I know what you've been stressing about...
What did I do with all those beans!?!
Look, it’s easy to make beans (if you have time and beans), and it’s easy to eat beans (refried, on toast, a third way), but to eat the beans you make? Challenge.
They were too salty. Next time, I’m going to store some drained, as well as in the broth and see if that evens out the intensity.
I categorically do not have any sort of diagnosis re: PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance)1, but the weight of all those beans was taking a mental toll and causing a physiological revolt.2 Every time I considered them (the humble turtle bean), I tasted bile. And I had too much to be doing to explore that sensation.
Luckily, the beans were eaten with minimal intervention by moi. I made two (?)3 meals with them. One of which was a gathering of fridge foods, the other was when I included them as part of Four Fat Jammy Egg Tacos. Prit-pritty good.
Using boiled eggs and the beans. Wow. I was pushing myself. This was a “do something that scares you” kinda meal. But it made sense. I was able to get corn tacos easily, the idea of brown butter nuts sounded sumptious, I was already going to buy trail mix, so this just meant I got to get a bigger box to root through for walnuts and almonds and cashews etc, I’d get to use up the beans AND an egg recipe AND AND! There was avocado. It is a heart ingredient of mine4.
The corn tacos, I fecked up. I don’t know, I put them in the microwave (all the hobs were in use. No electric kettle = one indefinitely hogged hob), and they were fine, but a bit mealy. I do think it’s something I need to have a really good version of to be able to figure out what I’m aiming for. Sohla’s book is very much about honing instincts and trusting your tastes, making mistakes to learn and improve. But if I don’t know the taste, the texture, the possibilities, then I don’t know if it’s something I’m missing, or something I just don’t like. Because sometimes, we just don’t like things. And that’s okay.
The 10,000 hours myth5, which I understood to be: ten thousand hours of practising something could make you a master, did seem to be missing the tutelage aspect. Like, ten thousand hours of me and a guitar would likely culminate in me just being really good at pressing the strings down and getting that Everybody Hurts picking bit down. Because I know that one! Without lessons, I’m floating in a world of inflamed fingertips and googling tabs I don’t really understand. If I get lost in the practise without knowing what it is I’m aiming for or a version of), then corn tacos may become my dining “Wonderful Tonight”6
Apart from the weird fall-apart, mealy texture of the tacos (maybe they were just shite quality - I don’t know!), the meal was tasty af. Beans too salty (just put some on a pan and mushed them), but that was balanced by not seasoning other items; nuts a little dusty (I think the walnut pieces were just too big, so they didn’t cook all the way through); I only had three eggs and disrobing those three of their shells was nerve-racking, but I liked the meal. It was a tasty. The eggs were, indeed, jammy, but not cold. I would cook again. In fact, I probably will.
There was more cooked in the last while, so I’ll be writing that down, and I did go to a very special event, which I will not name (because I want to rip the shite out of it and some of those involved8) so, you know. Get excited! Or, just you know. Beans!
#suspense
A diagnosis specific to an autistic profile. Remember kids, additional needs are for life, not just for lolz! ↩
Any leftovers, but particularly a week’s meal prep causes similar ick moments. God. Wednesdays cannot even hope to rise to a hump when it’s day three of cous cous, butter beans and peas. In a jar, in a takeaway box, with nutritional yeast and capers, with chili crisp, it just cannot be salvaged. ↩
It’s been a while. ↩
Guys, I don’t know if you’ve heard of this really cool vegetable/fruit thing. It looks like a crocodile pear, but when you cut it open, it has a hard brown tummy. So cute! You can smush up the light green part and, like, put it on toast, or mix it with coriander and lime and dip tortilla chips into it. Feck, it’s even great on its own, just on a spoon. Don’t know if you know about it. Really recommend, if you get the chance. Probably a bit scarce around most parts. Pretty exclusive to be fair. ↩
Something I was wholly onboard with btw. ↩
Apologies to housemates past and future - I wish I could have butchered a song from a less problematic dude. ↩
No, I didn’t any fricking photos of me peeling the eggs. That’s hot and icy cold and stressy. ↩
Entering my Dorothy Parker era. ↩