June (Charles)

Pork Chops and Brown Rice

4 bone-in thin pork chops (or one if you are eating alone)
2 cans beef broth or beef consommé
1 cup Uncle Bens rice

Brown pork chops on both sides in a large frying pan (about 2 minutes on each side). When chops look brown, pour the two cans of soup into the pan, and then add the rice, dispersing it around the pork chops evenly. Cover (with tin foil if you don't have a top) and simmer for about 20-25 minutes, or until the rice has soaked up the liquid. Serve and enjoy!!

Gastrography
This recipe is my third favorite recipe that my mom makes. Pork chops and brown rice were one of the staple meals in my house when I was growing up, and we probably had this dish at least once every two weeks. It is just a perfect combination that culminates into a meal of deliciousness. I had a great childhood, but I definitely lived a very suburban childhood. Not to say that the suburbs are the root of all evil, well they might be, but I definitely feel like I grew up in a little safe bubble. I went to the same small private school for twelve years and lived a comfortable life that pushed complacency on me from all sides. I think this is why my year in Canada is so meaningful to me. I went from living in Mt. Pleasant, the land of Suburbans, sprawl, and riches to St. Stephen, a mill town located in the poorest county of the poorest province. Everyone knows the lovely cliché “money can’t buy happiness.” When I was younger I thought this line was just stupid. Of course money can buy you happiness, look how happy that guy riding in his Porsche is. It was not until I went to Canada that I realized the truth behind this cliché. True happiness does not come from things but from people. Why do pork chops remind me of what true happiness is? Maybe because they are delicious. Maybe because the thought of eating with my family, something that rarely happens now that my sister and I are in college, makes me happy.