Wednesday's Whine of the Week...


Yeah, yeah, it's Thursday and late at that. You do the math: 1 computer+9 people(5 teenagers+1 seeking employment.) I'm doing good to get my mail checked, daily. Said I'd keep the whine light, this week. I'll do my best to deliver.

String beans. Oh, it's all very bucolic. Sitting in the rocking chair on the front porch, watching the buggies...er, cars go by. Nice breeze, sunshine. Crickets humming. Good company. Big ole pile of string beans on your lap. Snap snap, into the pail they go. What could be more enjoyable? Industry meets pleasantry.

Now, I love snapping beans. Yep, like the pop they make and the occasional flying seed, all very amusing. It's just those annoying strings. They make it such a slow, tedious process and they just plain-out bug me. Sometimes the 'string' only comes off halfway down the bean and then you have to start at the other side- twice wasting the edible part of the bean. So some of you know nothing of which I'm speaking? Well, count your blessings folks, 'cause it's enough to make a girl swear off the country life in trade of a penthouse suite surrounded by concrete. And there's no easy way around it or avoiding it. Trust me, I've tried. String beans must be stringed. Strung? Ever get a string in your mouth? You can chew all day and that sucker ain't goin' anywhere. Completely incapable of being digested. So there's no alternative- ya gotta spit it out and, in my book, any meal that involves spitting isn't worth eating. And don't make the mistake of thinking you can pick string beans today and snap them tomorrow. Oh no, that just exacerbates the problem. You need a really crisp bean to facilitate the removal of the string. Otherwise you sit there bending and twisting the stupid thing until you have green bean puree.

And you know what? There are such things as stringless green beans. It's beyond me why anyone would choose to plant and grow otherwise. I've heard folks say that the stringy string beans taste better. Well, no kidding, you'd have to tell yourself that after all that work!

Deep breath. Ahhhh....