Well, the beans took forever

It took me about four and a half hours to cook the beans.  And that was having soaked them.  That's why I am not crazy about non-lentil beans - they just take forever.  I was standing there over my giant pot stirring and stirring thinking about instant pots.  Link to Instant Pots

BUT I very seldom cook a non lentil.  I don't know how else to term it.  I will be quite happy cooking lentils and split peas for quite a while to come, and I don't need junk cluttering up my counter (which I just subjugated) so I don't want the pot.  

But if you like cooking non lentils you might consider getting one I hear they make beans super easy.  I like my old gas stove and a pot.  

Anyway, I stirred and stirred.  I took my pills pretty early this morning, now I always take them on an empty stomach as I do intermittent fasting.  BUT today they made me horribly nauseous.  I had to take some ginger root and pepto, so the last thing I wanted was smoked meat.  

And I had to test a bean now and then to see if they were done.  Ick.  So not eating them today at least but they did taste good.  I took some to Ron he agreed to try a little, said they were good but not really his thing.  

It is all in the presentation.  I did not say "Have some smoked pork neckbone and black beans".  I said "Try some black beans with smoked pork".  He has a real bias against neck bones.  

My thing - if you are going to eat meat eat the whole animal.  And I do as much as possible.  There are things I won't do outright, like chitterlings, tripe, liver, but I eat sausage and we know they put EVERYTHING in the sausage.  So I don't have a problem eating neck bones they are no different than a pork chop.  A little trickier to get the bone out.  But valid meat.  

Ron doesn't see it that way he sees them the way I see tripe.  I like them because they are cheap and very flavorful with slow cooking.  I will fix them for me and be happy eating them.  

Oh, recipe: 

1 t garlic powder + one whole clove

1/2 t salt

1 t black pepper

About 1 pound smoked pork neckbones 

1.5 cups dry black beans, soaked and drained 

Several cups water (enough to cover and swirl everything around easily).  

Combine in a large pot and cook at a low simmer for several hours.  Try to debone the meat and get that garlic clove before serving.  There will also be weird gristly/fatty things get rid of those too.  

I made some rice and ate a fair amount of that it did help my stomach, I used the rest to mix with the beans and froze most of it.  I already did the dishes.  

That was pretty much the whole day, and if I'd done lentils I would have been done in an hour.  And a non-lentil is not that much better than an average lentil in my book.  So why would I waste all that energy and time, heat up the house, cooking it?  

I like to have food on hand, and I have a five pound jar of lentils on my counter.  

I don't think I will, I can get canned beans if Ron really wants a pinto or I want a kidney (I love canned kidney beans).  I ran the HVAC system on fan for a while to clear odors.  The last thing I want, when queasy, is the lingering smell of smoked pork.  Ugh.  

I just had to take more pepto, in fact.  

I am also burning a stick of incense this is like a spice one - clove and cinnamon, very nice.  I will need to go back to the head shop to get Ron some more Kratom and they sell the incense.  

Ron hasn't needed anything aside from some Kratom.  I bought him some cashews he has been working on those all day and hasn't wanted anything else to eat.   His perogative.  

I paid the water bill, yay, me.  I need to check the mail in a little bit.  I guess I will go do that now.   Bill from the hospital for the seizure visit, only $165, they already had his Medicare apparently.  NOT BAD.  I will take it.  Ron said they ran a lot of tests.  

I need to go to bed early tonight we work tomorrow.  I do wonder how the slow people are handling all this.  "Retarded" is apparently bad and I don't like "Mentally disabled" because it could be someone with mental illness, but everyone understands slow.  

So, used to be they lived in a group home, went to their workshop, came back to the group home.  So is it just group home all the time now?  I don't know.  

I will say with what I have seen of the group homes nearby, the quality of care, I would not place Ron into one unless it was an absolute emergency - say I was injured in an accident and couldn't care for him, I might be forced to do that for a few months until I bounced back.  But I wouldn't like it because they are not going to love him.  My aunt says there is no way Ron could live independently without me.  

He could but he would need a lot of intervention (I don't mean for the drinking), caregivers coming in and assisting him with his cat, the housework, his own care and feeding.  It is possible but he would need a case manager.  

And I will say it in black and white: if I really didn't want Ron anymore I have numbers I can call to get that going, so he could live on his own somewhere and have other people care for him.  IF I wanted which I don't.  

Apparently I have to be very clear these days.  And I will be.  

I think every time I bitch about Ron I will also have to add "Yes, he aggravates me and I wish I could change him but he is the man I continue to choose for myself".  I like that.