What I'm Watching and Reading in 2025

 I always start these lists and rarely make a comprehensive list, but that's okay. I am going to post this as of 6/25/25 and then just update it as I add to it.

Television

1. Emily in Paris (Netflix) - Kind of silly and a bit raunchy. The situations are ridiculous, but you get to see Paris as a constant backdrop, so that is a plus. Also, you get lots of French language!
2. Kim's Convenience (Netflix)- Rewatched all season
3. Lincoln Lawyer (Netflix) - watched all seasons. Season 2 featured a location that I used to frequent because it was a client's restaurant! This show is a love letter to LA. It has so much great scenery. Most of the food tips are right on (with the exception of La Monarca, no thank you). 
4. Andor Season 2 (Disney+) - the comparisons to the current state of the country are fire.
5. Survivor 48 - A pretty good season overall. Fun to watch.  
6. Elsbeth (Paramount+) - I love Elsbeth Tascioni. This makes me want to rewatch The Good Wife, and possibly even dive into The Good Fight, which I haven't seen.
7. Matlock (Paramount+) - We're only a few episodes in at this time, but so far, loving this too.  
8. Boston Legal (Disney+) - This was recommended to me by a fellow Rotarian. I may have watched some of this before. It's aged a bit, but I still find James Spader appealing.

 

Movies

I participate in an online trivia league that has a brief trivia batch based solely on one topic - 90s Rom-Coms! So, that's why you'll see a lot of these on the list.

1. Rear Window (Netflix) - still in my top 10 movie list! Grace Kelly is beautiful. Although, I really noticed how LB was negging her the whole movie, which was a turnoff.  
2. Boomerang (Paramount+) - This is a time capsule of the early 90s and a who's who of Black actors of the time! The acting is pretty terrible, but it's still fun to watch. Halle Berry is maybe 25-26 and looks like a baby! She is cute and not yet in her sexy 30s. Definitely had some laugh out loud moments.
3. Never Been Kissed (Disney+) - They have somehow managed to make Drew Barrymore look plain in the first 10 minutes of this movie. 

 

Books

1. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin - A re-read of a childhood favorite. It still 100% holds up! 
2. Figgs & Phantoms by Ellen Raskin  - Clearly I was on an Ellen Raskin tear. Still good!
3. The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon by Ellen Raskin - I don't remember reading this as a kid. It was okay, but a little quirky, as is her way.  
4. Circe by Madeline Miller - This was recommended to me by a friend in my networking group ages ago. I really enjoyed this book. It has a slow build, but draws you in. I was sad when it ended. She has a feminist flair in her writing that I kind of love. 
5. Husbands & Lovers by Beatriz Williams - Also good, kind of sad.  
6. Galatea by Madeline Miller - Good and a bit intense. It makes you think about women in society. It's a short story, so read this in one sitting.  
7. Hotter in the Hamptons by Tinx - As I described this to my roommate for the weekend, this is a trashy summer novel. It tried a little too hard to be "sexy" and kind of failed, but I still finished it. 
8.  

Hybrid Kimchi Recipe

I love the taste of homemade kimchi, but it can be quite time consuming, mostly from the first part - salting the cabbage, which using the Maangchi recipe, takes hours. While on a flight, I watched a Masterclass episode about fermented foods and the chef, David Zilber, did a very quick kimchi using a 2% ratio of veggies to kosher salt. I tried his recipe, but didn't care for the flavor, so I combined his salting technique with Maangchi's general recipe (with some adjustment, mostly removing ingredients I don't care for) and it worked out great.

I gave some to my friend's mom and she asked for the recipe, so I just went through the whole process of writing it up for her, so figured I would post it here for anyone who is looking for a quicker way to make kimchi that will definitely taste better than store bought.

Email to my friend's mom:

The main recipe is from Maangchi, my favorite Korean chef. Here's a link with a video showing generally how to make it. The biggest modification I've made is in the first part of the process - the salting of the cabbage. Her recipe calls for 6 lbs of cabbage, but that's a lot of kimchi, probably too much for most people, so I halved it.

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Modified Kimchi Recipe (half recipe)

Veggie Ingredients

• 1 head napa cabbage (roughly 3 lbs, but any size is fine)
• Kosher salt (roughly 1/4 cup, but you will weigh on a scale)
• 1 cup Korean radish (mu) or daikon radish
• 1/2 cup carrot matchsticks
• 3-4 green onions (scallions), chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped Asian chives, or add 2 more green onions

Porridge Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1 Tbsp sweet rice flour (aka glutinous rice flour)
• 1 Tbsp turbinado sugar (or brown or white sugar)

Seasonings and spices

• 12 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1/2 medium onion
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1 cup red pepper flakes (gochugaru 고추가루, coarse bigger flakes, not a fine powder). I usually look for one that is sundried.

Steps:

Start by making porridge first because it needs to cool down:

1. Combine the water and the sweet rice flour in a pot that looks bigger than you'd need because this will usually bubble up. Mix well with a wooden spoon and let it cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes until it starts to bubble.
   
