bean blowout beach bbq

don't ask me why i didn't take picture of this bloggable experience. i know i should have...it was unforgettable.
a group of friends and i went on a little excursion to a west side beach. i had made tinfoil dinners for everyone and also grabbed an oversized can-o-beans that had been sitting in my cupboard for far too long. we found the most perfect beach that was far away from lights and city- the stars were incredible. we made a fire and spread the coals out. I threw my tinfoil dinners on the coals and also the can of beans. I forgot about the beans and watched the dinners- there were ten of them and i wanted to make sure they all got the same amount of heat so we could all eat at the same time. a friend, alan, noticed that the foil was bulging on one of the dinners and mentioned something about it popping. i assured him that i didn't wrap them too tight so as to let air escape.
just then, an explosion! what the heck!!!
we all jumped away from the fire- some of us brushing off the ashes, embers, and... something else. it was wet. it burned. it blistered. and as we grappled for sand to douse our burning flesh we all wondered, "what the deuce was that?"
well....it was beans, of course.
to our utter dismay and perturbation, the can had exploded sending spatters of beans and juice all over us. when we assessed the damages we discovered we all were not as hurt as we could have been. we couldn't find the can anywhere. something hit one of the girls, shenley, and we wondered if it was the can and looked all around where she was sitting, but nothing. finally, as we broadened our search one of the guys found the can at least 20 feet away from the fire. we could only assume that it must have shot up and away in the air, narrowly missing all of us gathered closely around the fire. we were definitely protected...despite my stupidity.
my attempt at genocide via bean-bomb was foiled. dah!
we all walked away with small blisters and bean-sized burns in our clothing. alan had about 5 good-sized holes in his board shorts. i counted my blisters today...10. one of them is a pretty little pink heart-shaped bulge on my pinky finger.
next time, we are gonna hide in the bushes, with goggles and cameras rolling to see exactly what happens to a can under intense heat and pressure. we all missed it the first time. that is the only problem with stories such as these. there is hardly ever proof of the fiasco.

we cooked 'im and ate 'im and had the best dinner ever!

I invited some friends over and we cooked up the octopus (finally). When I boiled it i was surprised how much it curled up as you can see in the above photo. And it changed color from gray to purple- the water also turned purple. It looked like kool-aid and i had to restrain myself from drinking it.
Here is the Japanese way of making Octopus. It is called takoyaki. It is basically an egg, flour, and water batter with green onion, octopus, and pickled ginger. We add cheese to it for the American palate.
This is the Samoan way of preparing octopus- with coconut milk, onion and octopus just heated on the stove and put over rice. YUM! It was divine! I am hooked!