Beans and Rice, It’s What’s For Dinner

Sometimes the world seems very loud to me. I should amend that. Most of the time, the world feels very loud to me. The Husband says that it’s because I have ridiculously good hearing (it’s my super power). Personally, I think that the world is just incredibly loud and I’m constantly trying to turn down the volume. Some days I lose that battle, the noise follows me everywhere and I discreetly stick my fingers in my ears to block out what I can. I’m unable to tune out voices, entire conversations, the drumming of fingers, the clacking of keyboards, laughter down the hall, the slamming (okay, closing) of doors – you get the idea.

Tonight after a long day of sensory overload, I escaped to one of my favorite quiet retreats to recharge: The Minnesota Winter. Danny’s leash in hand, I braced for the cold air and the cathedral-like silence that comes with the snow. Unfortunately, even there sounds assaulted me at every turn and despite the cold, the night was a-buzz with activity. The crunching of snow under my boots sounded like a roar in my ears, an airplane thundered over, a runner stomped past, there seemed to be no escape. That was when I turned the corner and saw the backhoe digging up a front yard, the Roto-Rooter truck parked on the street. In the midst of all that noise, I felt sympathy for the poor sots with the plumbing disaster in the middle of the deep freeze and my inner quiet started to regain its foothold. Obviously where I was standing, things were looking pretty good.

They looked even better when I got home to find The Husband making one of our favorite dinners, Spicy Black Beans & Rice:

This is a super simple vegetarian recipe that freezes WONDERFULLY. We’ve not only taken it on camping trips for two but increased the recipe to feed 14 for a canoe trip. Freeze it in gallon storage bags and use it to keep the cooler cold, it’s a fantastic recipe. Serve it with taco chips or put it in a tortilla, it would be especially great with some chopped lettuce and avocado, but I never seem to plan ahead for that.

Something tells me though that with beans for dinner there will be a more noise in my future….