Dear Mr. Chef: I Need a Simple Meal

The Ultimate Simple Meal

Dear Mr. Chef,

Cooking is too hard. Too many ingredients. Too Many Steps. What should I do?

– Phil A. Americaine in Poway, Calfornia

Dear Mr. Americaine,

May I suggest “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity?” In times like these I often make a sandwich. They’re easy.

1. But there are so many choices to put in between the bread slices. What should I do?

A. Buy cheese. Just use cheese for the sandwich filling.

2. But what cheese should I get?

A. Buy only Swiss cheese.

3. But I don’t really care for Swiss cheese. How about another type? But they’re so many types of cheese. What do I do?

A. Buy only Swiss cheese. Do you want to risk a nervous breakdown?

4. But what about bread. They’re so many types of bread. I can never decide. What to do?

A. Forget the bread. Put your slab of Swiss cheese between two other slices of cheese

5. Are those two new slices Swiss cheese as well?

A. Yes, we are protecting your mental health.

6. What if I have only one slice of Swiss cheese? What do I do now?

A. Make your single slice of Swiss into a sandwich extraordinaire. After all what is a single piece of cheese the same thing as three pieces, but with two fewer slices?

7. Thank you, Mr. Chef.

A. You’re welcome. Bon appétit.

– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef, Ph.D.

My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.