Our happiness is often a function of our expectations minus reality. If reality does not meet our expectations, then we are unhappy. If reality meets or exceeds our expectations then we are happy.
Posed this way, "choosing to be happy" becomes an exercise in managing expectations.
This gets much harder when our entire frame-of-reference gets ripped away.
Handsome Hombre went to a local festival and was distinctly not impressed with American Baked Beans. His expectations were grounded on Latin American Red-Beans-and-Rice, a savory dish. The ABB was a sugary confection with a few beans swimming in it. It was not the food of working people but an interpretation of an interpretation of a food that once was.
So...I went on the internet and found a recipe for red-beans-and-rice. A few adjustments were made based on what we had available. Garlic, onions, green peppers and celery were sauteed along with a little bit of oregano picked out of a patch growing in a sandy spot in our lawn. Red beans soaked and cooked. White rice (not a staple in the ERJ household) was cooked. Mixed together in about a 1-3-6 ratio along with enough chicken bullion and bean broth to make it sticky. (A tip-of-the-hat to Pawpaw).
I am 99.5% sure it wasn't what he grew up eating but I am equally sure that it was much closer to his expectation than the ABB from the festival.
Add burgers cooked over the hobo stove, great company and a few glasses of wine and we had a feast.
City vs. Country
While we were eating, we could hear some of my neighbors having a party. Their guests were clearly having a water-fight and playing in a pool. There were also some other neighbors messing around with motorcycles and quads. At one point, some other neighbors who did some target shooting. Based on where the sounds were coming from, those parties were about a quarter-mile from our house.
In Miami, there would have been 1100 people within a quarter-mile of their residence. That is based on a population density of 5500 people per-square-mile for their part of Miami.
While I have to take off my shoes to count all of my neighbors, by my estimate I have 19 neighbors living within a quarter-mile of Casa ERJ. In Miami, it wouldn't have been possible to hear motorcycles being started a 1/4 mile away, nor the sounds of a pool party.
Two very different worlds.
Ok..1-3-6 ratio... What is each part as you see it... Unclear to me while reading your article...
ReplyDeleteJustim...
One part sauteed vegetables, three parts cooked beans, six parts rice. When I do it again I will go lighter on the rice. HH said cilantro might be a nice spice addition.
DeleteERJ
ReplyDeleteWe
Have red beans and rice weekly. It’s ancajun staple and my young daughters favorite dinner. Also convenient because it cooks in the crock pot slow cooker.
Recipe-ish:
2 pounds small red beans
1 or 2 tablespoons cajun spice mix (Tony Chacheries is best)
2 cups rough chopped celery
1 large onion (rough chopped)
1-2 cloves garlic (minced). Yes you can use powdered garlic if you prefer, about 3/4 teaspoon more or less.
1 pound cajun sausage (smokes sausage can be used in a pinch. Hilshire farms brand usually suffices because it also provides aome fat for the mix. Andouille sausage requires addition of some fat, like olive oil, lard, or butter).
4’cups white rice. This will double when cooked. (Note: Always rinse rice well before cooking. Soak it for a few minutes, drain, repeat until water isn’t cloudy. This will greatly improve flavor and texture - no more sticky rice)
Procedure:
Soak beans overnight in crock pot. rinse in am. Cover with about 2 inches of water over the beans. A little generous with water isn’t bad.
Add onion and celery to beans. Add garlic and cajun spice. Sneeze a few times. Mix well. Turn on crock pot to high and go about your business for the next 6 hours.
After beans are fully cooked, lightly mash some of the beans with a potato masher. Do it right in the crock pot. Check taste and add spice as desired. Add rough chopped fully cooked meat to pot and simmer on low for an hour or so.
Cook rice as you like it.
DO NOT mix rice and beans in the same pot.
To serve: place about 1 cup cooked rice in each bowl. Ladel red beans around the rice. This allows each person to balance the beans and rice in any given spoonful. And it’s the cajun way!
We also serve with fresh cornbread on the side.
Enjoy!
Thank-you, sir (or Ma'am).
DeleteYep, completely different environment here Northern Colorado compared to the 35 years I spent in SoCal.
ReplyDeleteI greatly prefer it here.....
I was enjoying my privacy and quiet the other afternoon after making a trip into the city to drop off at the airport. Hit up a few stores while there, man, how do people LIVE like that?
DeleteThey have a "Hive Mentality".....
DeleteThat's a good recipe for red beans. Growing up in New Orleans Monday was Red Beans day because Monday was wash day. The pot could simmer all day with little attention while the wash was attended to. Also due to the number Catholic parishioners Friday is fish or seafood day. Nearly every Neighborhood store that prepared lunches would always have red beans on Monday and fish on Friday. I liked both days. Good red beans to me is a comfort food that brings back good memories. Although I like my beans cooked to almost a paste with very few to no whole beans and a smoked ham bone in the middle. As a note when I moved to the north shore of lake Pontchartrain just a little over 75 miles north of the New Orleans. The locals liked their beans in a clear liquid and all beans whole with biscuits instead of cornbread I was not a fan. BTW here in south Louisiana rice is at almost every meal. I guess since we grow rice rather than wheat or corn,geography has something to do with culinary habits.
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