black bean BOMB

In week five of my meatless quest, I learned that my body is not built for consuming massive quantities of beans. I began by making my first pot of black beans from scratch, which looked so beautiful in the pot. Day one, I was inspired by a recipe online for a black bean burger, which had the visual appeal of a real burger, and almost as satisfying. This was looking pretty good. On Day Two, I decided to mix the black beans with broccoli, carrots, celery and some stale bread. Well, I might as well have set off a bomb in my abdomen. I felt sick for about three days thereafter. So it looks like a beans as a main course is out of the question! Live and learn, as they say. Let’s move on to the couple of fantastic meals I had, that were fish centered. Aquamarine, had a special appetizer with guacamole and spicy tuna that was served on wasabi chips. Bob and I had to get a second round of the chips, because the 4 they offered were not enough to service the dippins. I flipped one over so you could see the seaweed on the back of the chip. For my entree, I had the chilean sea bass in a black bean sauce. It was really out of this world, a bit on the sweet side, and extremely flavorful. I am pretty sure these dishes do not qualify as low-cal, but, hey, I needed to live a little. Friday night’s dinner destination was Clerkenwell, which I chose because my British friend Rupert Kirby had a catering business in that part of London (Panini was the name of his company). In this Lower East Side spot, they served upscale Fish and Chips, and a fine piece of salmon. See more photos from our dinner here.