Foods I cooked for the first time
- Breakfast: yeasted waffles
- Appetizers + soups: arancini, bruschetta*, gazpacho, split pea soup
- Meats: beef and broccoli, beef and guinness pie*, chicken w brown sauce, chicken empanadas, inside-out pupusas, meatballs*, pot roast, pulled chicken, whole chicken, wings
- Seafoods: crab cakes, fish tacos, salmon cakes, scallops
- Veggies: fried okra, spinach w pine nuts, squash dumplings*, stuffed mushrooms
- Sides, sauces and extras: carbonara sauce, cranberry sauce*, dumplings (chicken and dumplings), latkes, pepitas*, polenta cakes, tortillas
- Desserts + baked goods: apple tart, baklava*, blueberry pie, bread pudding, brioche buns*, clementine-chocolate chip buttermilk scone*, maple cookies, pumpkin pie
Places I visited
- San Francisco bay area: 5
- Napa Valley: 3
- New York City: 2
- Las Vegas: 1
Michelin-starred restaurants I tried
- Gary Danko
- Fleur de Lys
- Boulevard
- La Toque
Notable ailments I experienced
- Concussion: 1.5
- Pink eye: 2
- Stress fracture: 1
- Fractured pinky: 1
- Ever-bleeding finger: 1
Lessons learned
- I need to love with more than my heart knows how, so that regrets and excuses are not an option.
- Blood relatives will always love me
- My best friends may share meals, emails or adventures with me, or we may rarely talk at all, but they will never ever desert me.
- Health is fragile, not something that I can earn or buy. I need to listen to my body.
- Training and persistence pays off. I can now swim breathing every nine strokes (versus every three strokes) and run a nine-minute mile (versus a ten-minute mile).
- It’s okay to spend money to have fun. In the end, money always works out.
- I can create amazing design work if I put my mind to it. Winning three design awards for one project is proof enough.
- Everyone has things that can hold them back in life. It’s not always obvious, but when it’s made known, it’s good to help them tackle it head on.
