I soaked the beans overnight. I usually drain them and add fresh water but this time I didn’t – cooking them in the soak water. Can’t say there is any difference in the outcome. I whisked in garlic and chicken pastes, about a tablespoon each, added a minced onion, and simmered them for a few hours. Towards dinner time I started a new to me recipe for cornbread.

I followed the recipe fairly closely, adding a minced jalapeno and a few green onions. Two thumbs up! I did use, against advice, self-rising cornmeal. I used only a teaspoon of baking powder extra to the amount already in the corn meal, and added baking soda as per the recipe. I went looking for a recipe that explicitly used buttermilk because substituting buttermilk for plain whole milk left the batch a bit flat that time I did it using the usual recipe. I barely remember reading acidic buttermilk needed baking soda, somewhere. (Google remembers)