Cooking, Simplified by Wall Street

This is just a brief post about a conversation I had with Laura on a Saturday morning a number of years ago.

Maybe “conversation” is the wrong word to describe it, as you’ll soon find out.

It’s the best single illustration of how my career on Wall Street forced me to simplify my approach to cooking. I guess at that point in my career I was able to handle making only a finite number of choices and decisions over the course of a week. And when I exceeded that finite number, I would start to come a little bit unhinged mentally:

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Decisions, Decisions

Laura: Dan, I think I'm going to make a pie today!
Dan: Great! Cool.
L: What kind of pie do you think I should make?
D: I don't know. Whatever pie you want to make.
L: Should I make a blueberry pie?
D: Okay.
L: Or how about a peach pie?
D: Sure that sounds great.
L: Or how about a cherry pie?
D: Okay.
L: Hmmm, maybe a blueberry pie would be better. But a peach pie sounds good too.
D: Uh-huh.
L: Or how about this....a cherry pie, but with peaches in it!
D: Ehhh. I don't know.
L[In an increasingly excited voice]: Hey, how about a peach pie with blueberries in it?
D: Uh... I don't know.
L: Or what do you think about a blueberry pie with peaches in it?
D: Idon'tknowIdon'tknowIdon'tknowIdon'tknow--I DON'T KNOW!!!! [At this point, I either whimpered or let out a little girly scream, I really don't remember which. ]
L: Whoa.
D: Woo. Uh, sorry. I guess I just couldn't handle all those choices there. I've been making a lot of difficult decisions over the past few days.
L: You've gotta get the hell out of Wall Street, you know that?
D: Yeah, wow. I guess you're right.

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I share this "conversation" with you to show why, from this point on, I sought out ways to simplify my cooking--and everything else in my life for that matter.

This is why in this blog you'll see so many examples of simplifying and modifying recipes, and why I’m always on the lookout for different examples of really easy dishes to cook. It also explains why I’m always looking for ways to get faster at cooking and why I look for ways to judge recipes before I cook them.

I sincerely hope you're not the type of person who wigs out on a Saturday morning after one or two too many pie questions. :) But I hope you enjoy and benefit from my advice and suggestions all the same.