The final installment of the perpetual campers series from my memoir, Humble Pie

This was the foundation of our diet when we were without electricity. It is Felipe’s favored bean recipe, the way his Mama makes them. They are so vsvevg!

Soco Beans

1 cup of beans
Water
Aprox 1/4 cup oil
Salt
1 chopped onion

Boil the beans until almost cooked and add salt. Continue to cook until soft, adding water to maintain it about 1 inch above the beans. Pour off broth and retain. Fry the onion in oil until charred, add the beans and mash, leaving some intact, add the bean water, be careful because they will steam and spit, cook until they are thick but still soupy.

Salsa de sudo a la gringa, (sweat of the gringa salsa)

This is a salsa of my own creation that I made for a dinner party for my sister-in-law, she loved it and named it this because I had to make it in the molcajete.

10 tomatillos husked and washed
1 large clove of garlic
2-5 chillis Mora—smoked dried jalapeno, remove stems and seeds; it’s a good idea to wear gloves
A chopped avocado (optional)
Salt

Simmer tomatillos and chilies until soft but not falling apart. Mash garlic with salt in a mortar and pestle, chop tomatillos and add with chilies to mortar, mash to a paste, stir in avocado if using.

Eventually the loss of convenience simplifies life, as you negotiate the complexities of doing without something you have always considered a necessity you come to the realization that your idea of need may not be accurate, and that is a great lesson. Had we continued without electricity ad infinitum, I would have relinquished my spice grinder, coffee make, and blender. Letting go of things creates space. Though I did not rid myself of these particular things, letting go is an activity I am well-practiced at. Space be it actual or metaphorical is the arena of creation.

“We shape clay into a pot,

But it is the emptiness inside

That holds whatever we want

We work with being

But nonbeing is what we use.”

Tao te Ching