Pot o’ Pinto Beans, and An Abundance of Inclement Weather

Hello and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook! This week, I am featuring recipes for “coasting in the kitchen,” or making a lot of something one day and using the leftovers to make new and different recipes for a few days.

But first, a quick update on the weather.

Today, I’m rooting for the underdog–It’s hard not to root for the underdog, isn’t it?

Last weekend, all we heard about on the news were reports about the huge storm that was going to slam the Sierras–and indeed, the snow that fell was measured not in inches, not in feet, but in YARDS–2-3 YARDS of snow blanketed the mountains and put a quick end to the shortfall of snow for the season. The ski resort folks danced in the streets and Bay Area skiers risked life and limb to go up there to enjoy the fresh powder, not caring if they got stuck. Down here on the flats, we got some rain and it was cold and cloudy, but we were largely spared any inconvenience.

This week, the weather folks have continued to cover the aftermath of the giant winter storm in the Sierras and casually mentioned a little weather disturbance that would float through the Bay Area. They blew it off, they practically sneered at it, saying that it would barely leave a puddle in its wake. They predicted that we’d get .01 inches of rain.

But this little underdog of a storm had other ideas. It moved in overnight and started raining at about 4:00 this morning; and here’s what it looks like right now at about 2:00 in the afternoon:

I’m sure we’ve gotten an inch of rain out of this “little storm that could,” and it’s still coming down. It’s chilly, too! The perfect time to snoodle up under a blanket with a cup of hot chocolate and a good mystery–or with a cup of tea, a food blog and a window with a great view of some pretty righteous rain 😉

What better day to tuck into a big pot of pinto beans? On a day like today, there is no better smell than the earthy, salty, smokey aroma of beans simmering, and nothing quite so comforting as knowing that there will be plenty leftover for another meal or two.