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 We always check dates at the grocery store because half of the products on the shelves are outdated.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.
That’s the price you have to pay for not going out to eat.
I guess so!
Bummer!