23 Comments

You reminded me of two things! 1) The pronunciation “ammand” for almond. If you ask why, of course I know you know that they say they “shook the L out of them.” *groan* 2) And one of my favorite lines from Tortilla Flat is “Beans are a roof over your stomach.” Because they are. I love this newsletter, and I’ll be cooking those beans for next week for sure.

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I don't think I've ever heard anyone pronounce almond without the L. Or, maybe I haven't noticed. Yay! Make the beans!!!!! And show me photos on IG. LOL

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ps, the almond shaker reminded me of the fruit tree shaker that so many people on tiktok got pissed about lmao

https://www.voanews.com/a/episode_fruit-shaking-tractor-shakes-trees-valencia-4588461/6115157.html

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Hahahaha... what were they pissed about? Hurting the tree or the fruit?

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oh god like...so many things. mostly about wasting fruit or growing these trees in the first place, but apparently people haven't heard of ornamental plants/trees. first they wanted The People to have the fruit but ain't nobody stopping anybody from grabbing some - there's a reason these trees are full of fruit, and that's because it doesn't taste good. people really belive there's one kind of orange in the world and that's it lol. then they wanted wildlife to be able to have it/~to not have humans interfere with nature~, but obviously you don't want the streets littered with broken and rotting fruit bc you know, bugs, vermin, mold, smells, etc??

ppl just love to lose their minds without taking a second to learn something, you know how it is XD (similar, when people lost their minds over liquid trees thinking we were gonna replace all trees with a dystopian scifi wasteland: https://twitter.com/annethegnome/status/1642575285563592709)

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I'd much rather them come and shake the fruit off than cut the trees down entirely. There are some old orange trees in Downtown Sacramento and they get crazy heavy with fruit every year! And you can go and pick them. But, no one ever does and they leave a huge mess and the city takes forever to come and clean them. I just know someone is gonna complain or pretend to slip and then sue. And I love those trees! They've been there for at least 20-40 years.

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exactly! and we know trees are beneficial to humans, the planet, pollinators...all kinds of important stuff plus they look pretty. but people who have probably never seen an orange tree in real life would have you tripping over piles of moldy fruit and getting sprayed with rotten orange juice as cars plow through them lol.

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This! I have the same question. I guess they don't mind if an underpaid seasonal laborer gets on a ladder and picks the entire damn tree though?

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Now I know what to do with this package of pinquito beans I’ve had hanging out in the pantry! Thank you! Looking forward to making these!

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yay!

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I cannot wait to try this recipe!

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These look so good, Illyanna! Thank you! I knew a lot of my produce came from CA but had no idea about the dried beans.

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I feel like very little dried beans come from CA though. Another popular brand is Camellia Beans, which is based in Louisiana...but, I don't know if that's where they also get their crops.

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i never thought about california growing so many beans! i think actually i never thought about how beans grow at all, to be honest. as a white person growing up in new england in the 80s/90s, beans were simply not on the menu...like maybe if you heated up a can of soup you might occasionally ingest one or two beans. but otherwise, no. the one exception to this was baked beans which were a staple. the last time we all got together at my gramma's, i made her baked bean recipe that she hadn't made in ages. i think i tripled it and as i was pouring it all into a huge dish i thought damn, this is so many beans. but the dish was EMPTY before the gathering was out, lol! the funny thing about gramma's recipe and all the ones like it is...the main ingredient in baked beans is baked beans. XD

my partner refuses to eat beans, but i've found ways to be sneaky about it. i learned to make enfrijoladas and i don't think he even knows it's beans. also, i love green peppers raw, but i really hate them cooked and always subbed them out for a different color in sofrito but now ima try it your way because blending stuff is wizardry in the kitchen and i trust you.

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Before I even finished reading your comment I was like, "What about baked beans though?!" LOL. And then you mentioned it was the exception. When I was looking up recipes for baked beans to see what all everyone put in theirs...I COULD NOT find a recipe that didn't include a can of baked beans. I'm like, dude...is everyone out there just serving doctored up cans of baked beans? LMAO!

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YES LMAO. when my gramma sent me her recipe i was stunned. she was always pulling a big dish out of the oven that had been in there for seemingly ages and they always tasted so different from the canned ones i thought they must be truly "homemade." (even if you used canned beans like...at least they would be plain beans?) BUT NO. all the church ladies are really like "ok to make homemade baked beans, first you start with plenty of baked beans..."

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LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I am not a fan of green peppers, but I use them in Illyanna's sofrito recipe, and I always keep it on hand frozen... so good!!

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I thought it was neat to learn about different bean varieties. My family’s favorite non-basic type of bean is Mayocoba/peruano. (Basic beans to me are pinto, black, kidney.)

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Peruano is my second favorite bean! My favorites, King City Pink Beans, are really similar to Peruano.

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Ooh thanks for the recipe! During the pandemic I got on a dry bean kick with my instant pot and tried out just about every bean available to me. I fell in love with black eyed peas. I make baked beans for my dad because if I don't he will just buy the canned stuff.. I prefer to make my own and control the sugar+salt added. Looking forward to trying this recipe! Also, definitely envious of the agriculture in CA lol. Sometimes it is very difficult to get certain produce here in NY.

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I love your writing. It's funny because it's so good that now suddenly I want to cook beans from scratch.... See!? That's crazy! And we get sofrito in there too? Plus it's a vegetarian recipe. Yay! Sounds great! Thank you for sharing. Even though I still barely cook, I might have to subscribe. (Love your book by the way. One of these days I'll cook something from scratch...) 😄

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Yummm!!! Hungry for beans, now!

Love you,

Carole

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