Step one: Buy the beans from the store over the hill, where the food is overpriced and the cashiers don’t smile. Where you once poked your finger into a pie—by accident, of course.
Step two: Buy the onions and the cilantro from the store on the corner, where the nice lady gives you mints, and even though you dislike mints, you always say thank you. The store with the checkered floors, where you can jump on each green one, safe from the imaginary lava. And when you make that jump, you grin, proud of yourself. And only you know why you smiled.
Step three: Put everything out. Dig your hand into the back of your pantry and pull out each spice, one by one, until you find what you need: salt, pepper, and some other unidentified things. Grab a pot, a big one with thick silver handles, and set it on the table. Grab the pot and watch your mom fill it with water until it becomes heavy and your knees buckle from the weight. You set it, almost slam it (oops) on the stove. Then you pour the beans in to cook. You watch as your mom cranks up the heat. (Is it really that dangerous that you can’t do it?)
Step four: You chop the onions until your eyes begin to water. You are no longer cooking, you are now the star of your very own tragic soap opera. You don’t want this dramatic story to end, so you tilt back to save the little tears leaking from your eyes. Shortly after, you tilt it back because your mom insists you will slice your hand like that.
Step five: While the beans start to cook, you’re going to want to add the other things, like the onions you worked so hard to chop. You climb on a little stool to scrape the onions off the board into the cooking beans. You stir the beans…
Step six: Now, this step is easy. Just let the beans cook, for about 20 to 25 minutes. You hop around on one foot, bored and hungry. The beans smell good. You inhale the smell, breathing it in until you have to exhale. And then you breathe it again.
Step seven: Once the beans are ready, you want to scoop them into a bowl. No toppings necessary, just the plain beans that you love. Simple and good. Like they always are.