Beans

It seems that the older I get, the more I am reminded of the past.  I guess I have more of a past to remember now.  Such is the case with dinner today.  (Dinner is the lunch time meal for Newfoundlanders and though I've been in PEI for three years now, a lifetime of dinners is hard to break.  It took a few weeks to discover that when we ask someone for dinner, we have to specify lunchtime).

Anyway, today's dinner is boiled beans, white navy beans with onion.  Sometimes we go a step further and bake them, but not today.  We also make tea buns, otherwise known as tea biscuits or scones, every time we have beans.  This is a family tradition on my side of the family.  Therefore while preparing dinner today and every time we have this fare, I think of my grandfather Pretty.

My grandfather, Pop, was very special to me and thoughts of him are always welcome.   Before my grandfather would come to visit, my mother would ask what he would like to have cooked for supper.  If given the choice, he always wanted beans and buns. 

When he was eating them he'd say, "All ya ever get ta eat here is beans.  Beans fur yur breakfast, beans fur yur dinner, beans fur yur supper."  

My mother would always say, "That's all you ever want."

He would laugh and eat and eat.  He really loved that meal.

I've come to realize in the last few years why my mother was always in pursuit of the perfect tea bun recipe.  I think initially she wanted to please Pop with the best tea buns ever.  By the time he died, her quest was well established and by that time, too ingrained to abandon.  After she died, I took up where she left off.  However, in our house, Rick is usually the one who makes the buns.  I find the recipes.

The recipe we currently use is by chef Michael Smith, who also lives on PEI.  

http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/recipes/2439/cheddar-biscuits

We usually make them without cheese.  They are light and flaky.  Delicious.

Every time we have these buns I think about Mom.  She could stop looking for THE tea bun recipe.  This is it!  

Pop would have loved them too, especially with beans.