Black Eyed Peas?

Knowing that my old favorite, Piccadilly, is on the road that I've traveled repeatedly between downtown Memphis and east Memphis for press events, I had supreme confidence I could pick that Southern tradition -- black eyed peas for good luck on New Year's Day.

As my daughter would say, this was an epic fail.

I was surprised the go-order area was closed, but at 2:15 in the afternoon -- a tight schedule between media conferences and getting back downtown -- surely the line inside won't be long.

Wrong. Alright, let's ask the cashier at the end of the line. Excuse me, could I get a go order since the take-out is closed, I just need some black eyed peas to go. "You can get them from the line." So, I head for the line that is unusually long, and moving very slow. After five minutes, I've moved two people and simply can't wait.

Shocked that my Piccadilly has let me down. I grew up with Dilly Dishes back in Monroe, and this seems like a betrayal. Oh well, certainly some place in this town of traditional southern food will have the peas.

No. Not a one. Checking at one spot, the hostess agreed with me -- you know, you'd think some place would have the peas on their menu for today. The manager nodded, yep, after all, it's New Years.

I take this as a bad sign for the all that is Southern-ness. I had every intention of hitting the road late tonight for a grocery store to solve the problem, but the hard drive of this week has taken it's toll. I'm just too tired to secure that good luck tradition.

And believe me, I've made that move in the past, convincing a grocery store trying to close early on a weekend New Year's Day in Provo, Utah, to stay open long enough to buy a can, take it back to the hotel and microwave them enough to eat a couple of spoonfuls.

But not tonight. I hope this doesn't bode for a crappy start to the 10s. I really hoped to put the last crappy decade behind me.