Highlights
🐊 ━ Jik and I went to Darwin for our annual GGP trip. We visited Litchfield Park to see the jumping crocodiles, took a selfie in front of The Cathedral Magnetic Termite Mounds, and explored Kakadu Park, including Ubirr Rock, where we admired the world’s oldest rock art in Kakadu National Park, among other places. Darwin is an underrated travel destination in Australia, and I can’t wait to share more about it. It will surely inspire people, especially Australians, to visit at least once.
🍻 ━ Over a weekend, Fafa and I randomly decided to drive to Daylesford. We stopped at an enthusiastic street vendor to buy garlic, cherries, dried mangoes, and tomatoes before enjoying a lovely meal at Beppe. Later, we savored warm cider at the Daylesford cider house and made a quick stop at a nursery, where we bought a cute bird feeder for our backyard.
💛 ━ Another weekend, we visited the Immigrant Museum for the first time! This small museum houses many fascinating exhibits, but we were particularly drawn to the JOY exhibition, which explores different interpretations of joy through various sections. It’s definitely worth checking out. My favourite was the Blockbuster-like room. What a joyful throwback.
🛌🏽 ━ This one isn’t a highlight at all, but it dominated my June: I, like everyone else I know, fell sick. I had to cancel my weekend plans, try various medicines, take sick leave, work while heavily medicated from home, order plenty of UberEats, watch a lot of trash TV, and even manage to finish a whole bag of Hot Jam Donuts that Fafa got for me despite having no appetite. Still, nothing helped as much as rest, rest, and more rest.
Culture Chat
🥻 ━ We watched “Rising: Counting and Cracking” and were completely blown away by it. It was a gem of a show, and I’ll keep recommending it to anyone and everyone. It also got me thinking. I always say I’m not a theatre person, but the last two shows I attended have stayed with me forever. Maybe this is a part of myself that I need to tap into more.
🦢 ━ Now, let’s talk about the second half of “Bridgerton’s” last season. Despite lacking the heat of its predecessors, this season had more drama! I enjoyed all the side stories—as much as I loved the Queen’s hairdos.
🍜 ━ There is a wholesome Anime centred around ramen called Ms Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles; check it out. If you are done with it, here are ten more cooking anime.
👩🏼🍳 ━ I love watching Dish snippet, from chef-kiss to Dua Lipa combo of vanilla ice cream + olive oil and sea salt, which I tried over the weekend (hated it).
Found and Love
💡 ━ I got a new SAD lamp. I saw it first watching Illana practically grind it in Broad City and decided to get myself one in winter 2020. However, it was a bit too small and wobbly and had bright white light as its only option, so I stopped using it after a few weeks. This one is a bit bigger, has a timer, and has three light colours and a brightness setting. I want to think it’s helping to fight this seasonal depression.
📖 ━ I caved and bought a Passion Planner for this year (six months late). I have given up using a different planner aside from #PassionPlanner for my daily schedule or a different Moleskine aside from the plain black one for my journal because everything else never worked.
📺 ━ We also replaced our 8-year-old TV with a useless remote with a new TV; we would like to think it’s a gift for the house.
Read, Watched, and Browsed
📚 ━ I read only one book this month: “The Happy Hour” by Marlowe Granados – because it’s our Bookclub selection. I didn’t enjoy it, but the book club discussion convinced me to bump up my rating from 2 to 3 out of 7.
📚 ━ Fafa and I are deeply immersed in “Presumed Innocent.” We LOVE it! Every week, it gets better and better. If you’re into crime drama, watch it now!
☀️ ━ I binged on “Abbots Elementary” Season 3 during a sick weekend. It’s so good, better than the previous season and maybe even the first one.
👻 ━ I only watched a couple of horror movies this month. The first one was Tarot; It’s so bad – an insult to Tarot practice, horror movies, and my brain. The other one was INVITED; it’s based on a true story and free on YouTube – a good time pass.
🔖 ━ Exploring Misophonia 🔖 Asia’s most luxurious train ride 🔖 Varanasi – Aarti and The Ganges
Foodie Guide-y
🍜 ━ Winter in Melbourne is about pho, hot pot, and truffle ━ and I had plenty of this month. I had Pho weekly from the Vietnamese store on the ground floor of our office building. I went to a hot pot train restaurant on a random evening in the hope eating spicy food with copious amounts of garlic would help me recover from my fever. It did. Lastly, I went on a Truffle Tour in Queen Victoria Market and ate all kinds of truffle treats. It was glorious.
