Simple Gifts

In these turbulent times, I’ve found refuge in the simple pleasures, the simple joys, the simple gifts of life: good food, good friends, and the beauties of nature and culture. The world is so much more than the horrors you see in the news, and it’s important to always remember this, even when it seems frivolous.

Recently I’ve found that my bread maker, my slow cooker, my vegetable garden, writing this blog, and just hanging out with friends have given me a joy that I never fully appreciated until now. These simple gifts lift my spirits, nourish my soul, and feed my sometimes starving optimism.

Out in LA a man named Jonathan Gold just died. He was the first food critic ever to win the Pulitzer Prize for criticism and he was an LA icon whose reviews were beautifully written and whose love for food and LA touched his many readers and fans. Sadly I had never heard of him until now but, in reading about his life and career, I’ve found him an inspiration: he was a man who found joy in the simple gifts of life and shared them with everybody.

I’m not a food critic but I’m a big foodie and love cooking and going to new restaurants. These days going out is a lot harder (kids, you know) but a few years ago I wrote about a wonderful restaurant called Chez Napoleon that’s the kind of intimate NYC place that’s vanishing. It’s the kind of place Jonathan Gold would have loved and, going there and to places like it, greatly lifts my spirits.

To be honest, I’ve never found much joy in pets. It’s one of my many emotional blindspots. But many people love them and they are another kind of simple gift. So you might be surprised to learn (unless, of course, you listen to him) that radio star Howard Stern’s wife Beth is big animal lover who rescues cats and finds them homes. She has a gorgeous Instagram page featuring her love of cats and it’s so great that the New Yorker has even written an article about it. It’s clear that, to Beth, pets give her joy and she’s committed her life to them and, in sharing with us, shares it with us.

Simple gifts, I’ve often found, are the best gifts, and the easiest to give. And in NYC, there are many to be found. 

And another simple gift: