Black beans and a brown table

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in Breckenridge, Colorado enjoying a wonderful black bean soup. And of course, I rudely investigated and picked and sniffed the soup before the waiter even left. I’m sure I made a great impression. I wanted to make this at home and so I needed to get a good look at what I was eating. I could tell it had cumin, chipotle, and possibly lime. I love the chipotle lime combination on vegetables, so I’m sure it would work in this soup. And I was sure this would be a great soup for the slow-cooker. No need to pre-soak or pre-boil.

Crock pot Chipotle Lime Black Bean Soup

• 1 lb of dry black beans
• 8 cups of broth or water
• 1 cup of chopped tomatoes or 1 can of diced tomatoes
• aromatics of choice-I used onion and garlic
• spices-chipotle, cumin, salt, pepper
• Juice of half a lime. Save other half.
• For heartier soup, add protein. Sausage is a good choice.

Cook on high for 4 hours. Low for 8-9 hours. Garnish with sour cream, cilantro, splash of lime.

While the soup was slowly cooking away, THIS is what we were doing.

This is a craigslist find. We knew a few years ago that when it came time to get a bigger table, we wanted round and I did not want a matching traditional China cabinet. I want open shelves for all my dishes. After seeing some tables in Colorado that really caught my attention, we decided to find an old table and refinish it. This one is a double pedestal that can expand to 8ft oval. That’s a huge table! Correction: that’s a huge refinish job!

On the way to pick up the table, I wondered about the history of it. I knew the seller was a woman who was moving to another state and just couldn’t take it with her. She later explained that she has served her 4 kids many meals on that table. Now they are moving to Seattle because her youngest autistic child will have access to some amazing resources to help him and the family. Looking at some scruff marks on the pedestal, I can picture swinging kids’ feet getting closer and closer as they grew taller. I could see her and her family sitting down together and eating a meal, knowing one of them has a difficult path to lead, but they were a family and would support each other. Seeing the worn finish on the edges, I can imagine little hands in various projects over the years. Needless to say, this is a table that I wanted to help restore. It’s been a great table to one family, now it’s time for it to join another family. I hope Frankie approves….

We got a lot of work done the first day. All 3 leaves and the 6 under pieces were stripped, treated, and sanded. One half of the round table was stripped, treated, and sanded. Stephen had full control of the orbital sander while I watched. My main job was to strip off gunk, use the brass brush, and complain about sweat running out of my blue gloves. I did a great job at all 3. I know it gets hot down here, but sweat running out of a pair of rubber gloves is just nasty.

Now that dinner is done, the table is resting, I need swim in a deep cold pool. Got to find someone with a pool, first.