Black Eyed Pea Salsa

"My mother is very superstitious. I don’t consider myself to be. However, I intentionally don’t walk under ladders, and I might worry a bit if I broke a mirror. Here we are, the New Year is upon us. Every year, my mother opens a can of black eyed peas and insists we all take at least one bite. Because if we don’t, the sky will collapse on us. Or the earth might fall out of orbit. Something huge will happen."