"...i can't buy a bean"
it seems appropriate to start with simple beans...to quote a family member "i'm so poor i can't buy a bean"...now that's poor! well, we eat our share of beans and they are divine...i've been eating beans since as long as my memory goes back...although raised a california girl, i've got southern roots and we had many family meals of a pot of pinto beans, fried okra, fried taters, fresh sliced tomato, and cold "wienies" (hot-dogs). i didn't like the wienies...but i recall warm, fluffy cornbread and cold milk. i haven't eaten that combo since, but it brings back warm memories of sitting at my grandma's table as a child with a glass filled with cornbread and milk. the beans must be pinto, the fat must be bacon and salt added at the end so the beans are tender. over the years the recipe varies...sauteed onion adds sweetness, whole garlic cloves melt right in once they've cooked, cayenne or a toothpick full (seriously) of "dave...