Black Beans

Okay, in the tradition of my father (who spent two years in Guatemala), I am attempting to make black beans. It's a several day process--you eat different meals over different days with the same beans. Deliciousness. Day 1, bean soup. Day 2, rice and beans. Day 3, refried beans. Trust me, it's good.

Bean Soup

Dry black beans
Cooking oil
Garlic
Onions
Water
Salt
Pork meat i.e. bacon, etc. (optional)

Soak the beans in water overnight (optional, but recommended*). Drain and rinse the next morning. Cut up the onions and garlic into chunky pieces and saute in cooking oil until tender. Add the beans and pork meat and cover with water. Salt to taste. Cook uncovered for several hours, stirring occasionally and watching to make sure that it is boiling and there is plenty of water (I had to add water several times). (Also, Beware, everything will turn the color of the beans.) When you're satisfied that your soup is done (the beans are soft, you can't find any chunks of onion or garlic), then serve hot. (If you don't soak the beans, you should probably expect to be cooking the soup all day, but if you do soak the beans, 5 hours is enough.)

*soaking the beans allows them to cook better, and, as my father so tactfully put it, soaking and rinsing them "reduces the flatulence-causing material" present in the beans.

Beans and Rice

Bean soup
Cooked rice

Scoop some beans out of the liquid and mix with the already cooked rice. Warm on the stove or in the microwave and serve hot. Serving suggestion: serve on or with tortillas. (To be traditional, you would serve with corn tortillas, but flour tortillas work as well.)

Refried Beans

Bean soup
Cooking oil

Heat the oil up in a large frying pan. While it's heating up, spoon the beans out of the soup into a blender. Add enough liquid to get a nice blend. Blend the beans until they are nice and smooth (or whatever consistency you prefer). Pour the beans into the pan and fry. You can fry them for a long or a short amount of time. The longer you fry, the thicker it gets. You can re-fry the beans a second day as well if you like. Serve hot, with tortillas or rice.