I burnt the beans today. The black beans, to be specific, that I was cooking for the delicious tostadas we were to have for dinner. Now, I don't normally burn food I'm cooking, so this was a valuable lesson in Not Taking Untimed Naps While Food Simmers on the Stove. After what turned into a two hour nap with the dog on the basement sofa, I blearily decided I should probably get up and check on the beans. I am glad, at least, that the smell of burnt beans had not yet grown so strong as to waft its way downstairs and be the cause of my awakening. In fact, I even thought the beans might be salvageable if I could just pick the little crispy charcoal bits out from the nice, plump, purplish specimens. After a few minutes, however, I realized that this was a hopeless task, and resigned myself to the fact that I would be using canned beans tonight.
Now all's well that ends well - the tostadas were still delicious, thanks in part to fantastic guacamole and home-made tortillas (which I did not burn, thank you!), and Michael declared it to be the tastiest meal he'd had in awhile. I don't know, is that really a compliment? Or does that say that my cooking hasn't been so tasty of late, hmm? Maybe I need to look into this "compliment" further.
By the way, if you would like the recipe I use to make what we consider to be the perfect guacamole, you can find it online at www.saveur.com if you do a recipe search. If you are a fan of chunky guac (as we fondly call it) this one's for you! The tostadas are from the Sundays at Moosewood cookbook, so I won't include the recipe here, but will say that it includes sauteed onion, garlic, jalapeno, cumin, and corriander, and also freshly squeezed orange juice and chopped tomatoes mixed in with the beans. Mmmm...
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