Back with a Twist on Apple Crisp

Hi, folks. It’s been a beat… years.

But hey, I’m still here.

And so are you.

Whew. Tomorrow is Election Day 2024 in the U.S., and like others, it’s gotten me thinking and feeling all sorts of things. Here’s one: apple crisp with beans. Okay, I might be on my own with that one.

Some context. This past weekend, I gathered-up with a couple of my besties at a little cabin middle-ish way between us. I’d asked them to come help me to work through the shape of writing projects I’ve had in the works recently. In a kind of remuneration, I’d “do the food.” Well. I didn’t exactly plan… or rather, the loose assemblage of stuffs I’d brought resulted in a dinner light on protein and the following breakfast even lighter, nay, nearly-lacking in protein.  What I had to offer as we relished the extra hour that day-light savings time afforded was an apple crisp that I’d baked (and – ahem – “tested”) the previous morning and a container of beans (“moro” beans from Rancho Gordo’s indigenous Mexico connection. Yummers!) that I’d cooked a few days earlier. Yup, I put them together.

I’ll spare the suspense: Amazingly delicious. And here’s the thing. None of us imagined that it would be so. darn. good. None of us imagined that such a thing would be at all. And yet. In these times of terrible division and anxiety, when the stakes are just about as high as stakes can get – after all, the U.S. continues to have an over-sized effect on everything, the present and future of our living world itself – there is space for wonder and surprise. Delicious, if we can bring our whole good selves to the table, sustain a daring curiosity, and dig in.

For music while you cook, check out Carsie Blanton’s “My Good Friends.” Pretty perfect.

Apple Crisp with Beans

1. Make an apple crisp. (There are loads of recipes out there. My own to come…)
2. In a pan, melt a gob of butter.
3. Drain some cooked beans, and add them to the pan.
4. Over medium-high heat, shaking the pan regularly to keep them from sticking, cook the beans until they’re dry.
5. Scoop crisp into bowls, and scatter the beans over the top. (Or, if you’re still skittery, like I was, about how it will taste, scooch the beans to the side, and let people mix or not as they wish.)
6. Salt is good.