For some reason, ever since I was a kid I’ve wanted to visit Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Maybe 2012 will be the year to make that happen!

This post is part of Think Kit 2011.

One of my favorite things about SmallBox are the conversations we have with each other that aren’t related to the work we do every day. Don’t get me wrong, conversations and discussions about our work are fun and rewarding. But it’s these side conversations that provide insight into the passions that help make us well-rounded people. I love learning about what my workmates love to do in their spare time.

Many times these conversations steer toward food. We have many talented cooks on the team (as evidenced by the number of tasty chills we sampled during our Chili Cookoff). Many of us randomly bring in cookies or other baked good experiments to share with the group, and we regularly share stories of our latest culinary adventures at home or a dinner out that was just delightful. Because of these conversations, I have learned new ways to prepare quinoa, made my first reduction sauce with great success, and become aware of the joy of thumbprint cookies and their infinite possibilities of variation.

Inspired by my workmates and our food chats, my goal this year is to learn to cook in a cuisine I don’t normally cook. Choosing what cuisine was easy: for Christmas, my sister gave me Madhur Jaffrey’s At Home with Madhur Jaffrey, and I’ve always wanted to learn to cook Indian food (having enjoyed it the past few years, courtesy of India Garden). Jaffrey’s book is recommended by Lynne Rossetto Kasper, host of The Splendid Table and a woman (and food genius) I have long admired, so I figured it’s a good place to start. My goal is to dive in, study and explore Indian food and learn all I can about the history and culture of food in India. Over the course of 2012, I’ll prepare every recipe in the book (supplementing it with the previously mentioned history and culture explorations) and hopefully (very likely) find a few dishes I can add to my regular cooking repertoire. I’m really excited for this new adventure! (And if you want updates over the year, I’ll definitely blog about it over at my personal blog: wanderlydia.com.)

So, anyone have advice in the world of Indian cooking?

This post is part of Think Kit 2011.

This question is another one of those questions that I have so many different answers for and they all change depending on the day or what I am currently pursuing hobby-wise. So instead of a particular person I am just going to describe the type of new person I would like to meet in 2012.

In 2012, I would like to meet someone who will challenge me to think, question my beliefs, and inspire me to keep creating new goals for myself and staying on track with them. I am easily distracted at times because of my wide interest in many subjects. I have found myself reading a wikipedia article and then 3 hours later looking up from reading and seeing that I have 50+ tabs open for reading more into the original subject that I was looking at. Just last night, I went from trying to find out when a particular movie I had seen recently came out to reading the inner traditions of Hanukkah and its various traditions I have never been exposed to.

Emett Otter's Jugband Christmas is my favorite christmas movie

So in 2012 I would love to meet someone that I could share my interests with but also someone that could help me focus more on some of the other things that I want to accomplish. Some of those things include recording more music, drawing more, and helping out in my community.

Lots of my friends already fill this role but I say the more the merrier!

This post is part of Think Kit 2011.