Babies, Beans, and Bunny Sanchez

Rancho Gordo…before the pot

There’s not many challenges I shy away from, in life or in the kitchen, but dry beans are one of those challenges that seemed impossible—a technical challenge I was never fully prepared for. Picking the correct kind, soaking them—the slowness of it all—made it feel like me and beans were just not meant to be. Twenty-something-year-old me lacked the patience and the finesse. Since then, I’ve often thought how nice it would be to be the kind of woman who can make a killer pot of beans from a bag of seemingly dry rocks, but the few times I’ve tried it has ended in utter failure. Fast forward a decade and add two kids. Maybe now I am the woman who can tackle this mystery. Having children has pulled from me a deep patience I never knew I possessed, and has forced me to slow down—which made me think if I can have two kids, I can make a pot of beans, damn it. 

Insert a friendship that’s born of wine, good hair, and a slight awe (on my part) of her mystical vibe. Bun…