Not a Newsletter: Nov24 Edition

Hello from the exhilarating and tiring month of November, which I am ready to put away in my memory box. I am writing this to you from the newly moved desk, facing the window in my study. I hope you are well, whoever and wherever you are reading this summary of my life, which I tend to write with my future self in mind. And I hope you find it interesting, entertaining or at least informative.

Highlights

🏡 ━ I spent most of November in Indonesia, between Jakarta and Bali, between celebrating Diwali and getting root canal treatment, between cousins’ birthdays and J-co dates with Amma. It was glorious, except when living two lives and navigating two time zones caught up with me and gave me the worst flu of my life, which lingers to this day. But it was worth it!

🪔 ━ We had a Diwali party at my parents’ — Umeshu and Udang Sambal’s, where Amma cooked a plethora of food. We wore matchy clothes. We played card games, distributed red packets among the young and alcohol to the old, and took thousands of pictures (or more, with a YouTuber cousin taking them for us).

🛫 ━ Based on experience, whenever I said that I would write about my trip summary separately, I ended up not doing it. So here is a vignette of my weeks in Jakarta recently: Diwali at my elder cousin, Smile 2 movie date with Amma, Mimiso haul with my nieces, photobooth session anytime I saw a photo booth, getting my ear pierced — which made me feel like the 2.0 version of myself, a fun day with Youtuber cousin including beach bars hopping at PIK Land End, getting a new glasses in a purple colour that Amma mocked me endlessly about but she is well forgiven because I bought a huge amount of Indonesian stickers using her local account and she also got me the Harvest Moon chicken I had wanted for more than half my life.

🍬 ━ Amma and I went to Namaaz Dining, Indonesia’s (and our) first molecular gastronomy restaurant. I had so much fun even though Amma wouldn’t claim the same. I promise to write more about this particular topic soon.

🌴 ━ My cousins and I went to Bali. It was a short getaway but a long-awaited trip (the last time all were together was for a cousin’s wedding in 2014), and I was super looking forward to it. Still, unfortunately, I was sick as a dog most of the trip—so much so that I went to the 24-hour Ubud Clinic and begged the doctor to inject me with something “that will make me feel healthy” (she refused).

👭🏽 ━ My memory of #BaliPostDiwali was just a foggy haze, but here are some things I remember: moving from Homayoon Villa to Alaya Resort Ubud in the rainy night, sharing a room with three of my cousins and having to sleep in a spare bed overlooking the door, sad journaling at Pison, passing out in the hotel room, soothed by Resep Nenek concoction, celebrating cousin W’s birthday — including her treating us at Rayjin, Timbuan Waterfall, making a new friend during a healing teahouse experience at Chontea, calling Fafa to complain about being sick; Eating Bebek Bengil but disappointed for it not tasting as usual — because I had no appetite and was just sick; I had the same disappointed-at-myself-food experience at Bale Udang, Manisan, and Liap Liap, buying Milk Pie and Pia Legong from Bali airport for my parents, having Oxtail Soup from Warung Made and feeling a bit better, having the worst head-splitting migraine in the flight because both nose and ears were blocked.

🥭 ━ The cousins made a pact for another trip in the next year or two — possibly to Thailand. At least, I have that to look forward to for now.

🥻 ━ The result of my Ancestry DNA kit has arrived. I was 0% surprised that it came back, as I am 100% South Indian, with 6% of it deriving from Southwest India (I had to Google what falls under Southwest India).

Read, Watched, And Browsed

👩🏻‍🍳 ━ A TV show that I recommended to everyone and anyone recently: Culinary Class Wars. Fafa and I stumbled upon it when we were in Jakarta and just finished the last episode today. An absolute 10/10. I now have Chef Edward Lee’s Buttermilk Graffiti on my Kindle, and I can’t wait to devour it.

📺 ━ The weekend I returned from Jakarta, I was still sick and miserable, so I treated myself to Law and Order SVU Season 23, which I watched in between lengthy naps on the couch. A few others watched and loved on Netflix: Mazyaghan, the final season of The Resident, and season two of The Diplomat.

🚂 ━ Train travel chronicles by The Man in Seat Sixty-One.

Food Trend

Since I only stay at my parents’ place for an extended stretch once a year, it’s actually pretty easy—and oddly fun—to spot the rising trends (the only ones I’m genuinely interested in, anyway).

Indonesia 2024 food trend is…

This year, onigiri seems to be trending in Jakarta. I spotted onigiri stalls in every major mall I visited, my Instagram feed is flooded with them when I search for Jakarta restaurants, and they’re now a readily available option on Gojek and Grab (Indonesia’s equivalents of Uber Eats). I finally took the plunge and got two from Puri Mall. Did I like them? Not really—but I’m ready to give it another shot, maybe order through the app next time.

Foodie Guide-Y

 🥘 Here is a list of the food Amma cooked for me: Sayur Lodeh, Spicy Chilli Crisps, Chicken Semi-Curry, Fried Bihun, Homemade Nasi Uduk, Fiery Korean Indomie, Squid Tauco, Atta’s Mutton Soup, Pastel pastries, Rassam, and Bed Coffee.

