Time to Shake Things Up
When I started Diluted Shares, I didn’t have any firm goals for it. It was intended to be an ongoing side hobby/business that would take shape with time and experience. I thought this would be a fun, creative outlet where I could play with cocktails, cater some events, share what I learned or created, and just generally dig into my interests outside of work. You may have noticed that it’s been more than 18 months since I posted anything to this blog, and what an 18 months it has been.
In the spirit of dilution - and due to pending litigation - I’ll keep it brief. My partner and I were designing a custom home to build in Chicago, and it couldn’t have gone worse. The mental and financial toll this has taken on both of us is the biggest reason things have been quiet over here, but not any more! We recently sold the land we had intended to build on and - prior to that - moved into a new home in the same neighborhood, freeing up the mental space required for me to pursue hobbies and think about a future business again.
In one week, I am embarking on an incredible opportunity for a corporate worker: a four week sabbatical. A sabbatical is described on Wikipedia as "an extended period of time intentionally spent on something that's not your routine job," and I am leaning into that, baby! My plans for sabbatical kind of presented themselves to me over the Christmas holiday as I began searching for flight deals and considering the best way to spend this time. I needed to unwind, but wanted to leave from this experience enriched in a personal way.
Before I share the itinerary for sabbatical, I’d like to share my intentions for it:
Celebrate my accomplishments
Reconnect with myself
Focus on personal enrichment
Explore & document new flavors, drinks, and dishes
Mindfully unplug
I depart Chicago on February 3 and will return on February 19, and will be traveling solo. For this portion of sabbatical, I’m looking forward to reconnecting with myself by moving intuitively through each day, and fostering a sense of discovery. This means the schedule is relatively light, with only one or two things booked each day so that I have greater likelihood make discoveries, rather than having a tight agenda of pre-selected places I must go. I also want to leave room to make updates here and share these travels and force myself to make a record of them. I’ve booked all my hotels, some meals, some activities, and saved a ton of interesting places to Google Maps to help guide me, but there’s plenty of opportunity to be surprised and delighted by what I find along the way.
First, I’ll fly to London where I will catch a flight to Bangkok. It’s been a full decade since I’ve been this frenetic city, and few places have the ability to pleasantly assault the senses like Bangkok does. There are colorful temples adjacent to gleaming skyscrapers, surrounded by the periodic hum of motorbikes and a swirl of scents: curries and noodles, diesel engines and flowers. To this day, I still think fondly of the Pad See Ewe noodles I had at a street cart across from Hua Lamphon train station - saltier and more umami than the versions found at home. While Bangkok is famous for an incredible yet dwindling street food scene, it’s also gaining acclaim for fine dining and recently welcomed its first 3-star Michelin restaurant, Sorn. (Despite my best efforts, I have not yet been able to score a table). I’ll have three nights in Bangkok (two more than the 1984 hit by Murray Head), and have booked only dinner for the last night and a two-hour Thai massage for the morning I arrive. That leaves a lot to chance, and in Bangkok anything can happen! Like the prototypical thanksgiving turkey walking the streets of Bangrak at 10pm on a Saturday…
After Bangkok, I’ll catch a plane to Koh Samui where I’ll board a ferry to nearby Koh Tao, an idyllic island paradise that’s world famous for SCUBA diving. I loved Koh Tao when I visited eleven years ago, but only got the chance to do one very truncated SCUBA dive, and hope to do at least 7 on this trip. On Koh Tao, I’ve booked a cottage over looking Sairee Beach to be close to the dive shop and activity in town, but not sleeping amidst it all. After a bit more than a week on Koh Tao, I’m hopping back to Koh Samui for a couple of nights.
On Koh Samui, I’ve booked what is probably the humblest of all lodging on the trip and it’s a place I went eleven years ago with my friends Ben & Murray - Crystal Bay Beach Resort. This is the first beach I laid eyes on in Thailand, and to this day it’s still the most stunning one I’ve ever been to - except for Maya Bay, but that’s not really comparable. On the last visit, we went for a dip at night and discovered the water to be bioluminescent..I’m hoping it’s the same this time!
After two nights on Samui, I fly back to Bangkok for a visit to the Thai Airways lounge, before boarding a flight for Tokyo. I’ve never been to Japan before, and I’m really excited about it, but also overwhelmed with all I want to do and only 3 nights/days. Knowing that there will eventually be a longer trip to Japan in my future, I’m going to focus on easily attainable reservations that seem approachable to a foreigner who cannot read a lick of Japanese. (Some really highly rated spots don’t accept reservations from foreigners or have a lot of hoops to jump through to get a table, like needing a Japanese phone number). So far, I’ve booked an omakase dinner at a tempura restaurant, as well as a sushi omakase. Nothing else is committed to, but my eyes will be peeled for the perfect bowl of ramen, a crispy tonkatsu, and as much sake as I deem necessary. For drinks, my friend and colleague Tracy has recommended a couple spots in Golden Gai, while my friend Matt recommended some gay bars in Shinjuku. Luke has shared an entire map of recommendations with me, too.
Aside from food, I’m looking forward to seeing the gardens and palaces in Tokyo, and some of the iconic streetscapes, like Shibuya Crossing. I did splurge on hotel here, but Tokyo’s hospitality is legendary. Booking through Amex’s Fine Hotels program was worth it for the guaranteed 4pm checkout - a must for my evening flight - and the third night “free.” (TINSTAAFL, amirite?)
Much like my lounge visit in Bangkok, the flight from Tokyo to Chicago is for little more than a layover for 30 hours. After some laundry, I’ll be heading south of the border with my partner Luke, our dog Hugo, and my friend Matt for some fun in the Puerto Vallarta sun. Luke & I have gone every year since 2016, so this is the pure rest and relaxation portion of the trip. While we won’t be doing much beyond the beach, Vallarta has so many great spots for food and our schedule is already filling up with everything from tacos al pastor at a street cart, to Michelin Star-worthy tasting menu at Tintoque.
Throughout each stop on my trip, I’ll be looking for new flavors and ingredients to bring home with me. When I first visited Thailand in 2014, I was introduced to pandan, which is heavily featured my first original recipe cocktail, Pandanmonium. I’m hoping for more inspirational moments like this. I’ll be eating at street carts and fine dining spots, drinking at mixology bars and holes in the wall, and doing my best to document it all. I’ll also be reflecting on what Diluted Shares could become.
So far, I’ve consulted on catering for a few different events, and received great feedback from my clients. But catering as a side hustle is very come and go, whereas I need to be more dedicated to this concept if I’m ever going to have my own thriving business. I’ll be seeking inspiration from the places I go, looking for unique business models or menus that may work at home and finding ways to bring them to life stateside.
So follow along, why don’t you?
Check out Instagram for visual updates and in-the-moment stories, and tap back to this blog for more written storytelling and highlights.
