When I was a kid, my parents would wake us up to watch the ball drop and feed us unusual 'weird' food. We have started this tradition with our kids now!

The tradition is called, 'Eating Weird Food'. Growing up I had caviar, lobster, oysters, herring, pickled anything and just well...weird stuff.

The kids love the concept and actually HATE the food! We love watching the looks on their faces! This years menu, as we watched 2014 slip into history and welcomed a brand new year, was as follows. Let's start with the yellow things on the plate and go clockwise:

  • baby ears of corn - okay, it's just cute and weird and delicious
  • egg rolls. Not all that weird, but you woulda thunk we served lambs head! No one touched them except Jen and me.
  • Petite toast. I couldn't resist! Look how cute those little crackers are that look like little tiny pieces of toast! Kids loved them.
  • peppered goat cheese. No kid touched it.
  • the little tan strips are Hanami. Prawn crackers from Thailand - more on this later!
  • Star fruit (Carambola). They love this fruit and it's very weird!
  • the little container in the middle is Deviled Ham - we had one taker! I haven't had it in years...salty little sucker.

In the bowls starting at the top of the tray and going clockwise:

  • mussels in garlic, butter and wine sauce. Not only did the kids NOT try this, but they threatened mutiny if we tried this one again. More for Jen and me!
  • Quorn. Meatless protein shaped into chicken nuggets. Now I screwed up and bought the buffalo flavored ones and they were wayyy too hot. We told the kids NOT to try this one, but I will take a stab at this one again. I like it.
  • black eyed peas. A non-negotiable. Every single person has to have at least one at the stroke of midnight for good luck!
  • fried shrimp. This one was a shocker. Who doesn't like fried shrimp. Oh right, all three kids! More for Jen and me. Jen and I ate a lot New Year's Eve!

A little more about that Hanami. I went down the ethnic aisle at Hannaford and found these crackers. I bought them for two reasons. 1) They were cheap and 2) they had a picture of shrimp on the cover! I knew that would freak the kids out!

Hanami
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Hysterical. First off, I liked them. But not a real shocker - I'll eat damn near anything. The 9 year old wouldn't even try it, one of the boys did and said, 'ick!' - but the other twin was totally into it and even dipped a shrimp cracker into the devilish ham (his new name for the ham thing!).

Overall it was just plain fun and a great tradition. Do you have a New Year's Eve tradition? What is it? What weird food should I serve next year. And again, it doesn't take much in this family to constitute 'weird'.

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