Foodies in a Foodie Store

I’m easy to shop for. Easy as pie. In fact, I’d love to get a pie as a gift; anything that has to do with food is right down my alley. That is why I love cooking stores, and that is also why I scored myself a modest Williams Sonoma gift card this past Christmas.*

Embarrassingly enough, it took me until just yesterday to use it. This, of course, is due to the massive headache of indecision I get every time I think about spending money in a cooking store, the kind that leaves you with a dull pain of frustration and excitement all at once, and that would land you, had you been a few years younger, sitting smack in the middle of the floor to escape your dilemma. Knowing that I’m not alone does help, if only marginally: I imagine I share this trait of mild insanity with all other foodies out there with slightly shallow pockets.

We’re like kids in a candy store. No, we’re worse. Kids in a candy store quickly reach sugar highs and stomach aches when they gorge themselves: their bodies send up little kid-sized red flags, telling them they’ve had to much. We, on the other hand, don’t have a physical reminder. In fact, it seems the only way to relieve the great headache of indecision is to spend more. We have only our own measly restraint, and that only goes so far. Or we have gift cards with limits on them.

And so yesterday, while I was searching the shelves for gadgets within my price range, I made a great leap in character and decided in favor of practicality. I really really wanted that ice-cream maker. Just as much as I wanted the pasta machine. And, every. Thing. Else. But, I pulled myself together and gathered a few things that would build my cookware arsenal, practically: I chose a French rolling pin (every household needs one of these) and a 10” steel for the fancy shmancy chef’s knife I had gotten for my birthday. Mission accomplished, for now; I still have $18 dollars left. I wonder what I’ll get next.

*Thank you, Nammie, for the wonderful gift.