Lots of foods or food combinations can supply me with more methane than a genteel lady like myself ought to brag about. Or at my age, I appreciate the anonymous observation "What ain't dried or shriveled up leaks."

In the matter of beans - don't fix baked beans. Just not my cup of tea (which I prefer sweetened, thank you, and don't give me a snooty waiter look in New York and hand me a packet of sugar that we both know can not be adequately stirred into a glass full of ice and unsweetened ice tea.)

Not quite true. I think of beans, in combination with corn or rice, as a main protein entree. Boston baked beans, sweet and cooked with pork fat of some ilk are tasty as a side dish with certain meals, but not very healthy, and being a side dish, not worth the effort to make from scratch. I will occasionally buy canned Boston baked beans or the more southern pork 'n beans for a side dish when I am in a hurry for something to serve with smoked pork chops or a ham steak - for a quick fix something and throw it on the table meal.

My preference for beans as a main dish are pintos. I grew up with pintos cooked with onion and saltpork or fatback. Yummy but not healthy.

I've fixed 'em vegetarian for lo! these many years now. Took awhile to figure out how to make them tasty sans the pork but have worked it out very well now. I soak pintos overnight - 8 hours will do it - and add a whole coarsely chopped onion, a couple of chopped cloves of garlic, and some chili powder to the soaking water. If I cook them in the pressure cooker I drain the soaking water and start anew with liquids, but otherwise cook them in the liquid in which they soaked, adding more water as needed. When the cooking begins, I add more onion, more chili powder, another clove of garlic, a bay leaf, a pinch of cumin, basil, oregano, marjoram, summer savory, and tarragon. I don't measure the herbs but am pretty generous with them, especially the majoram and savory. About 1/2 hour before they are done I add 2-4 tablespoons of tamari. If Dani is coming to supper I also add salt about 10 minutes before they are done.

At table, I offer serving bowls of chopped raw onion and shredded sharp cheddar cheese for those that want to stir them in. I taste the beans often while they are cooking and may add a bit more chili powder or herbs to insure they are flavorful. I like my pintos flavorful, not hot. Chili powder is actually quite mild, and I add only enough to intensify the flavor of the pintos, not enough to add "heat." The pintos combined with cornbread provide a complete protein. Just because that is how I was raised, I also always serve coleslaw with pintos and cornbread. (And blackstrap molasses for the cornbread for them what wants it.) Personally, I like to crumble the cornbread into the bowl of beans. Son prefers his cornbread on the side, with molasses.

I occasionally fix black beans and rice from scratch, but am more likely to use canned black beans to make a nice summer bean dish. Drain canned black beans. Add generous handfuls of fresh basil and thinly sliced red onion, along with a straight-forward oil and vinegar dressing, or oil and lemon juice.