why I was amused at meeting a girl whose honest-to-goodness name was “Brandy Alexander.” )Before midnight, Milly would place a silver coin on a window sill facing each direction, to ensure wealth arriving from all directions during the new year. At midnight, everybody spilled outside to holler “Happy New Year!” and Vake fired his shotgun.
(That shotgun didn’t get a lot of use. After Vake brought home ducks from a hunting trip, I remember asking him not to shoot the pretty ones any more, and he said that he wouldn’t. He had heard that a blast from a shotgun would open a plugged sand point, so when one of the domestic wells in our back yard failed, he shot it at point-blank range with the shot gun. He got a ruined sand point and a shotgun full of sand and water. The one thing it was good for was shooting moles just at the instant they were piling molehills onto the lawn, and he actually used it a couple of times for that.)
After we got television in 1960, New Year’s Day became just as important as the Eve: we could watch the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl football game and chomp down chips and dip. And from time to time, our almas matre the U of O or UW have actually played in the Rose Bowl, but I doubt that OSU ever has since I attended there 1965-1968. Oh well, it could be worse. My friend Darlene Scott had a father who attended one OSU basketball game per year, driving all the way from Florence to Corvallis for the occasion. In more than 20 years of making the trip, he had never seen OSU win.
In the 1970s, coached by a friend from east Texas, my sons and I added another ritual to our New Year’s Day celebration: eating black-eyed peas and okra to bring luck during the coming year.
Tom and Jerrys
For historical reasons, here’s Milly’s recipe for Tom and Jerrys. Milly Sampson got the recipe from Norma Goodman, who was married to Thane, who was Uncle Buck’s younger brother, so who was not quite a relative.
Beat 6 eggs, yellows and whites separately. Add confectioner’s sugar to the yolks until very thick. Add ½ tsp baking soda, 2 T lemon juice, and 1 tsp. Vanilla. Then add beaten whites and more sugar until the batter is thick. This can require more than a pound of confectioner’s sugar.
For each serving, place 1 T batter in a cup. Add 1 jigger of whiskey and rum to flavor, then fill the cup with hot water. Sprinkle the top with fresh grated nutmeg.
You know about the risk of e coli from eating uncooked eggs, right?
The family recipes for chips and dips came along before we discovered fresh salsa, and still taste pretty good. Here are the recipes just as Tina Sampson dictated them to Brook:
Clam Dip
2 8-oz packages of cream cheese,1 can minced clams, drained,1 T sour cream,Worcestershire sauce,onion powder, garlic powder, parsley.
Soften the cream cheese and add clams and enough of their juice to flavor the dip; give the remaining juice to your cats. Add one T sour cream and remaining ingredients to suit your taste and flavor. Let it chill for an hour unless you are hungry; in that case, let it chill for ½ hour.
Hacienda Dip—Milly Sampson, 1984 recipe
One 7-oz can Ortega Green Chili Salsa,two 8-oz packages of cream cheese,½ tsp onion salt, corn chips.
Gradually add salsa to softened cheese and salt. Mix well to blend. Chill and serve with chips Makes about 2 C. Flavor improves as the mixture mellows.
Have a happy new year!
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