Inside a hot air balloon, looking upThis post is inspired by my friend Rachel Strawn and Maggie's Life List.
I recently wrote a post about attending the upcoming Worlds of Flavor Conference…and it sparked a surprising amount of dialog—not about the conference itself, but about my Life List.
For most of my life, I’ve kept a list of things I’d like to do. It’s in a constant state of flux—items get checked off (hot air ballooning) or I no longer have an interest (live in a castle). And I’m constantly adding new things to The List.
My current list ranges from the fantastic (shark diving in South Africa) to the mundane (journal daily), but I truly believe there’s power in the written word. Will I ever visit Dubai? Or be in Italy for the olive harvest? Attend Mardi Gras in Trinidad? Who knows? But it’s on my list!
What else is on my list? Here’s a sampling:
1. Attend a TED.com Conference
2. Make homemade pasta
3. Make homemade pizza dough
4. Attend the Worlds of Flavor Conference
5. Photograph the bazaars of Istanbul
6. Travel to Morocco
7. Visit the White House Kitchen
8. Attend a diner at the James Beard House
9. Learn how to temper chocolate & make confections
10. Ride in a helicopter
11. Attend the Food & Wine Classic
12. Attend the Oregon Truffle Festival
13. Make a wedding cake
14. Make my own beer
15. Find another mentor
16. Harvest sugar, cacao, coffee, and Vanilla
17. Attend Day of the Dead in Oaxaca
18. Attend a wedding in India
19. Make a mean margarita
20. Learn how to make coffee art
21. Attend Mardi Gras in Trinidad
22. Catch and cook my own crab
23. Visit a tea plantation
24. Love, for real
25. See the confluence of the Rio Blanco & the Rio Negro by air
26. Visit a refugee camp
27. Scuba dive with seals
28. See a whale shark under water
29. Attend an East Coast crab fest
30. Go white water kayaking
31. Raft the Grand Canyon
32. Forage for my supper
33. Kill a chicken for my supper
34. Work in a soup kitchen
35. Visit Mexico City. Art, Frieda Kahlo’s home.
36. Learn how to ride a motorcycle
37. Attend Quillasascut Farm School
38. Drive a combine
39. Harvest honey
40. Make delicious bread
41. Ride the Alaska Marine Highway System
42. Climb Mt. Rainier
43. Travel through the Middle East
44. Ride a camel
45. Read Harold McGee’s “On Food & Cooking” from beginning to end
46. Practice yoga
47. Get my books on shelves (need bookcases)
48. Attend the Greenbrier writing workshop
49. Kayak Vietnam's Ha Long Bay
50. Scuba dive in the Red Sea
51. Photography trip to Cuba
52. Grub crawl in Vancouver, BC’s Chinatown
53. Dinner at Cafe Juanita
54. Great white shark cage diving in South Africa
And you? What’s on your life list?
