Tuesday Tips: The Undiscovered Country

Song: A Flock Of Seagulls - "Space Age Love Song (With the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra)"

This past summer, Anne and I were driving through Salt River Canyon and listening to a podcast - I think it was maybe one of Malcolm Gladwell's Revisionist Histories (this is the best one in recent memory, IMO). 

In the podcast, the guest was talking about how much new stuff you should try. He argued that you should try lots of new things when you're young and cut the percentage as you get older and have discovered more about what you really like.

This strikes me as very good advice!

Two anecdotes:

When I was a kid, going out to eat was a big deal. The food was always so good (except when we went to a seafood restaurant - ugh). Also, restaurants became associated with vacation - another positive. Thus, for most of my life, I considered restaurants to be desirable in terms of an eating experience.

However, now that I don't quite have the same unhealthy relationship with money* I document in Losing My Religions, we basically eat what we want (limited more by calories than cost). Yet it was only recently I realized that nearly everything we eat is as good as our average restaurant meal, and some, such as this (now made with soy curls, so even cheaper!) are as good as nearly any meal I could possibly eat. (Although I make good berbere lentils in the InstaPot, a good Ethiopian spread can't be beat.**)

On the other hand, I recently found a drink*** at Trader Joe's that is extraordinary and less expensive than any other option in this categroy! WOOOO!

Of course, this means TJ's will stop carrying it soon. 😜 

*Combination of the two: 15 or 20 years ago, Anne and I were out to dinner with donors at a very hoity-toity restaurant in San Francisco. After seeing the prices, I was literally in mental agony and physical pain the entire time. It got better, though; the same thing happened maybe 7 years ago, and I didn't care. The food was still not satisfying.

**And, of course:

1. You don't have to spend time preparing the food. (Not that big a deal because I generally like cooking.)
2. You don't have to clean up. (DING DING DING)
3. Breaking out of routine helps buy memories.

***Their single malt finished in Sherry barrels. Yes, I know it is cheating to do this, or to age red wine in whiskey barrels. La la la, I don't care.