Gutes neues Jahr !

That means Happy New Year in German, literally Good New Year.

This evening I will do some powerful voodoo to help ensure a prosperous New Year. I'll make about four dozen golden spring rolls. Having spring rolls at New year's is a Chinese "good luck" charm - I learned this from the famous Chinese chef and restauranteur of the 1960-70s, Joyce Chen in cooking classes in the mid 1970s. The reasoning that spring rolls are good luck is that they are made to look like bars of gold. Thus having them for New year's is a good luck charm.

I suppose it's similar to my grandmother saying that having sauerkraut at New Year's was also good luck. Maybe it's for the same reason - sauerkraut can look like golden threads.

My spring rolls are baked, not deep fried - I get the gold color by spraying them with Pam, or brushing with olive oil. The filling is hamburger, bok choy, green cabbage, green peppers, onions, oyster sauce and various other Chinese spices. I'll make four dozen and have them for New Year's eve dinner with Mrs. B along with a fine Golden Kryptonite Martini.

Hey, that's a double voodoo spell !

Wait ... quintuple voodoo - I'm making some golden sauerkraut for New Year's day dinner, along with a pork roast & golden Bavarian potato pancakes. Maybe I'll have a bottle of fine German reisling wine, too. That would be quintuple voodoo as the wine is a golden color.

Doing my best for the common man ;)

Actions

I still have the S&P January puts. If the market doesn't drop during the first week, I'll roll them forward into a later expiration date.

Word of the Day

"Preterite" - adjective and noun [$10] Grammatical
Preterite means (adjective) expressing a past action or state; (noun) a preterite tense or form.
Sentence: As all events of 2009 will soon be described only in preterite tenses, we can hope that 2010 will bring good news for the common man in its soon applicable present tenses.