DINNER FAILURE

This is officially my first daily detour since arriving on the island. I want to share my experience because it is so common here, but this is definitely a new one for me. My recent mishap involves the kitchen and my attempt at making a traditional Belizean meal, rice and beans. Since electricity is so expensive, we try to use a crockpot instead of a stovetop or oven whenever possible. I must say that I like to crock! It’s my kind of cooking.

We bought a commercially produced bag of pinto beans at a local supermarket and a bag of rice that was handmade by the locals. There are many staple grocery items that you can buy in small amounts here – sugar, flour, beans, rice, and even half a head of lettuce or just one celery stalk. The culture is quite the opposite of our Sam’s Club mentality of buying in bulk.

In retrospect, I should have bought the handmade bag of dried beans. I soaked the beans  in water overnight and rinsed them. They simmered on low for hours and hours with the perfect amount of seasoning and ham. I was so proud of myself! The broth was so yummy!

Just before I prepared the rice, I tasted a spoonful of beans. To my surprise, they were still hard! I let them cook for two more hours but nothing changed. After I googled “beans  won’t cook”, the search results all pointed toward old beans. (What on earth did we do before google?) I dug the plastic bag out of the trash and there was the date – April 2013. It was the one item I bought and didn’t check the date.

I emptied the crockpot into a bag and threw out our dinner. All that waiting for nothing!  We always check dates at the grocery store because half of the products on the shelves are outdated. I don’t know what got into me and I didn’t look at the date. Maybe I assumed that dry beans would sell quickly here and surely they would be restocked and fresh?

I’m not going to let this crocking failure get me down. I already bought a new bag of beans and the crockpot will give it another go. One of these days. Right now I’m waiting on room service to deliver.