Calypso, Yin Yang, Orca Beans.

Bean Soup

November 8, 2009

We grew several kinds of beans this year.
You can see the types at the bean page.

This one has three names:
Calypso,
Yin Yang, and
Orca.

You can probably tell how it got its names.

It's a bush bean, and the woodchuck was very happy we planted them.
But that's a story for another day.

To make soup, I soaked the beans overnight, changing the water several times.
My reading has suggested that the problem with beans can be reduced if you keep changing the water, since the water leaches out an undigestible something that causes all the problems.
You'll have to experiment for yourself or e-mail Leslie to see if it works.

To make the soup:
I used homemade chicken stock - yesterday's roast chicken - boiled the bones for a few hours and strained the soup, discarding the bones.
Sauteed onion, celery, carrots, and kale in a bit of the chicken fat.
Added the stock and cooked until the kale was done.
Meanwhile, the beans, unseasoned, were simmering until done.
And the bow-ties were boiling away.
When everything was almost done, I combined them to simmer until done.
I added salt, pepper, and rosemary, and string beans.

The beans tend to split crosswise, and the black fades to brown.

Delicious!
Wish you were here!

Served it with cheddar cheese and crusty bread.

(Our favorite cheddar is Vermont "Seriously Sharp" by Cabot.)

(The bread is homemade. Recipe here.)

Some of my other kitchen experiments:
You can click on these links to see them.
Altoids® copycat
Apple pie
Bean Soup
World's greatest Biscuits
Blueberry Buckle
Blooming Bread
Challah Bread
Dill Pickles
Elderflower Wine
Focaccia
No-Knead Bread
Peanut Butter
Potimarron squash pie
Raised Rich Rolls
Raisin Bread
Ravioli
Yorkshire Pudding or Popovers

This has been a spring and summer of getting around. 2005
You can see those pictures:
We're off to Maine for a week of pictures and lobster! Day 5
The New York State Fair - lots of chickens and other animals.
A search for Rexford Falls and finding the Sherburne Historic District.
Antique Firetrucks in Liverpool.
Balloons at the Spiedie Fest.
A trip to Utica to see Munson-Williams-Proctor Museum and Fountain Elms
We rented a canoe at Nathaniel Cole Park.
A visit to Hanford Mills and the Lumberjack Show
Hancock Shaker Village.
A trip to Pixley Falls and Delta Lake.
We watched them set up the Big Top at the Circus
We went to the Utica Zoo
Then we went to the Syracuse Zoo
Wickwire House in Cortland
A trip to babysit the grandkids
A visit to Boston to see a Red Sox Game
Drive through Edmeston area to see the animals
Ithaca Herbert F. Johnson museum trip
Skaneateles
And there are lots of pictures of our trip out west.

2006
travel to Texas
Texas Day 1 San Antonio to Pearsall
Texas Day 2 Pearsall to Laredo
Texas Day 3 Laredo to Brownsville
Texas Day 4 South Padre Island

Texas Signs amused us
More signs.

Art Museum at Vassar

Mid Atlantic: Longwood Gardens
Assateague
Longwood Fountains
Longwood Flowers
Winterthur
Winterthur Silver
Winterthur Children's Park

Old Stone Fort, Schoharie, NY
Cherry Valley, New York
CMOG Corning Museum of Glass -

Hot adventures
from other summers:

Chittenango Falls
Fort Stanwix
Carousels
2009
The cool of autumn brings a taste for bean soup.
We pressed apples for cider.
Then Peri came for a visit.
Frankie came to visit.
Hubbardsville Mall is a destination.
Frankie and Grandpa enjoy a water fight.
New Years Day sundog.
A Balloon Chase is always fun.

2008
Frankie plays LaCrosse. And we see the second game.
The ballet recital features Peri!
Candy graduates with a BS/RN.

Gardens:
Then there was a new moth. (Eight spotted forester)
A hailstorm surprised us in June.
The daffodils are in bloom in April.
In May, it's tulips and bleeding heart. And pinks and purples.
And weeds!!
Tomatoes are ready to start.
And there are beans.
So are onions.

Spring finds us in Maryland and Delaware.
New Castle, Delaware, is a quaint river town. may not be published yet.
The flowers were lovely.
And so were the birds and other animals.
Longwood Gardens has opened it's Children's Indoor Garden with wonderful whimsical fountains.
Oh, my, there are orchids!

Fall trip to Vermont and New Hampshire.

2007
Our trip to Baltimore and Washington.
Baltimore people watching
Baltimore Architecture
Baltimore Orioles game
we're off to Washington, DC
Washington flowers are here
American Indian museum
Fireworks on the Fourth of July

Garden - heirloom tomatoes
Garden in June
We made Dill Pickles
And we picked blueberries and made blueberry buckle and cobbler.

We love the minimalist (NY Times) no-knead bread.

In July the daylilies are blooming

B-Mets game
A strange vine appeared
It's carrion flower - or Jacob's ladder.
We went to Meredith Dairy Days
Downy Woodpecker feeds its baby.

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