Munchy Monday #39: Haricot beans with herbs

This is an easy dish to prepare, ideal alone as a first course or, as we ate it today, an accompaniment to red meat, chicken or fish. I opened a pot of ready cooked beans but you can also prepare your own from scratch - just leave the dry beans to soak for about 8 hours and then cook them the way you always do. (I use a pressure cooker and they're done in 10 minutes or so.) The quantities in this recipe are initially for four adult servings.

You will need:
A pot of cooked white haricot beans (drained weight 400g)
The juice and flesh of one ripe tomato*
2 tblsp. olive oil
A pinch of salt
A shake of each of the following herbs: thyme, rosemary, basil and oregano

Method:
Gently heat the tomato in a saucepan and add salt, olive oil, and herbs. Add the beans and stir. Heat through for a few minutes.

* To prepare the flesh and juice of a tomato, just take the tomato and cut it in half, horizontally. Grater each half, flesh side down, into a bowl. This way you leave only the skin behind. It's heaps easier than the boiling/cooling/skinning method : )

Think before you speak...

Over the past few days I have been taking things a little easier, resting and whilst resting, pondering. It has called on my attention how many people open their mouths before thinking about what they say, how they say it and what kind of reaction their words will provoke.

I was in a shop just yesterday and a man walked in and found a friend. He spoke to this apparent friend in a rough manner, very loudly and with a particularly high percentage of uncouth and disagreeable words. Others in the shop began looking around, raising their eyebrows in rather a shocked manner.

At the other end of the scale , I remember my Mother would often come home with tales of how complete strangers would open their hearts to her, maybe because they'd sat on the bus together or she'd helped them cross the road.  What did she have that was different?

She always had a ready smile and a pleasant word for everyone.

This set me thinking. What about me? What do people think about the way I talk? Do they see me coming and turn quickly down another aisle?

And what about you?

Let's see what the Bible, God's word, has to say on the matter:

Nobody is perfect and "God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self control" (2 Timothy 1:7) so that we can recognize our faults and strive to improve and be a better person for Him and for the encouragement of others.

Here is a mental checklist we could go through every time we wish to speak. It seems long winded and hard going but it becomes easier through prayer and perseverance. In fact, it becomes a way of life.

# Is what you are about to say necessary, worthwhile? (Ephesians 4:29)

# Is what you are about to say kind and encouraging? (Proverbs 15:4)

# Are you about to gossip or criticize? (Proverbs 20:19 and 21:23)

# Is what you are about to say positive and helpful? (Proverbs 16:24)

# Are you speaking with love for the other person/people? (Ephesians 4:32)

# Are you about to praise yourself or speak well of others? (Proverbs 27:2)

# Will your words be understood by the other person in the way in which you would want? (Proverbs 29:20)

# Do you speak loudly whilst looking around to see who else will hear what you say? (Proverbs 13:3)

# Are you speaking spontaneously perhaps through anger or frustration? (Proverbs 17:27)

# Will your words be negative because you know that a person doesn't like you or agree with what you say? (Romans 12:14)

# Are you setting an example for your children, showing them what to say at a certain moment or in a given circumstance? (Proverbs 22:6)

Finally...

"Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips."(Titus 3:2)

Another of those quotes!

On the Tuesday before her wedding my daughter (21 yrs) was giving instructions to her cousin (almost 22 yrs) as to how to manage our shower upstairs. As I left the room to go to bed (it was almost 2:00 am and the cousins had just arrived) this is what I overheard:

"You'll see there is a lever. You push it to the left for hot water, to the right for cold water and you leave it in the middle for... something in between!"

Yup, absolutely!

Honestly, it doesn't seem so funny written down and I guess it was due to the stress of the moment, but I sat in the stairs and wept tears of laughter.

One week already!

On the 7th of June A. and D. were married. They are now on their long way back to Bucharest where they will be making their home.

Due to circumstances I was unable to post this on their special day.

Also, I have run out of cute looking teddy bears to use to make this announcement so I decided to use a photo of the cake topper they ordered for their wedding cake, which came all the way from the U.S. in the luggage of a very special guest.

(The people who made this china figurine kindly re - painted  D's hair dark brown.)