This month, I have read multiple variations of “Melbourne wakes up to the coldest morning recorded in… two years, twenty years, twenty weeks”, and all I could mutter have been multiple variations of “FUG! I hate winter“.
Highlights
🀩 ━ Remember when I told you I was dreading the chore-like Sydney trip? Well, the annoying errand aside, I had a perfect break, and I am grateful for that pocket weekend. May I always remember that Sydney is always there whenever Melbourne’s winter becomes unbearable.
♨️ ━ Last weekend, we went to Alba Thermal Spring and Spa with another couple. We braced the hairy weather with multiple steam rooms visit in between hot pools soaking in. After dinner, we checked into our Mornington Peninsula Airbnb, which was freezing. After a few sips of alcohol and the highest heat set on the electric blanket, we settled for a night of card games and trauma bonding.
🏡 ━ Joyaki turned 3 years old (or 83 years old) this month, and having to replace the terracotta pipe with money that we didn’t budget for, I would say it’s a bittersweet celebration.
💌 ━ This month, Jik sent me two care packages (I think she sensed my winter depression), one of which includes East, a cookbook by Meera Sodha, a spare key and a bunch of moments-become-memories fridge magnets.
🐔 ━ I finally reached Basement F41 in Harvest Moon Wind of Anthos! Gold ores, here I come.
Culture Chat
🍞 ━ After being mocked endlessly by my colleagues, I finally made and had Fairy Bread. It was actually good, way better than I thought it would be – adding it to my PMS snack list. Next will be Honey Joy and Chocolate Crackles.
🪔 ━ Chinese Hindus in Singapore.
🍲 ━ Current viral videos include People sneaking raw food from outside into hot pot in restaurants.
👩🏽💻 ━ I made some progress in figuring out my ancestry line thanks to my cousin, who came for a visit this month. I learned that I am not 100% Tamil – though still 100% South Indian, and more importantly, this cousin know someone who lives in the UK who is related to us from our grandma’s side, and she offers to connect us the next time I am in the UK.
Read, Watched, and Browsed
📚 ━ I finished The Bookshop Woman book, an interesting and easy read. It also made me want to visit her bookshop, Kani Books, in Tokyo. I also read A Cup of Happiness, a booklet written by thatbubbleteablog blogger that I have been following for years. He kindly dropped the book to the house, but unfortunately, I wasn’t in town, so we didn’t meet IRL. Maybe next time? Lastly, I started reading the Happiness Trap illustration.
🩺 ━ I LOVED Presumed Innocent, an 8-episode crime-drama starring Jake Gyllenhaal and equally strong supporting actors. Another crime drama that I enjoyed watching this month was the last season of Criminal Minds, but the story is getting too convoluted that I wish they go back to doing a crime-an-episode way.
🏣 ━ When the global IT outage happened, I was “forced” to stop working abruptly, change into a red robe, open a bottle of wine, and binge-watch eight episodes of Fake. It was so good! Another TV show I binge-watched was Elsbeth – a worthy time pass.
📺 ━ The Living Room Movie Night (LRMN—I’ll try to come up with a better name) Camp didn’t happen this month, but we still had a movie date and watched Maharaja, a Vijay Sethupathi movie, on Netflix. I highly recommend it.
👻 ━ On horror front, free found footage Netflix on YouTube is still winning. I watched and loved Haunted Changi and Last Radio Call. I also watched 28 Days, but it wasn’t as good—still, it’s free, so if you haven’t watched any of these, check it out.
🎙️ ━ I stumbled upon the Dear Alana, podcast and was immediately hooked, partly because of the way the host, Simon Kent Fung, presented the story and partly because of Alana’s diaries. It was heartbreaking and captivating at the same time. And I am back to the warm arms of The Happiness Lab – the podcast I listen to religiously during lockdown. The one I listened to recently that stayed with me was, Does the You of Today Hate the You of Tomorrow?
💍 ━ Instagram algorithm forced me to watch Ambani’s wedding, but I still had some favourite parts, mainly Nita Ambani’s jewellery and Rajinikanth’s posing and dancing at the party. Also, seeing Kim K in a saree reminded me of an article from some years ago that criticized a Vogue India photoshoot of her wearing a saree as cultural appropriation.
🔖 ━ I Tried the “Save the Day” Method, and It Changed the Way I Think About Self-Care 🔖 A new blog that I binge read these days: Notebook Stories 🔖 Our local grocery stores are having an egg shortage. 🔖 World’s Oldest Cave Painting in Indonesia.
Foodie Guide-y
🥘 ━ People who don’t love food fascinate me. On the other hand, it is an inspiring article about changing your mind to eating less.
🌶️ ━ The most crucial food update this month is that I went to an Asian store and was given Konjac Shuang snacks for free. I tried them at home and immediately couldn’t stop thinking, dreaming, and talking about them to anyone and everyone. A few days later, I returned to the same shop and bought six packages of them so I could eat some (most) and share them with everyone in my contact list who I know loves hot pot.
🐟 ━ When my cousin came for a visit and stayed with us over the weekend, we took her to Rare Hare. There, we had the new-to-me wood-fired swordfish and Korean chilli soppressata. The next day, we went to the Hoppers Joint, where we had fish balls, octopus skewers, hot toddy, and rasam. Everything was delicious, as always, but we agreed that the Rasam, for $8 a cup, seemed excessive.