2. Add the sugar and cook for 1 more minute, stirring. Remove from the heat and let it cool off completely.

Prepping spices

1. I usually put the garlic, ginger, and onion into a food processor and run it until it's very minced. This is easier than chopping everything by hand. It's almost like a paste consistency.
2. Put minced spices into a big bowl that you will later use to mix up the whole thing, so a big bowl.
   
3. Add fish sauce and red pepper flakes.

Prepping veggies

1. Slice the napa cabbage into quarters lengthwise, then proceed to chop those quarters into 3 cm wide strips. Remove the cores.
2. Place your large mixing bowl with the spice mixture on a scale and tare it to zero grams.
3. Transfer all the chopped cabbage to the mixing bowl.
4. Add the cut radish, matchstick carrots, and green onions to the bowl.
5. Note the weight (in grams is easiest) and calculate 2 percent of that weight in salt. Add the salt to the bowl, and proceed to mix everything together thoroughly until all the ingredients have been moistened and well mixed.
6. Put mixed well kimchi into a container and if possible, put a weight on top to keep cabbage submerged. If you don't have something for this, you can use a ziploc filled with water.

Notes on fermentation (copied from Maangchi's website)

The kimchi will start fermenting a day or two at room temperature, depending on the temperature and humidity of your room. The warmer and more humid it is, the faster the kimchi will ferment. Once it starts to ferment it will smell and taste sour, and pressing on the top of the kimchi with a spoon will release bubbles from beneath. If you’re using a sealed jar with a lid, be sure to open it once a while, let it breathe, and press down on the top of the kimchi.

Once it starts to fermented, store in the refrigerator to use as needed. This slows down the fermentation process, which will make the kimchi more and more sour as time goes on.

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That's it! If it ends up being too much, my favorite other things to make with kimchi are kimchi-jjigae (shortcut here is buying anchovy broth bags or tablets so you can skip making the anchovy broth), kimchi pancakes, and kimchi fried rice.

 

Theme for 2025

I haven't updated this in ages. I haven't set specific resolutions for 2025, but rather continuing the trend I started a couple years ago of themes for the new year.

The theme for 2023 was "Quality of Life Upgrades." We did various projects around the house to make life a little more comfortable and enjoyable at home, since we spend a lot of time at home - both working and relaxing here. We:

• put ceiling fans in all the rooms of the house, 
• fixed up the den, which had had a big leak, 
• put a new roof, which caused the aforementioned leak,
• fixed an issue in the primary bathroom,
• started buying shrimp cocktail anytime we went to Costco for shopping (if we would be home for the next few days),
• various other spending money things that I probably would've vetoed in previous years due to it "costing too much money."

 

The theme for 2024 was "Self Care." I guess this could be considered Quality of Life Upgrades, but for me personally. I started going to a strength training gym in October 2023 and continued that in 2024. I also got an Oura ring, to add to my Garmin Instinct watch, and started tracking my sleep, readiness scores, etc. 

Work-wise, I knew this was my next needed theme, so I started cutting clients in late 2023 and continued to do so if 2024. I got rid of all the clients that were causing a ton of stress, because while the strength training has been amazing, I really needed to cut down on stress, especially work-related stress. I also decided to be more particular about which clients we on-boarded during 2024. If I got any weird feelings about anyone during a discovery call, I would not even consider taking them on. This has helped work stress greatly. I've reduced the number of hours I've been working quite a bit, and have been much happier, plus I have more time to work out or do volunteer work. 

I also started using an app to track my food called MacroFactor. I try to track my food most days, but I usually take Saturday off to have a break. The biggest eye opening fact from using MacroFactor is that I was not (and am still not) eating the recommended amount of protein. I can say I have significantly improved it and am now way more conscious of how much I am (or am not) eating each day. I haven't lost a bunch of weight, mostly because I often eat more than the recommended number of calories, but 100% I have lost fat and am more toned. I have much smaller love handles and can tell that my body is reshaping itself with the better handle on food and the exercise.

Which brings me to 2025! I am continuing the ideas from 2023 and 2024, but am adding a Self Enrichment focus. I received a sewing machine for Christmas, so I'd like to learn how to use this and potentially make stuff in 2025. I signed up for more volunteer work with CASA of Los Angeles. I'm starting my training this week. If all goes well, I will work with them to write up essential histories of foster children. 

This year is also bringing a lot of travel. We already have two international trips booked, at least a handful of domestic trips planned as well. One of my best friends is having a baby, so planning to relocate to their house to help with baby wrangling and care of mom and dad. I'm so looking forward to this! And so happy that with my (hopefully continued) lowered work load, I will be able to do this without any issues. 

 

One potential wrench in the works - my main employee is moving to China for 14 months. We are hoping he will be able to continue to work remotely while he's there, but we won't know for sure until he's there. Fingers crossed this all works out well. If not, I will have to pick up the slack and work more. 

Overall, I am feeling very optimistic about personal stuff for 2025, regardless of politics, which is a whole different story.