Droidism and black bean soup

I have a new phone. It's brilliant (I mean that, it's smarter than me). The pictures come out so much better than the blackberry. Don't get me wrong, owning a blackberry is a way of entering a world where people can look at you and say, man, that guy is responsible. Unfortunately I used to look at my blackberry and think, "Man, I wish this thing would work." Now I have a Droid device... I just entered a world of fun and adventure. I've been using it on my bike rides. Amazing!
I turn it on, turn on sporty pal, drop it into my back pocket and go. It tracks my speed, location, vertical, it even approximates the calories I burned. And I'm sure it can do do much more if I were to just read the manual. Whatever. The one complaint I have about it is that everyone I turn it on, the default workout category is... roller skating. Seriously! Who even does that anymore? if this were 1987 and I was wearing fluorescent, then roller skating. But this day and age... It's only slightly annoying. I have to shift it to bicycling. Then the world is right.
There has been a theme to my posting lately: not doing it. And there has been a theme to my cooking lately: beans. That I'd why I love the pressure cooker. For best results, soaking the beans is a must. For results, soaking the beans is optional.

With that in mind, how about some black bean soup... Super easy too.






1.5 C dry black beans
1 onion
1 jalapeno seeded and deveined
2 cloves garlic
Chili powder
Oregano... Sprinkle generously to taste
Salt and pepper
1 C Tomatoes (canned for the lazy)
A water source
2 T chopped Cilantro
Dash of ground cloves. Really.
Lime. Cut it in half and squeeze it in their. Save the other 1/2 as garnish.

Soak the beans for a few hours of overnight. Done. Throw them in the pressure cooker for, say, 30 minutes. When that's done, sauté your pepper and onion and then the garlic too. Pour the beans with their liquid over the onions peppers and garlic. Mix in the tomatoes with or without their juices. Add everything else and feel good about yourself as this soup simmers.

Meanwhile...
Toast 1 T of whole cumin seeds in a dry frying pan then grind them.
Mix into 1 T of cream cheese and 1 T of half and half or milk. Beat or whisk the cheese and milk together. It gives kind of a rich cream, now flavored with toasted cumin.

Serve in a hand spun earthen bowl made by demure female artisans in an exotic tropical locale then sold at ikea garnished with the toasted cumin-ey cheeseness, cilantro, a wedge of lime, and a fine beer.