Beans (was Re:Rubber)

[Guest guest]

Dear Alton,

 

You wrote:

> In the mean time my beloved wife came back from Kawai

> after she met the Cambodian Prince and Princess.

 

I would love to visit Cambodia... it is my spiritual home land... just

today I wore that classical male dress called Jong Krabaen (Yes, I am

still just a kid!)

http://www.design.in.th/children/frame.html?/children/eng15.html

> I asked myself how to cook mung beans and make them taste OK

 

When I was a Trappist monk (Order of Cisterciencers of Strict

Observance, OCSO, which also meant: no talk, lots of kneeling and

prostrations, praying, singing, manual labour, hard study and..... self

flagellation, ha!) so, when I was this young shaven monk, every evening

we used to eat beans. The midday meal was always dinner. Except for the

abbot, prior and sub-prior (who had deserts and meat regularly), the

monks were eating vegetarian style... but for strictly traditional

(medieval) reasons. With Christmas and Easter there would be fish or

chicken and a cigar which were always donated by our benefactors.

Back to the beans, they were either (we grew them ourselves) brown

kidney beans, green or gray peas (called cappucijners). The servers

(rotating younger monks) would come by our oaken tables (bowl, mug,

wooden spoon, wooden fork, some quite medieval, no knife.) with a big

pot and we would ladle the beans into our bowls. Other servers would

then come by with freshly sliced and pickled cucumbers, tomatoes,

lettuce, chicory (wit lof), carrots or whatever fresh vegetables there

were in season. There was always a large chunk of gouda cheese as well

as butter, oil and vinegar, salt and pepper. We would mix all that up,

mash it or not and eat it while listening to readings from contemporary

science, psychology or politico / economic news magazine articles as we

had no radio or TV reception (except for our secretary monk). During

midday meals there were readings from, sometimes rather old fashioned or

sometimes rather daringly modern, philosophical, spiritual or religious

writings.

Back to the beans. The beans would either be chewed or not, strictly

depending on how many teeth each individual monk had left. Every winter,

us young monks had to pump out the septic tank and distribute, it

seemed, tons of, unchewed beans over the fields on which we later grew

cabbages, brussels sprouts, corn or grain crops or hay grass.

 

Anyway, amongst other things, it taught me to always mash my beans and

chew them very well...

 

This type of evening meal was so good that since (and that is now 35

years) my wife, myself and regularly our guests still eat beans this way

twice a week or so. We make sure that everyone chews their beans well as

we have a septic tank.

 

By the way Buddhist monasteries always had and most still have a similar

mix of vegetarian / omnivorous eating customs... rank very often still

being the distinguishing factor.

As far as drinking goes, us Trappist monks made and drank our Trappist

beer, the Buddhist monks very often still have their rice wine or barley

beer, Benedictine monks have their Benedictine liquor and the

"Karthuisers" (almost extinct) had their Chartreuse.

We should keep in mind that up to the age of boiling and chlorination of

drinking water, the only safe drinkable liquid was fermented grain

liquid as it was the only drinkable liquid that one did not get sick

of... and stayed happy with... to say the least...

By the way... better not to drink of course...

Since I am one of those lucky humans who has a steady inner supply of

ambrosia dripping down the back of his throat, I can be so blissful as

not to yearn external gratification... Uhhh, that is except for beans...

and chocolate but... hey... that is made from... fermented cacao

beans... I just read that in "The complete Book of Chocolate.

 

Love and full of beans, Wim

(including coffee beans)

 

PS.

Solid, liquid, vapour, plasma, ether...

Could that be the medieval alchemical process behind the transmutation

of earthly beans into heavenly bliss?