“Add a couple bay leaves,” suggested a friend. I had been moaning that I had looked everywhere I could think and could not find Bruce’s pinto bean recipe. Soak the beans overnight, add onions, ham, cumin, salt, and pepper into the Crock Pot. I found a similar, delicious recipe, but it was not the recipe. And Bruce’s recipe did not include bay leaves. But Kris said every bean recipe should have a bay leaf. And there is a bay tree on my windowsill. OK—at about 14 inches tall, tree may be a bit of an exaggeration. Bay leaves are commonly used in Mediterranean, French, and Spanish cooking, adding a subtle, savory flavor. Bay is also traditionally recommended to help with upset tummies, flatulence, and digestion. Ah—so that is why you toss bay into pots of beans. I hadn’t heard that before. Nor did I know bay leaves are sometimes boiled into custards.  During my snowed-in week, I made two pots of soup and a pot of beans, snapping off a leaf or two of bay and harvesting from the vase of sage and rosemary for the soups. My bay has adjusted well to indoor life and has plenty of leaves to share. Fresh bay leaves are a bit stronger than dried—one book describes the fresh flavor as “more eucalyptus-y.” I’ve always thought of bay as very mild. Although they are evergreen trees in the Mediterranean, bay (Laurus nobilis) takes well to pruning and can be grown in a container. I plan to keep mine a manageable two feet tall and happily invite it into my kitchen every winter. If you see a bay plant, I recommend buying one. None of my books recommend growing them from seed, and it can take a year or more to grow one from a cutting.