Highlights
♨️ ━ Liz and I checked out Alba Thermal Hot Spring and Spa in Mornington Peninsula. We started the day with early lunch at The Kitchen at Tootgarook (highly recommend). We opened a bottle of wine in Thyme restaurant inside the hot spring before finally checking in and soaking in every single hot pool there. We then took a break for some more drinking and snacking before repeating the whole soaking and steaming session. It was such a great day that I was still buzzing with happiness when we reached Melbourne that night.
🥕 ━ I harvested tiny carrots and garlic from my backyard garden and felt so f-ing proud about it.
🚶♀️━ On a weekend, we discovered Williamstown on a whim. It was a good pocket of inner west Melbourne. I can’t wait to go back and explore it further. Maybe I will write an article about it someday.
🏏 ━ Fafa and I had a fun evening watching the T20 World Cup, the cricket finale of England vs Pakistan.
🎂 ━ I went to Sydney to celebrate Jik’s birthday and stayed there for a week. We had a different kind of fun every single day, despite both of us WFH on the weekdays. I also discovered I love Hyacinths, the flowers Jik’s friend gave her as a birthday gift.
🐶 ━ Baby-sitting two dogs all by myself for two days.
🥠 ━ Jik and I celebrated Thanksgiving by reading our gratitude list aloud to each other, eating a homecooked meal, drinking homemade ginger beer and reading our fortunes from stale fortune cookies. It was a low-key yet memorable Thanksgiving.
🥘 ━ Speaking of home-cooked meals, Jik cooked for us almost every day. Tofu, dumplings, red beans baos and noodles. All were delicious. But more than that, it was so nice to be able to enjoy home-cooked meals without the effort of making them and eating them in a home that felt like my own.
👭 ━ While in Sydney, I got dragged into a women’s networking session that inspired and energised me. So much so that I am thinking of joining one in Melbourne.
🎵 ━ Back in Melbourne, I attended Phoebe Dunbar Sound Bath. It was so nourishing. I could literally feel my vibes in me reacting to the whole thing. I also did a Yin + Reiki session which also was healing.
Love and Found
👩🏽✈️ ━ I have this new thing of watching short Youtube videos of female travellers with shooting voices describing the meals they had on the flight, especially in Asian airlines Business Class. Below are my two faves that I have watched repeatedly way too many times. If you want more, search “what I ate on my flight short” on Youtube.
📔 ━ I decided to give The 6-Minute Diary a try after I was finished with my second The 5-Minute Gratitude Journal. I loved it so much that I have recommended it to all my friends.
💸 ━ I got a few skincare on Black Friday, but the best thing about it was getting many promotional emails from many companies that I had subscribed to at one point in my life. I collected all these emails and did a massive unsubscribe session yesterday. It felt so liberating.
Media Watch
📺 ━ Jik made me watch Yellowjackets, and I am now obsessed – especially with adult Taissa (also obsessed with her style) and young Lottie. I also started watching White Lotus season 2 together with her; not sure if it’s something I’d choose to watch by myself. Then there are plenty of side-watching Amsterdam, L Word Gen Q and Borgen.
Listing all these TV shows made me realise I must get back to reading!!
Foodie Guide-y
🍛 ━ I had Miso Glazed Bowl from Fishbowl near my old office for one last time. Then I had Nasi Padang at Selero Kita in the city near my new office. It could be my incentive to come to the office.
🌶️ ━ Fafa and I went to Tan Hot Pot which was recommended by Liz. It was really good. We will be back during winter.
🍝 ━ My cooking mojo is back; I made Bacon Spaghetti, Pasta Puttanesca, Ikan Teri Sambal and Spicy Tuna. I also made two dishes using the slow cooker, but both of them failed ━ I think I need to learn a bit more about the slow cooking method before my next experiment.
🍤 ━ In Sydney, I went to Muum Maam, a Thai restaurant in Barangaroo, for Jik’s birthday celebration and Senpai Ramen for what I thought was Ramen Omakase. I also had an Indonesian noodle at Enjoymie and an Indonesian lunch date with Fafa at Shalom.
Browsing History
Culinary lessons from my mother-in-law – one of the best articles I read this month ♥ Two chilli cultures in the kitchen ♥ Hundreds of sheep have been walking in circles for 12 days straight ♥ Tips for surviving long haul flights ♥ Would you spend a night in a glass box hotel room – for free? ♥ How to manifest magic into your life with 12 Universal Laws ♥ Types of coffee drinks ♥ The best curry houses in England ♥ Where to find the best Korean banchan (side dishes) in Singapore ♥
Tiny Joys
Hearing Fafa’s laugh from the other room ♥ Warm weather ♥ Being cooked homemade meals by Jik ♥ Plenty of me-time ♥ Jacaranda trees, flowers and drinks ♥ Toffenut Latte ♥ Getting back to yoga ♥ Blooming roses in my garden ♥ Hanging out in Yarraville with Jen and Aina ♥ Fafa’s homemade salad Sushil Atik‘s homemade chai with a side of hugs ♥ Birthday gift from Liz and anniversary card from Fafa.
Meanwhile, on Kulture Kween:
I reminisced about my Indonesian Indian Diwali and the food-themed stop-over in Singapore, including my time in Tiong Bahru. There are two articles about Footscray, about it being a multicultural hub in West Melbourne and spotlighting Footscray immigrant cultures through its’ cuisines. I also wrote about one of the best meals of my life, a Kaiseki dinner and of the time I visited the Makers and Shakers Market.
Time Machine
Read more about last year’s happenings.
Thank You, Next!
💼 ━ I am off to Auckland for work and then South Korea for fun. And there are a few Christmas gatherings and market visits in between.
👩🍳 ━ If you are out of ideas on a Christmas gift for a friend who loves to cook, may I suggest getting Cynthia Shanmugalingam’s recipe book: Rambutan – Recipes from Srilanka. Or Indonesian culture-culinary book, Kecap Manis (sweet soy sauce) by Bondan Ninarno.
🧘 ━ I have always wanted December to be my reflection month, but the reality is December has always been hella hectic. Maybe I should move my reflection month to October or even August, before my birthday.
I wish you a festive-filled December 🎄. Keep Kultured! ━ KK.
Follow me on Instagram @KultureKween for more recent updates.
