The Small Things That Improved the Year

A few purchases that made us happy.

Our family has always erred on the cautious side with Covid. We hunkered down until vaccines became available, having groceries, staples, and carry-out food delivered. My husband and I used to enjoy lunch dates in the Beforetimes so this became “order lunch for delivery” during the pandemic.

Eventually, we began to order from separate restaurants and simply ate at the same time. Why not each enjoy our food of choice? I’m a sucker for breakfast food, so I would often order fancy pancakes, a skillet, or my favorite — eggs benedict (a vegetarian variety).

Eventually, we got our vaccines and re-integrated ourselves with society. Expensive carry-out food became less frequent.

I really missed my eggs benedict. So much so that in November of 2021, I bought a pan that would cook me perfectly poached eggs and found packets of seasoning to make hollandaise sauce at the grocery store. I’m a happy camper once again.

I saw something on Twitter recently asking people to share the small purchases (under $100) that made them happy in 2021. For me, it was this egg poacher pan that cost $16.95 and that I use multiple times per week.