When you are living a life of quarantine where everyone is staying indoors and non-essential businesses are closed, the weekends don’t really feel that exciting. The only better part about the weekend vs. the weekdays is that you don’t have official work or work calls and meetings, and that you don’t have to be in front of a computer throughout the day.

The most exciting thing we did today was leave the house to go to a grocery store that we’ve neglected to even enter for the last nearly three years of living here, Western Beef. It’s a nondescript grocery store with all its windows covered about three blocks away from us. I always thought it was a sketchy butcher shop until our handyman strongly suggested we go there to avoid the lines of Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, so we went. It had a decent selection of fresh meat and fruit/vegetables at reasonable price points, and they also had a good selection of Jamaican and Dominican products. I was pleasantly surprised to see produce being sold like yucca, plantains, and aloe vera leaves. This definitely was not like Trader Joe’s or Morton Williams.

And the most exciting thing I did at home? I finally checked off Peruvian roast chicken with spicy green sauce off my “to make” list. It came out really well with perfectly juicy white and dark meat, and the green sauce tasted just like at Pio Pio and other Peruvian restaurants I’ve been to in the city. This is definitely a keeper recipe.