A post in which I cook beans, and am besieged with invitations

I was a good boy at work today, but the necessity of completing the twit report kept me from finishing the write-offs.  Well that, and the fact that both agencies have apparently given up on working the Canadian accounts. 

I was out of the door on time today.  I had no time to work over, because I knew it would take all evening to cook the beans for Grandma's party on Saturday.  I was purposely cooking them tonight so I would be free to visit with Miss Kat and Dana tomorrow night.  Dana had invited me earlier in the week, and I'd really like to see them. 

On the way home, though, I faced a bit of a dilemma.  I received a text invitation to go to the Thursday night dinner with the boys.  I am in boy withdrawal, but I kind of had my week all structured.  After a brief debate with myself, I decided to stay on plan, and regretfully declined.  I called Logan to explain what was going on, because the text that said "I have to cook beans tonight." sounded lame even to me.  The equivalent of "I have to stay home and wash my hair." or the like.  Fortunately Logan understood, and we made potential plans to hang out on Sunday.  Russ won't be there - he has a hair show then - but that's just the best I can do. 

And to think the holidays haven't even started yet!

The minute I got in the door, I put the beans on the stove, and then started putting in a load of laundry.  I wanted to make sure my new $3 super fatty fat-fat jeans were clean for the trip on Saturday.  (I have to either lose some weight or move to stretch caftans.  Seriously.)  While I was doing that, I intercepted the hundred or so group text messages the guys were sending out to try to coordinate dinner.  Really?  How many messages does it take?  I also got a message from Vince that he wants to do something on Sunday, but what he wants to do is go to the movies.  I had thought that we might have a cheesy 'scary' movie thing Sunday at RBL's house, but he apparently is not interested in that.  I got no response to that suggestion.

It was a great night on the Food Network, which I watched most of the evening.  They re-ran the Halloween Chopped that I had to turn off the other night (although I'm beginning to wonder if that show has jumped the shark - most of what they gave them tonight wasn't just awful, it was actually offal), and then the latest episode of Halloween Wars came on, which I also enjoyed.  They re-ran a Sweet Genius from last season, and then showed a new one. 

In between I was checking my beans and tending to the laundry.  I also made supper.  I ate my last white sweet potato tonight, and opened my last wedge of the goat cheese I got for my birthday.  It was good, but too strong for the sandwiches I made from it.  I had thought it was a milder soft cheese, but it was much more pungent than I expected.

Apparently my lack of success with sandwiches was prophetic.  My beans didn't turn out that great.  Having started out with six pounds, I ended up with about two quarts of cooked beans.  I was quite dis-heartened to see them cook down so much, and called Eve to be sure she was cooking a BIG casserole for lunch.  Then when I turned them out after they were done, it actually ended up being more than I thought, which was encouraging, until I tasted them.  I had gotten nervous and over-salted them.  They aren't obnoxiously salty to the point that you can't eat them.  I seem to have hit the salt level just right to make them taste canned.  Yergh.  I make this recipe all the time, and they come out delicious.  It figures that I would choke when I'm preparing them for the maestro. 

They're OK.  Most people eating them won't know the difference.  But it's her recipe, and she will.  Sigh.

Quite disheartened, I cleaned up the kitchen, turned in, and stayed up too late watching the new Sweet Genius before I petted the kitty goodnight and rolled over.