Bon appétit

This is for guys like me who, when hungry, much sooner reach for the cereal box than the spatula. Let’s face it: who wants to spend an hour making something when a bowl of cereal can be ready to eat in less than 2 minutes? Sandwiches can be easy enough, with preparation sometimes taking 15 minutes, but even that feels like forever when the stomach is rumbling.

The problem is that desire for instant gratification. Much like when we try to recall something, Wikipedia (who needs donations, by the way - come on now, let’s all pitch in), IMDb, Google, and other websites can deliver right away. Our brains learn to depend on this and start to retain less information. When we work a little to remember or figure out something, the reward is much more satisfying and we’re more likely to recall it easier next time. See where I’m going with this?

I prepared a meal the other day (with some quick hints provided by Arshdeep Kaur as she was walking up the stairs) that was very easy to make and very rewarding: Little pizzas made on bread slices. I started to get all the ingredients at 10:40am, which consisted of bread slices, pizza sauce, Daiya vegan cheese (pre-shredded) and assorted vegetables. Some can opening, sauce spreading, vegetable rinsing, cutting and sprinkling took place and the pizza slices were in the toaster oven at 11am. All the ingredients were put away by 11:03am, at which point I got started on the salad. This took me a little while because avocado can get slippery and messy, but everything was cut and in bowls by 11:10am. I washed all the dishes by 11:13am and had 5 minutes to reflect on the ease with which it had all been done and how much I enjoyed doing it. At 11:18am, I opened the toaster oven and pulled out the little pizzas to put in plates. It was quick, easy, fun, very rewarding and they didn’t taste bad!