{"id":5678,"date":"2009-12-31T04:00:58","date_gmt":"2009-12-31T09:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=5678"},"modified":"2009-12-31T11:25:45","modified_gmt":"2009-12-31T16:25:45","slug":"what-are-you-doing-new-year%e2%80%99s-eve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=5678","title":{"rendered":"What Are You Doing New Year\u2019s Eve?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bannocksweb\"<\/p>\n

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Frank Loesser composed the song \u201cWhat Are You Doing New Year\u2019s Eve?\u201d in 1947.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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According to Susan Loesser\u2019s biography of her father, A Most Remarkable Fella<\/em>, the singer of the song is supposed to be asking the title question in the early spring, thinking ahead and hoping that a new relationship will last until December.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cIt always annoyed my father when the song was sung during<\/em> the holidays,\u201d\u00a0the composer’s daughter\u00a0writes.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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When a\u00a0songwriter\u00a0publishes a song and sends it\u00a0out into the world, however, the song can be reinterpreted over and over again\u2014and Frank Loesser has clearly lost the battle of New Year\u2019s Eve.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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His song perfectly epitomizes the mixture of reflection, hope, and sleepiness we feel as midnight looms on December 31. It\u2019s a lovely piece\u2014slightly jazzy and easy to sing because the melody makes the lyrics seem effortless, like conversation.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Maybe it\u2019s much too early in the game.
\nAh, but I thought I\u2019d ask you just the same:
\nWhat are you doing New Year\u2019s, New Year\u2019s Eve?<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I\u2019ll definitely be singing it tonight as part of a set Alice Parker and I are\u00a0performing\u00a0at the Charlemont Inn<\/a>. And this afternoon as I vocalize I plan to make\u00a0bannocks\u2014at least, my version of bannocks.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Bannocks are one of the traditional Scottish foods associated with the celebration of Hogmanay. This Scottish New Year holiday begins on New Year\u2019s Eve (sometimes even earlier) and extends into New Year\u2019s Day (sometimes even later).<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Hogmanay is a major festival in Scotland these days, not unlike July 14 in France. A Scottish website, Hogmanay.net<\/a>, documents many of the contemporary celebrations and offers some history as well as an opportunity to sing \u201cAuld Lang Syne\u201d by following a bouncing ball<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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According to Hogmanay lore, the New Year will be prosperous if a dark stranger is the first person to cross one\u2019s threshold in the New Year. The stranger is supposed to bring a token gift, often a lump of coal to keep the fire warm. The homeowner reciprocates with refreshment.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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A typical refreshment offered is a bannock, an oatmeal cake that according to varying accounts resembles a scone\u2014or a pancake\u2014or a cookie.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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I\u2019ve never tasted an authentic bannock, and I encourage readers with recipes to send them in! In the meantime, I\u2019m baking my version of this treat, which is distinctly scone like.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
I love the word “bannock.” It sounds solid and practical. My bannocks are also solid (although not hard!) and taste pleasantly of country life.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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It\u2019s unlikely that a dark and handsome stranger will cross my threshold at midnight.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Snow is predicted\u00a0late this evening in Hawley, Massachusetts, and\u00a0the town tends to be geriatric so any handsome stranger who actually makes it up my steep hill will probably be silver haired. But a girl can always hope.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
If no stranger shows up, we\u2019ll eat the bannocks for breakfast on New Year\u2019s Day.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Happy New Year to all! I look forward to singing and cooking with you in 2010…<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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\n
\"Thanks<\/dt>\n
Thanks to Pru Berry for the impromptu photo!<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Tinky\u2019s Inauthentic but Tasty Bannocks<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Ingredients:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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1 cup flour
\n1\/2 cup oatmeal (not quick cooking)
\n1\/2 cup blended oatmeal (put oats in your blender and pulverize them into a flour-like consistency; then measure out 1\/2 cup)
\n1\/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
\n1-1\/2 teaspoons baking power
\n1 teaspoon baking soda
\n1\/2 teaspoon salt
\n1 teaspoon cinnamon
\n1\/2 cup (1 stick) sweet butter
\n2\/3 cup raisins
\n1\/2 to 2\/3 cup buttermilk
\n1 egg
\n1\/2 teaspoon vanilla
\nwhite sugar for the top of the bannocks<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Instructions:<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Preheat the oven to 325 and lightly grease two cookie sheets (or line them with silicone or parchment).<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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In a medium bowl combine the flour, oatmeals, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Cut in the butter; then stir in the raisins.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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In a mixing cup whisk together 1\/2 cup buttermilk, the egg, and the vanilla. Stir this mixture into the dry ingredients. If the batter won\u2019t quite hold together, add a little more buttermilk.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Drop the bannock batter into 12 mounds on the prepared cookie sheets. Sprinkle a little sugar on the top of each mound.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Bake the bannocks for 18 to 25 minutes, until they are brown on the edges. Let the bannocks cool on the cookie sheets for a minute or two\u00a0before serving them warm. (If you can’t\u00a0use them right away, reheat them briefly before serving; they’re\u00a0best eaten quite fresh from the oven.)<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Makes 12 bannocks.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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\"Truffle2010web\"<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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\u00a0 Frank Loesser composed the song \u201cWhat Are You Doing New Year\u2019s Eve?\u201d in 1947. \u00a0 According to Susan Loesser\u2019s biography of her father, A Most Remarkable Fella, the singer of the song is supposed to be asking the title question in the early spring, thinking ahead and hoping that a new relationship will last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[7,17,26],"tags":[953,954,950,951,941,956,301,955],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5678"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5678"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5706,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5678\/revisions\/5706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}