Happy New Year!

Over the past few months, I've had a fair amount of
exposure to my Polish roots, but on New Year's Eve,
my German side shows it's Teutonic teeth by forcing
me to eat one of my least favorite foods...Sauerkraut!
Sauerkraut is no spinach. I'm just not a big fan.
However, it's an old German tradition that you must
eat Sauerkraut on New Year's Eve or you will not have
luck (or money) in the upcoming year. I must not be
eating enough of it apparently since I still have to
work every year and I'm not independently wealthy.
A few years ago, eating Sauerkraut actually cost me
money. It was the first year Lynn and I lived in
Estes Park, Colorado and I explained to Lynn this old
family tradition. She's not a big fan of this stringy
substance either, but in an effort to make me happy
(added to the fact that we weren't exactly rolling in
dough, so what harm would it do to tempt fate) we heated
up a can of sauerkraut, had a few strings and then
managed to put the rest in the garbage disposal. Ah...
what happened next? I have since learned that you don't
put Sauerkraut down the disposal. It clogs it and as
a result, we had to pay a plumber to unclog our sink.
We hit the New Year $50 in debt as a result. This year,
I took no chances...I ate some sauerkraut...but I stayed
away from any garbage disposals.