Simple Saturday pleasures

It can get very demoralizing seeing job applications getting rejected. To make myself feel better, I decided to make a simple and homey stew from the NYTimes cooking app. This app has been my pandemic cooking standby. The recipes have been almost 100% home runs, and the notes from readers provide useful tips. Today, I made the “Brown Stew Pork Shoulder” recipe. The recipe describes it as a “classic West Indian comfort food.” It is warm comfort in a bowl, with sweetness from the brown sugar, carrots, and bell peppers, a bit of spice from a scotch bonnet pepper (used whole), and savoriness from the pork and worcestershire sauce. I ate it with a bit of brown rice and quinoa with garlic -- yum!

Mike and I have taken to alternating our weekend nights out with home-cooked meals where we have cocktails and wine, and it’s lovely (and wallet-friendly). Natalia had a few of her friends over, and with laughter, good food, lovely wine, I felt happy and satisfied for a few moments.