God said, one question. He said, what's the capital of Peru? God said, Lima!?

B and I have been really into bean dishes lately. One of our cookbooks is full of them, and over the past few months we've had just about every bean going.

One winter I used mostly dried beans, then I went back to cans for a while to save time, but recently I bought a bag of dried lima beans, for a change I guess. Last night, I put the whole bag in cold water for a few hours and forgot about them. They started to split and wrinkle. I thought for sure they were a lost cause, but I cooked them anyway, leaving them to simmer for about two hours. I drained them and had a quick taste. I was beside myself. They were absolutely delicious - creamy and nutty. Just like that. No salt, nothing.

Maybe it was because my expectations were so low, but I don't think so: I went to a workshop today on seniors' transportation, and even though it was interesting and kept me very busy, my mind kept wandering back to the lima beans. It was a little like when you're a kid and you get a new pair of shoes: you get wrapped up in something for a few minutes and then you remember that there is a small, new, truly wonderful thing in your life that you are excited about and you're like, The shoes! Well, The beans! I couldn't wait to get home and experiment.

The recipe I followed was nice, but the strong flavours drowned out the limas (lemon, tomato, feta, thyme - go figure). No biggie as I have a whole half of a gigantic jar left... to spread on toast! Blend into a beverage! Sprinkle on cornflakes! Eat neat! Endless possibilities.

(Maybe my mind wanders back occasionally to lima beans with fondness when I'm otherwise spending my time feeling like I'm making some sort of contribution, however small, but the above level of detail can only be thought out at something like tonight's Coolie meeting... which just got cooler, if that's possible.)