Ever diminishing limas

As part of the prep for hosting Pensfa this Saturday, I put away all of my beans that I've been letting dry on the dining room table. Most of them are gorgeous, in a beany sort of way, but the limas from the front yard showed many signs of damage from stink bugs. Stink bugs merely suck on the plant juices, but any spot they've pierced becomes discolored and sometimes misshapened. Now there weren't even that many limas total, so I thought instead of storing them, I would just cook up the best of them. I threw out the obviously damaged ones, decided there were still enough left, and did a quick boil/soak.

Well, after they had swollen up, it was obvious that many more needed to be cast out. Still, there was a reasonable number left. So I added some seasonings and left them to simmer to tenderness.

I'm sitting at my computer and think, oh, the beans should be done by now. Oh yes. Were they ever. All the water had boiled away and they were thoroughly scorched on the bottom of the pan. Argh.

I add water and leave them to soak and loosen. I'm about to throw the whole mess out, when I notice one that must have been on an upper layer and isn't burnt. Hmm, pretty tasty. And here's another one, and another. In the end, I must have salvaged nearly a dozen. Gosh.

Memo to self -- use a timer!