 🍜 ━ Here is a list of the food I had in Jakarta that Amma didn’t cook: Rempah Bistro (their food was so good, we had a food coma), Garlic Chicken at Umara’s House, Nasi Liwet at my cousin’s Diwali, Grilled Rice from Kemangi that another cousin sent to our house, Double Boiled Chicken Soup at Paradise Dynasty, Bakmi GM (I shared a bowl with Appa), Kimukatsu‘s black pepper chicken katsu (wouldn’t recommend), Hoka Hoka Bento, KFC Chicken Soup, Nasi Uduk Gojek, Nasi Kuning Oma breakfast, Nasi Padang at Rasa Indah Jalan Wolter Monginsidi (one of best thing about eating a hearty Nasi Padang is to take a satisfying nap after which is exactly what I did that day), Bukit Tinggi cuisine at Marco, all kind of tofus, Youtuber cousin bought us Pulut from Finns, Pagi Sore at the PIK, Starbucks Reverse, Buzz Coffee Coffee Aren Jelly, Sea Salt Latte, Bubur Ayam, Rambutan, Roti Bakar.

 🍢 ━ Here is some good food I had back in Melbourne that helped when I missed Amma’s cooking: tandoori pizza, mini Bhaji, Mutton Biryani + mirchi ka saal, Indo-Chinese chicken, pacha manga urga (Raw Mango Pickle), Pad Thai takeaway, Abu Kamal at Miznon, and Mapo Tofu from a ghost kitchen in the west.

 🍛 ━ I cooked THE BEST Tamil Fish Curry on a rainy day and tried to replicate it a few days later, but I failed. I think it’s because it’s missing the main ingredient: a rainy day.

🍍 ━ I also introduced my colleagues to Indonesian cookies, such as my childhood favourite, Kue Salju, and my adult favourite, Kue Nastar.

🍸 ━ Yesterday, I went rooftop bar hopping and gulped a Yuzu Cucumber cocktail at LoopRoof, followed by an alternative of Mango and Tiramisu cocktails at QT.

Culture Chat

🥐 ━ Bali is going through a Western culture craze, with an overwhelming number of minimalist cafes offering variants of croissants and flat white coffee. At the same time, I spotted endless K-restaurants in Jakarta, especially near the Pasar Santa area.

Found and Love

I got myself a local brand notebook from Indo – Fawn and Luna. The quality is not that great, but I am so proud and recommend getting it if you are Indian, or getting a locally made notebook wherever you are.

So, Labubu— all my school-age nieces are into it, and now I (definitely not school-age and relatively not young, to clarify) am wondering whether I should get one myself. It seems fun to have as a pop-culture icon. Or maybe I should just wait for it to come to me, as Miaw did. And if it does, then I guess it’s meant to be…

Kulture Kween

This month, I wrote about Indonesian Street Food The Spicy Category🖋️ Hange The Best Chinese Food in Budapest 🖋️ Bogor Day Trip with My Amma 🖋️ Chontea Ubud Teahouse A Moment of Zen in Bali

Current Obsession

🖋️ ━ Oprah’s journals excerpts, Indonesian snacks stickers, transparent fountain pen, writing Sunday Currently series, instant iced coffee and remaking food shown in Culinary Class Wars — I made Mala Pasta last weekend and the next one will be Dim Sum Queen’s Fried Shrimp Balls dim sum.

Tiny Joys

Nap ❤ Me time ❤ (Fafa buying me) Yan Yan ❤ Long Journaling-session ❤ Random calls with Amma ❤ ❤ Sticker shopping ❤ Christmas in the air ❤ Gratitude Journal ❤ My parents’ next-door neighbour playing piano at odd hours, which had been weirdly soothing ❤ Long black tote from Bumi-ku that Fafa got me for my Bali trip ❤

Time Machine

This time last year, I also went to Jakarta to celebrate Diwali with my parents and had a brief stopover in Singapore. Read more about last year’s and last decade’s happenings.

Thank You, Next!

 🎄 ━ Yesterday, I had my first Christmas gathering of the year (at Anju’s, who prepared delicious festive-themed dishes), marking the ever-early arrival of the festive season. But I resist putting up our pink dwarf Christmas tree, at least not until tomorrow.

🛁 ━ Honouring tradition, I got myself Body Shop’s Sugarplum Passion (I am into passion fruit these days) shower gel. A small thing marking the start of the festive season.

🧺 ━ Also, tomorrow, we are going to a neighbourhood gathering in the park, possibly in the rain, followed by a post-gathering debrief at our next-door neighbour’s house. Then, my weekends and weeks are filled with December birthday drinks, an office Christmas party, a Brown Christmas lunch (hosted by yours truly), and so on.

🌾 ━ Aptly, the card I pulled for December was Seven of Pentacles from the newly arrived Magic Pantry Tarot, which was a love at first sight for me. Seven of Pentacles has always been about taking a break. Still, in his guidebook, Cedar McCloud explores the theme of perseverance and patience in making Oats — Seven of Pentacles, represented as a bowl of Oats in this deck. And now, when we are only about to start the month, endurance feels like more.

🥂 ━ This year, we also decided to stay in and celebrate both Christmas, New Year and our anniversary (I have yet to book a place!!!!) in Melbourne, something we had never done after migrating here, even not during the Covid period, when we made a timely escape to Victoria country towns.

*Okay, in the name of full transparency, I wonder whether we should still check out an Airbnb for a night or two.

Follow me on Instagram @KultureKween for more recent updates.