If you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up at the age of 7, I would have told you I wanted to be a chef. I’m pretty sure in my 2nd grade yearbook that’s actually what I put as my dream job – although I have no idea where that yearbook is to confirm it.
EIther way, I have to believe that my 7-year-old self is ecstatic right now. While I’m sure he didn’t have sushi chef in mind when he wrote that (I don’t even think I knew what sushi was at the age of 7) I have to believe that there is some sort of crazy link between myself today and the Nickelodeon watching, Pog and Beanie Baby collecting 2nd grader I once was (come on, you know you collected them too).
I’m not sure if I want to call that fate, but there is something to be said about my once farfetched dreams as a kid and what has become of me with Sabi Sushi. I think it is the same strange force that led me to Duke University in the first place; the same force that randomly paired Shaan and Trevor as roommates freshman year and landed me next door to them. The same strange force that led to our Tivo recording Phillip’s Throwdown with Bobby Flay when we never had watched the Food Network, and the same force that led us to Boulder, Colorado.
There is absolutely no way in hell I could have predicted what I would be doing after I graduated even a few months ago, but my second grade yearbook begs to differ!
Last month when I was in Los Angeles, Phillip had me finely chop green onions to put in the Spicy Tuna mix and Miso soup. When I ultimately didn’t cut them finely enough, he had me sift through the bowl of slices and pick out the ones that were too fat for re-slicing. About an hour into this process, he came up to me and asked, “did you ever think you’d be elbow deep in a bowl of green onions after you graduated Duke?”
To be honest, I had never really thought of it that way until then. For years I had dreamed of landing a job on Wall Street. I spend the past three summers at Merrill Lynch and Prudential trying to gain experience in the financial markets – obviously striving for something more than to chop onions at the end of the day.
However, when all was said and done – it seems that my 2nd grade self might have been much smarter than I had previously thought. For those of you that might not believe in birthday wishes, little Danny Certner might beg to differ…
So tonight when it’s time to blow out the candles…watch out world…
-DNC
Bonus: Who needs cake when you can celebrate Greeley, CO style? Aunt Patti’s famous birthday guacamole:
Colorado Birthday Guac
Rollin' With Sabi 