I Traded In My Forks And Spoons And Ate With Chopsticks For An Entire Year

One of my favorite movies is Julie & Julia. It is based on two true stories. The famous Julia Child and a blogger who cooked her way through Julia Child's cookbook. Julie cooked over 500 recipes within a year. Both women are inspiring. I've watched the movie almost a dozen times. I will never get sick of it.

I did something along the same line back in 2012.

To back up a bit...

At a very young age, I taught myself to eat with chopsticks. As I got older, when I ate at a Chinese restaurant or had Chinese takeout, I'd always eat with chopsticks.

In the Fall of 2011, Lisa and I had ordered Chinese takeout for dinner. They included lots of extra chopsticks. I kept them.

Lisa does not eat with chopsticks. 

In the weeks ahead, I started eating dinner with chopsticks whether it was dinner style salads or pasta.

One evening, while I ate grilled chicken and a baked potato with chopsticks, Lisa joked around and said I should give up utensils and just eat with chopsticks. I didn't have a problem with that because I'm just as comfortable eating with chopsticks as I am with a fork.

I thought about what she said for a long time.

That December, we had ordered Chinese takeout again. That's when the decision was made. I mentioned to Lisa that I was going to give up forks, spoons, and knives for an entire year. That meant at restaurants, meals shared with family and friends whether at our home or theirs, and everything between.

"You can definitely do that. And, you should start a blog about it. Take photos. Challenge yourself to tackle stuff like ice cream and cereal and soup."

"Okay. I will."

On December 31st of 2011, I ate my last meal with a fork, spoon, and knife.

From January 1st - December 31st of 2012, I ate with chopsticks only. At the time, Lisa and I ate out a lot. Yes, people stared. Waitresses and waiters asked questions.

I blogged about my chopstick adventures for an entire year. I took photos. People challenged me to eat stuff like ice cream and M&M's and Jell-O. I did it.

That year, Lisa and I got married in July. I ordered a special set of wedding chopsticks. I ate my entire meal and our wedding cupcakes with those chopsticks.

Amid that entire year, I also had people send me chopsticks from various states. My best friend from high school even sent me chopsticks from her trip to Japan. I still have them all.

All the way around, the response was incredible. 

I've been thinking about doing something like that again. Committing to doing something for an entire year.

Like...

Creating a new, homemade dog treat every week.

Making a recipe that we've never had every week.

Challenging myself to make something homemade that we usually buy at the store.

Creating a new DIY Dog Mom Project every week.

I haven't decided yet, but it's resonating in my brain.

I'll keep you posted.