In less than five minutes, you go to a convenience store. Within four minutes, you’ve chosen your meal. After three minutes in the microwave, your dinner is ready. Two minutes later, you’ve finished your meal, and in less than a minute, you’ve already decided on your next chore and moved on.
Convenience does save time, but it hasn’t made us rich in time. Since it’s so easily accessible to everyone, the time we gain is quickly redirected to the next productive task, leaving us feeling poor in terms of time. So, I set a small rule for myself: the time we spent cooking should be roughly equal to the time we spent eating.
This little rule has helped me savor both time and food. But the romantic and rebelliousness in me couldn’t resist staging a fine dining experience at the convenience store where was just down the road. My spontaneous plan luckily found a few friends willing to join in. We brought tableware, wine glasses, patterned napkins, a tablecloth, a vase with fresh flowers, candles, a painting, a guitar (for live music, we formed a band before), and a handwritten menu sign for the day. We set up and transformed one of the store’s tables and dressed up elegantly for this occasion.
We finished shopping for our appetizers, main course, and red wine (dessert is ice cream, so we'll get that later). After checking out and settling in, we noticed that it’s not only a visual contrast, but also a contrast in the sense of pace throughout the process. We arranged each plate with the care like chefs, presenting tonight's dishes with a flourish to ourselves. Our conversations mixed with the soft clinking of knives and forks, and we sank into the rhythm and refinement of both the meal and each other’s company.
Curious passersby occasionally joined in, intrigued by our setup. My intention wasn't trying to make a statement; I simply just wanted to bring the vision in my mind vividly to life. We ended the evening with singing, dessert, and tasting in each sip of wine, and a flavor of the life style we had been yearning for.
Washing dishes in elegant clothes in a convenience store bathroom might have felt out of place, but every time I think back, I realize just how perfectly suited I am to living this way.