As simple as ham and beans.

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That's all it takes for life to be good.  It's only ever good for a moment at a time, often.  Oh, sometimes you stumble into a lot of it, then trip and break something.  Which, isn't bad.  I really do enjoy the good and bad of life, even without knowing there is and will be better.  We, even as adults, are more like puppies than we are stoic, knowledgeable, wise, and erect adults of faith, truth, and light.  Oh... those things can be there.  It's just... even our best aren't all that good at those things.  The truth of the matters, all of these and more, will either free you are cause you to surrender even yourself to a slavery of hate, want, and even worse.  I play a hard game, but, at the end of the day, even if I don't think of the game as just a game, realize my limitations, have a chuckle, and keep at it.  I cannot win, even though, if I have true faith, I cannot lose!  Which... is part of why I pray to, and adore God.  He planned all this.  With Satan, and us, sabotaging His gig at every step, willfully or simply foolishly, possibly even wisely as we might see things, He and we will still win, with faith.

Oh, right, beans.  Ham really adds something special.  There is a touch of smoke, a bit of fattiness, some salt perhaps, and some other things.  If you learn to eat right, cut out junk foods and the weird stuff they put in their, and the high salt?  Beans actually taste good on their own.  Nothing fancy, but not bad.  My palate, for the most part, has been stripped down.  I can't like some things anymore, things I used to think I loved.  And I love some things I didn't think I liked, at all.

One trick, when cooking beans, is to get the beans just done, or maybe just about done but close enough to finish as the pot cools.  Another trick, for me, is to put the ham in at a time when there will just be about an hour more of simmering.  Some things, like lentils, cook within that time, so ham can go right in.  Most beans take from two to six hours of cooking, even with soaking.  Lentils, and perhaps just a few other delicate beans, go fast.  If you do beans and ham right, it simply can't be beat in it's class.  This time, I didn't just salt.  I added garlic and dehydrated onion.  A very good add.  In an half hour I will dice the ham and have a bowl.  Then plan on portioning it and freezing it, when it cools enough for that.  Yeah.

Later.