🍝 ━ I recently enjoyed the most delicious Seafood Squid Ink Tagliolini at Beppe in Daylesford. I was worried we wouldn’t get a table since we didn’t book, but we were so lucky! This further proves my hypothesis that regional towns in Victoria have the best restaurants (Norma in Albury, Kuzu Izakaya in Woodend, The Kitchen Tootgarook in Tootgarook, to name a few).
🥪 ━ Meanwhile, a colleague shared his own hypothesis: that sandwiches and instant noodles we make ourselves won’t taste as good as those made by others.
🥓 ━ I brought back crocodile jerky from Darwin for my colleagues, which was less appreciated than the coffee cookies my manager got from Hawaii.
🥣 ━ Liz and I met up for congee at Sanche Congee. I ordered a custom one with chicken, mushroom, and egg—so good! We had it with youtiao and chilli enoki mushrooms, a perfect winter dish.
🥟 ━ The same evening, Liz gave me Zongzi—though apparently, she doesn’t know them as “ba-chang,” which is what I’m used to in Indonesia. I also told her about “Cakwe,” which is what youtiao is called in Indonesia, but she wasn’t familiar with that either.
🍲 ━ Speaking of winter dishes, Rasam (apparently a favorite of Deepika Padukone) has been a staple in our kitchen. Sometimes, I make it with chicken or fish, and sometimes plain with a side of Indonesian spicy anchovy (Ikan Teri).
🦑 ━ Fafa and I returned to Hoppers Joint, where this time I had a black squid dosa, a combo of fish curry, and (a repeat) prawn curry with a hot toddy. It was so delicious; I have a feeling we’ll be back again soon.
🍜 ━ We also revisited Depenyet for some authentic Bakmi Ayam and Martabak Manis. When we don’t like indulging, we opt for truffle honey-drizzled on the currently-in-season Golden Apples.
🍗 ━ At a work-related workshop, we were served Italian Arancini, Japanese Sushi, Indian Samosas, Korean fried chicken, English tea sandwiches, Australian sausage rolls, and lemon cake. It may sound eclectic, but served in small sizes, it made for a delightful meal.
🍗 ━ I was recently introduced to Bucatini, and I love it so much that I want to commemorate it on the blog.
Kulture Kween
I missed and wrote about Nasi Campur Medan, eating the best Butter Chicken the Southern Hemisphere in Harris Park Sydney and Yamaga Tokusei Negitoro-Don in Nachii Katsuura. I also wrote about Aboriginal Smoking Ceremony.
Tiny Joys
Cat sticker from Fafa ❤ Lidi snack from our Indo friend ❤ K-bbq ❤ Ireland fridge magnet Nikki got us ❤ Menthol pads ❤ Free sandwich in the office ❤ Ordering hot bubble tea with colleagues ❤ Continuous discount I get from my nail saloon ❤ The Indian groceries owner giving me tips to improve my (currently-utter failure) dosa making saga ❤ Cold Badam milk ❤ Typing without looking at the keyboard on the phone ❤ new iPhone cases ❤ Low-key travel plans ❤ Bursting with ideas ❤
Time Machine
Read more about last year’s happenings.
Thank You, Next!
🌙 ━ I pulled The High Priestess from the Moon Void Tarot deck for June’s card. It depicts a woman with a Lady Liberty-like crown looking calm and controlled, with a giant Crescent resting on her hand.
🛫 ━ I am flying to Sydney for a last-minute, unplanned, unwelcome errand. I dread the trip, but Fafa keeps reminding me that I’ll have fun anyway because I’ll be staying at Jik’s new abode; they will be cooking up a feast, and we are going for a Syrian food tour together before I fly back to Melbourne and him. He is right; I am just a baby right now.
🍷 ━ My cousin is visiting from Indo and will be staying with us! This will be the second time we have hosted my family, who’s visiting Melbourne in Joyaki. I am excited! It’s going to be good!!
♨️ ━ Sometime in the month, we are going on a double date to Alba Thermal Springs and Spa, which, with this freaking cold winter, I am genuinely looking forward to.
Follow me on Instagram @KultureKween for more recent updates.
🐻 ━ Kapybara Kween.
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