A Year of Blogging: January 6, 2011

Today is Bean Day. I am 100% certain my sister did not celebrate. She doesn't like beans. I think the only time she fixes green beans in her house is Thanksgiving and Christmas, when she makes the green bean casserole. My brother-in-law likes this dish, so she makes it for him. But she doesn't eat it. My sister has always hated green beans. The eye doctor used to tell her she had to eat them for her eyes. My mom got to the point that if we had green beans, we had to have mashed potatoes. This way, my sister could hide the flavor of the green beans in the potatoes. Then, to sweeten the deal, Mom would usually make chocolate pudding for dessert. My sister loves chocolate pudding, and it helped her choke down the beans knowing she had a sweet reward waiting for her. I have always loved green beans. I prefer them fresh out of the garden, but you can't always get them fresh from the garden. In the summers, I used to sit on the back porch (which is sort of the front porch because it faces the driveway, and it's the one we always use-we never use the true front porch), and snap the ends off the beans. For me, that is always something that makes me think of summer. Mom always let my sister and I choose the vegetable for dinner. If it was my turn, we had green beans. If it was my sister's turn, we had peas. When mom didn't want an argument, we had corn. If I had known today was bean day, I would have fixed pork chops with a side of green beans for dinner. But I didn't know this until after dinner. I'll celebrate tomorrow night with a nice helping of yummy green beans!