28 things to do with the Dragon

the dragon welcomes you

I do resolutions. Well, let me correct myself. I make resolutions. “Doing” a resolution would imply that I actually have completed and crossed off said resolution. So, although I don’t do resolutions, I enjoy making them [I know, it’s a conundrum]. Every year, while the rest of the world is joining a gym or starting a diet at the beginning of January, I am creating a list for lunar new year with new and old resolutions. It’s a private tradition I do every year where I make goals, plans, and dreams for the year. Some I reach, many I don’t. But I still love to do it. Something about sitting down and evaluating the past year, and then figuring what I want to do in the year to come is exciting for me. It feels like growth, new adventures and discovery, and I love that.

This year, I’ve decided to do something different and share my list with you all. I’ve been inspired to do this by one of my friends, who is an amazing writer and has a travel blog called Flip Flop Caravan. At the end of the year, she talks about her goals for the past year and the ones that she has crossed off. She calls it her life list. Her journey is amazing to read and her ability to meet so many of the things on her bucket list are inspiring. So, because of her work, I’m making a list of 28 things that I want to accomplish this year.

This post was a little difficult for me to write. I’m not a person who is comfortable to be public about things, which is strange for a blogger. This is especially the case with a list of resolutions. I usually write the list on some scrap of paper that I hide in my dresser drawer so I see it randomly throughout the year. No one has ever seen my lists. They usually range anywhere from something that has to do with a personality or private matter to cooking a dish or having a travel/food show. So clearly, some goals are lofty, some more realistic and some that only belong in my underwear drawer while others can be shouted from the top of the world. But they help me see the direction that I want to take my life for the year and how I have grown as a person in interest, profession, and personality.

I’ve rewritten the post different ways and different times. I’m not entirely sure I’m settling on this format, or even the way it looks. But the problem is, I will never be happy with this post because it will always be changing. But here it goes.

My resolutions for the Year of the Dragon:

Be able to do Parshvottanasana “intense side stretch”
Make Zhong Zi (Taiwanese Tamales)
Travel to Taiwan
Complete the Run4Kelly
Star in a travel show/cooking show
Start a successful sake program at work
Write 54 posts
Make pizza from scratch
Make kimchee
Learn to shuck an oyster
Snorkel in Australia or Hawaii
Build a garden on the roof
Buy a plant and keep it alive
Build a home bar
Visit a winery
Read and understand a Chinese version of Doraemon
Make Fu Qi Fei Pian
Make white sugar cake
Create a video post for www.brb-eating.com
Make Taiwanese sausage
Visit the food network offices
Try Durian
Host a dumpling making party
Buy a new tv
Enjoy a bottle of rare wine
Eat a meal at ABC Kitchen
Send 6 postcards from 6 different places
Take a knife skills class

brb…eating