GROWING UP IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA...We ate at our favorite taqueria eight days a week. So it was a rude awakening for us to come east and realize that the same stuff simply wasn't available. We start with 30 pound burlap sacks of dry beans and lovingly cook them for hours until they’re the softest, butteriest legumes imaginable. We cook our rice the old fashioned way, in a pot. First we toast the grains, then we let them steam out to perfection. It’s a long and difficult process, but it’s so worth it.