No more pinto bean blues

My mom used to make a massive pot of pinto beans and a side of cornbread, about once a month, sometimes more if we were really hurting for groceries. The sight and smell of that pot used to make me want to cry because I knew that would be dinner for three days and after day one all the cornbread would be gone, leaving us alone with just beans. 

You might imagine why I didn't work too hard to get good at making beans, which is sad really because beans are delicious. So, I made a beef and vegetable stock the other day (stock takes all day, no rush makes better use of all the ingredients, drawing everything out of the bone, pulling all the flavor from the veggies and putting moisture back into the dry air of my house). I soaked some pinto beans, the bean I've been avoiding most. Then I simmered them all day in my all day stock, covered in a pot, then put them in a very low oven all night long. This is slow food. These beans are amazing. 

This is how I unravel one small knot at a time.