Mike Stopforth

Getting Things Done - GTD. It’s actually a very popular web meme, with a very popular blog attached to it (Lifehacker). I personally find it really difficult to complete, well, anything. I prefer rather to have a hundred tasks going simultaneously and never finish one of them. Which has it’s problems, you see.

So my GTD posts will be a series of arb tips and hints I’ve gathered over time that help me, well, save time and get things done. First up is my Romans Salad Secret, and I credit Gemma Tromans with this particular, rather shafty plan.

I have a wife. She organises stuff - braai’s (bbq’s) and things - its part of her portfolio. Our prospective guests always ask over the phone, “can we bring anything”, to which Wendy always replies, “no, just yourselves”. What a crap thing to say! If it were up to me I’d ask them to bring the whole damn meal - we’re hosting them after all! Which is why Wendy normally organises braais.

So braai has been organised, now Mike is tasked with fetching the meal. In the past we bought meat (of course), rolls, a dozen beers, wine, so on, and a bunch of ingredients for a salad. I don’t eat salad, being far more comfortable tearing seared flesh off some bovine’s shin, but it seems other humans generally do. Typically, the salad is a pain. It’s always the last thing to get finished, is almost always rushed and just when you think you’re sorted, you rmember that you forgot to buy salad dressing. Darn. This was the pattern until I discovered the Romans Salad Secret.

1. Find suitable salad bowl in kitchen. Put in vehicle of choice.
2. Head toward nearest Romans Pizza outlet.
3. Turn around when you realise you’ve forgotten your wallet, swear a bit, retrieve wallet.
4. Head toward nearest Romans Pizza outlet.
5. Order Chef’s Salad, hand your own salad bowl to surprised till operator and request (nicely) that salad be made in your bowl.
6. Ask for the honey and mustard dressing - it comes highly recommended.
7. Pay R 23.
8. Head home.
9. Rinse and repeat if necessary.

Voila! In minutes you’ll have a custom built, world class salad in your own bowl to blow your vegetable consuming guest compliment out the water!