xxxxxxxxxxxxxThe black bean soup caper

xxxxxI have already mentioned my good friends Thom and Linda and their two sons. They paid me a visit in my first house and I prepared a dinner for them, which I can't remember, except for the dessert and soup. The latter was black bean soup, which is delicious but there are certainly more appealing looking soups. It is very dark in color, along the lines of grayish purple. At the time, their sons Karl and Ben were probably 5 and 2 years respectively.
xxxxxWhile I was heating the soup, either Thom or his wife Linda, maybe both came over to see what was brewing. Upon glancing into the pot, a few derogatory comments followed. It was nothing personal, but let's face it: the soup looked wretched. Unfortunately, the ears of the children were not protected from the culinary abuse heaped upon me.
xxxxxWhen we sat down to dinner, Thom and Linda both tried the black bean soup but Karl refused. Ben was just beginning to talk but the look on his face said it all. He would rather die than try the soup.
xxxxxFor dessert, I made chocolate mousse, which is also very dark in color. Apparently, the mousse is too similar in color to black bean soup because at least one of the boys refused it. Did you ever hear of anyone refusing chocolate mousse?
xxxxxThe story hardly ends here. It was during winter and there had been snow recently, so I had sprinkled some ashes from the fireplace on the outside sidewalk, the color being a purplish gray. My guests thanked me for dinner and departed. On looking down at the sidewalk and the ashes sprinkled on top, Karl remarked, "Bob, did you put black bean soup on the sidewalk?"
xxxxxSo ends the black bean soup caper. Don't let this episode influence your decision to try mousse au chocolat or any dish with black beans.

Place beans in a medium pan, cover with water, bring to a boil,
cook for 2 minutes and let stand for 1 hour. Raise the heat and
bring to a boil. Cook for 1 hour. Drain. Put beans back into the
pan and add all remaining ingredients except the rice. Simmer
for 1 hour or until beans are tender. Serve over boiled rice.