Beans.

I can remember being in the church kitchen, watching Ugandan women bent over at a 90 degree angle, fanning the charcoal fire to keep the water boiling in the giant cauldron. A group of us, sitting on the cold concrete floor, pick the stones out of a pile of red beans. Another group bounces grains of rice on large woven discs, allowing the chaff and other debris to fly away.

I can also remember how WE (a group of 12 suburban white kid missionaries) thought WE would make beans one night for dinner, on our 2-burner portable electric stovetop. About 3 hours and 3 sets of rolling blackouts later, they were still hard as rocks, and we were still hungry.

It was with beans that I learned an important lesson:

Simple is not easy.

So that's why I wanted beans to be first. There's something about it. Something like a rite of passage. Can you take slingshot ammunition and make delicious food out of it? Can you do something simple, simply well?

1 pound of pinto beans. 5 cups of water. Salt.

Until its ready. Until you're ready.

Beans.