(This kind of blogpost is best done in git-blogging 🙂 The consumerism has hijacked this phrase “finer things in life”, but to me, most finer things in life are free or easily available to the lower-income families.

• fruits, raw or cooked vegetables
• clean parks
• trips to natural scenes
• Jogging in the park is free, but I prefer a proper stadium.
• a good read, a good movie, good music
• swimming pool, stadium
• harmony at home and in office

— %%preference4fine dining
After the considerations in this bpost, I have to ask myself “how much/little value, personally?”. Fine dining may give high satisfaction to some individuals, but its value is rather low to me. With $20 I can get excellent dining experience, and fine dining rarely surpass it.

There’s nothing “exceptional” here. Such a level of experience doesn’t exist.

Overall, Cosme experience was no really better than DosToros. Both felt like Mexican to me.

A crude but useful analog — sexual satisfaction. Some people try novel techniques, use fancy products, go to /exotic/ places,,, to elevate their experience. For other people, a quick rutine once a month with the same old partner is all they need. They don’t experience anything exceptional even if they spend a million dollars to create it.
— not too fatty like visible fatMeat/mayo/butter, or deep-fried
— not too filling like Starchy, thick cream,,,
Seafood is generally lighter and easier to digest

I am learning to enjoy low-starch dishes, though Starch is a major component of 80% of fine-dining dishes.

— trySomethingUnfamiliar .. I need to see the photo to be sure. If it doesn’t look enticing, then poor prospect.
— desserts at fine dining tend to be tiny and shocking expensive. You pay for the preparation and subtle differentiation. These unfamiliar and fancy desserts have never surpassed my old favorites [cheasecake, brownie, chendol,,] which never exceed $10. If I benchmark 性价比, then it’s an obvious no-no.

The differentiation has $0 value in my mouth.

— raw veg .. (including salads) I tend to eat lots of raw veg in my everday diet. In an expensive dish featuring raw veg I don’t want to pay for them.

Unlike cooked veg which often adds unique flavor, raw veg could never really enrich the other “things”, definitely not in my taste.

I have learned to enjoy raw veg as bland (often flavorless), light, simple, clean, protective, life-enhancing,,, foods, nothing more nothing less, even when mixed with something (anything) fancy.