I was going to make these for New Year's Day
https://web.archive.org/web/20140303231853/http://wholesomemom.me/2011/10/17/black-eyed-pea-croquettes/ but I didn't start the peas soaking in time. So I divided them and will make a half a recipe sometime this week, and I'm boiling the other half -- with a few little pieces of
that ham, some onions, garlic, black pepper, and a handful of dried serrano pepper slices from the garden (probably way too many serranos.)
My Great Aunt Mary was very superstitious, (all three sisters were, but her especially) and it was important to her that we eat black-eyed peas for the New Year -- "For luck!"* I don't really like BEPs but I don't dislike them, and I eat some every year to remind me of her. Happy New Year, Aunt Mary.
*other folks in East Texas and probably elsewhere also eat greens on New Years "For money!" but I don't remember her ever saying that.