Bean Day

There are approximately 40,000 bean varieties in the world.  Beans are one of the longest cultivated plants, dating back to 7,000 BC.  "Bean" is the common name for the seed of a flowering plant in the  Leguminosae family.  That big old family of legumes.

We are having chili tonight and I'm already looking forward to it, laying here in bed drinking coffee on another freezing January morning.  I don't want to get up and go to the gym as usual.  It's 23 degrees out, but hopefully this is the last of the bitter cold stretch.  By Sunday we'll have good old rain again, which hopefully revives all the sad plants that have been frozen solid for a week.

I made the chili yesterday with some Salvadoran red beans I'd cooked in the pressure cooker. Like beef stew, chili is so much better reheated the next day.  And the day after that, better yet.

Thank goodness for the simple pleasures during this dark, strange month.

I'm looking forward to meeting some dear friends in the International District for dim sum brunch tomorrow.  Then there's a Seahawk game on TV in the evening, possibly with snow. (Can we stand that much excitement in Seattle?)  On Sunday afternoon we're going to the Symphony to hear Beethoven's Ninth.  Dad, I'll be thinking about you as we listen to your favorite music.

Have a happy weekend, dear family and friends.