🍛 ━ My obsession with butter chicken continues—or maybe has escalated—as I have cooked it thrice this month alone and am inviting my friends to our place next month just so I can feed them butter chicken.
🍝 ━ Aside from butter chicken, I cooked Indo-style chilli-fried anchovies with a side of Rasam for my cousin. I also made chicken rendang using the paste I stole from Jik and called Amma for the recipe multiple times. Also, ever since I discovered Bucatini and my love for it, I have been experimenting with simple pasta dishes, which Fafa ate without ever complaining.
🥩 ━ Our neighbour invited us for another delicious BBQ feast, which we went to and ate shamelessly. On a rainy Sunday evening, the same neighbour dropped off freshly made Bread Pakoras, the go-to street food snack on rainy days in India. Yummy! Fafa and I agreed we got lucky on the neighbour’s front.
🍜 ━ Speaking of rainy-day treats, I recently tried Samyang brand Hot Chicken Stew Ramen (Fafa tweaked it for me) after watching a variety of ramen instant noodle videos and telling him I had been craving it every night for weeks.
🍕 ━ I had a dinner date with Pri, who I hadn’t seen for a year. We shared a plate of truffle pasta and truffle pizza at A25 CBD while she shared her inspiring major life updates. We talked about being Indo, being not Indo, and not being Indo (yes, all three of them are different, and only Indos will understand) before moving on to discussing our Enneagram animals in length.
♨️ ━ The hot spring weekend meals started with The Kitchen Tootgarook – I had their Curry Club meal, which was good but not as good as I expected it to be. In Alba, we paid $18 for three pieces of broccolini and another $18 for two strips of Foccacia – I was not happy! But the dinner made up for it. It was our second time at Ruby Modern Thai, and they were as good as we remember – proving my point that regional towns in Victoria have the best restaurants (Norma in Albury, Beppe in Daylesford, and Kuzu Izakaya in Woodend, to name a few). The next day, we had brunch at Commonfolk Coffee Company in Mornington Peninsula, where I had Chilli Eggs that truly exceeded my expectations.
🍴 ━ Other meals from this month that I remember include Date night at Chef David with Fafa, Macquarie Harbour ocean trout from the Abacus winter menu, Drinks at Rossi Bar South Yarra, and an evening at Tina Noodles, followed by multiple mulled wine at the Moet with Liz and a surprise visit by Summer.
On My Mind
My friend Liz makes a point of going back to the places she went to before and had a great time at, not necessarily to relive the memories but more to add new ones to the ones before. As someone who prefers to try something new most of the time, I have been pondering this—with no outcome, just so.
The same Liz sent me a video on IG of two men who have been friends for 70 years and live in the house next to each other. She proposed we be that way, too. I told her I had seen the video earlier—sent by Fafa—but yes, it’s a deal!
Kulture Kween
I wrote about This Sydney Trip Is All About… where I went to A Multi-Cultural Feast In Merrylands Sydney. I also randomly thought and wrote about my Morning Adventures In Tsuruhashi Japan’s Largest Koreatown.
Tiny Joys
Konjac Shuang ❤ Waking up in a new place ❤ Karl Pilkington diaries and radio recordings ❤ Buah Manggis Buah Kedondong videos ❤ Phone calls with parents ❤ Office-appropriate card games ❤ Being picked up on rainy days ❤ Dentist appointment (I am a Virgo 🤷🏽♀️) ❤ Refunds from non-refundable appointments ❤ Friends sending their vacay pics ❤ Drunken card games ❤ metallics nail polish ❤ $20 a dozen oysters deal ❤ Getting the laptop back – I never realized I am so attached to it until it stopped working and had to go to laptop hospital for a week ❤ Flowers delivery ❤ New mug ❤ Solo hot pot Pepero Almond ❤ Matchy Harry Potter PJs tops Fafa got us ❤
Time Machine
Read more about last year’s happenings.
Thank You, Next!
☕ ━ If you live in Australia, please consider buying your coffee from CafeSmart cafes on Friday, 16th August. Street Smart Australia teams up with these cafes to donate $1 from every cup you drink.
🍶 ━ Two of Cups depicted as two cups of black coffee on the Moon Void Tarot deck. Two of Cups symbolize fulfilment that comes from partnership. I personally interpret it as filling my heart-o-meter with social gatherings this month, which is a perfect way to bid away the windy winter season.
🧡 ━ Speaking of above, Jacqui and fam will come over this Friday for a cozy night of butter chicken. The day after, we are going for a more elaborate dinner at Shiv’s. Followed by Sally’s birthday the next weekend. Mid-month, my work teammates are coming over for a belated Xmas in WeFo (I might serve them butter chicken as well), and the weekend after, I have a PJs party at Aina’s new home.
Life is good (albeit busy) these days, and I am so grateful for that.
Follow me on Instagram @KultureKween for more recent updates.
🥻 ━ Kulture Kal.
This was a fun read, looks like you had a great July despite the winter. It’s only going to be warmer from here 😊
Iya 🙂