Beans at Work

I just started cooking the beans.

This is pretty ridiculous. I poured off the soak water, heated it to 100 degrees, and threw some Beano in it. Then I put the beans in a 4-gallon pot and started cooking them.

Stuff I added: cumin, oregano (can't find fresh oregano), balsamic vinegar, sweet Marsala, an onion, garlic, green peppers, and two smoked ham shanks. That's some of it, anyway.

I added water to cover the pork, and now it's heating up. There is absolutely no way I will end up with less than 2 1/2 gallons of beans. So, I figure I'll have at least five gallons of moros.

Perhaps I miscalculated when I bought the ingredients.

But it's not a problem. There will be at least ten Cubans at the pig roast, plus me and my old man, so the food will be dealt with one way or the other.

I can't wait until the beans heat up and the aroma fills the air.

Ordinarily, I'd use three ham shanks in a recipe this big, but this stuff is going inside a pig, so there ought to be plenty of pork fat in it without a third shank. I dearly hope so.

I'll let the cooked beans sit overnight, and tomorrow, I'll make the rice. Then I'll take the whole mess over to Val's.

Of course, I'll also have to make a couple of trays of strawberry shortcake. I don't want to be a stingy guest.

This is really awful. I'm ashamed of myself.

Can't wait for Saturday.