Zydeco Green Beans is actually a redundancy. The exuberant music of Louisiana's black French-speaking Creoles is called zydeco, an idiomatic phonetic version of les haricots, French for snap beans. Serve these green beans as a relish, or as "stirrers" for Bloody Marys.

~- ~- In a large saucepan, stir together the water, vinegar, sugar, mustard seeds, garlic, bay leaves, salt and Tabasco sauce. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the beans. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes, until tender-crisp. Arrange the beans in a shallow dish and cover them completely with the vinegar mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Serve cold.