Bit on the tired side today, after making a BIG caffeine mistake yesterday - after our lovely Easter dinner, I sipped not one but two delicious mugs of dark, French-press coffee with my lemon pie. Someone didn't pay a bit of attention to whether it was decaf or not. (Talk much, Stephanie?) Guess what I discovered, oh, around 1:30 a.m., with twitchy legs and brain afire? It was the real deal, fully loaded, liquid meth as far as my mostly decaffeinated body is concerned. Vroooom! If only coffee had worked for me that way in college...

But no. Hey, it least it was a bracing 14-degrees this March morning to slap the sleepy right out of me. Hello Minnesota! (California dreaming right about now, indeed.)

Good thing it's supposed to warm into the 40s later this afternoon. To melt this new snow, for one thing - good Lord but snow-be-gone! Plus, for some reason (commonly known as reality), I'm needing a good, long walk and nothing but whole, nutritious food. It's been a lovely run, oh yes, but it's time to moderate. Again. Sounds familiar, no?

I'm making a big pot of navy beans, so filling and fortifying and just sounding right. They're simmering as I write, with pieces of garlic, onion, fennel, carrot, and celery, as well as a bouquet garni of parsley, sage, rosemary, and bay leaf. I originally envisioned eating them without much liquid, perhaps as a salad, perhaps alongside a lovely piece of fish, but the broth is so fragrant and flavorful, I may end up eating (and freezing) them as soup. Stay tuned...

PS Here's a good reason to eat beans (and other starchy foods) cooled to room temp (or chilled) - resistant starch. Remember the term, I have a feeling we're all going to be hearing a lot more about it, since it does neat things like help the body burn more fat (by fermenting in the digestive tract - mmm) and stabilize appetite. It's not a coincidence that resistant starch naturally occurs in many unprocessed, whole foods that we already know help the body burn fat and stabilize appetite - whole grains, vegetables, fruits. You know how it goes, how it always goes. Eat real, unprocessed food. Check out this article for a good intro.