I’m having a déjà vu of September—it reminded me of March this year. The same combination of study and work stress (only with audit swapped for TPM). It’s only slightly better because it was my birthday, and there are flowers thanks to spring. But it’s also worse because of the weather, because, well, early spring in Melbourne is muggy at best.
Highlights
🎂 ━ Celebrated my birthday in Nouméa, spending the day hammam-ing and getting drunk on fine French wine. The treat-yo-self birthday edition continued into the weekend with a birthday tarot reading with Natta and an oxygen facial from Nova.
This birthday came with some valuable lessons: I’ve reached the age where I dance when I’m eating my favourite food. I’ve also realised how much I love passionfruit—both in food and non-food things. Lastly, I updated my bucket list with more things I love (to do/eat/experience). Here’s to ticking it off as much as I could before I kick the bucket.
🍙 ━ My biggest joy this month was completing the onigiri map trail. I heard about it too late last year, but when Fafa gifted me the map this year, I was determined to complete it, making it the last mini project I was disciplined enough to finish. Yay me!
🧑🏽💼 ━ I had to work in the office on a Friday for TPM training, so I was expecting a dreadful day. But the highlight was that the training ended by 3 PM, and after an hour or so of gossiping in the empty office, Asmi and I went home.
👍🏽 ━ Still on the topic of work (life is so much office-oriented this month), this month we commemorated R U OK? Day with morning tea and thoughtful questions.
Foodie Guide-Y
🐙 ━ Celebrated my birthday with Peruvian food at Pastuso with Liz. We had spanner crab brioche tostada and the softest grilled octopus. We chatted about life, drama, and her gorgeous engagement ring.
🍞 ━ Nikki made me and Asmi a loaf of Irish (I think) bread each—it was more than half gone by the time I got it home.
🧇 ━ I finally ate the stroopwafel I got for free in the Netherlands six months ago—I heated it up by resting it on top of my coffee and letting the syrup drip. So good.
🍛 ━ This time, I cooked Chicken Vindaloo (I thought it was the second time, but Fafa said it was the third), and I also made soya fried rice. That’s it. I miss cooking, but these days I barely have time to eat, let alone cook.
🍲 ━ We ticked off our annual hot pot date tradition at Hai Di Lao. Though I’m not a fan of repetition, I’ve yet to find a hot pot place more satisfying than Hai Di Lao—and I feel like the service has gotten even better. We also had an impromptu lunch at Dainty Sichuan: Chongqing Chicken (which I pronounced properly this time!) and my favourite smoked ham dish.
🍔 ━ Burgertory is trialling “brown flavours” with tikka and paneer, and I had the Paneer Masala Burger.
🥟 ━ We always have birthday celebrations at work, and I don’t know why I’ve never documented them until now. This month, we had sausage rolls, Cannoli, some kind of empanadas, and tropical fruits, including Passion Fruit.
🍱 ━ My favourite Indonesian restaurant has a new contender: Geprek in Melbourne. We got food from there three times this month—always the chicken and rice set meal, which is big enough to share between us.
🍬 ━ Lisa got me Life Savers Lemon Sherbet Bombs Fizz, an Australian candy with a fizzy sherbet centre and a lemony shell, to help me tick off my ever-expanding Aussie food list.
Read, Watched, And Browsed
📘 ━ I have a few books in rotation that I’ve picked up and read a few pages of without fully committing: Sheena Patel’s I Am A Fan (on the bus during my work commute), Michael Popek’s Handwritten Recipes (as a treat in between studying), and Michael Pollan’s very slim book Food Rules (inspiring food related thoughts which makes me feel good when I don’t feel like reading).
🛎️ ━ I watched and highly recommend Weapons. I know I said Sinners was the best horror movie of 2025, but I stand corrected—Weapons is better. I’ll hold off on calling it “the best” again until the end of the year, so I can be wrong about it. Over the long weekend, I also watched Maa on Netflix—it’s packed with brown culture and Hindu mythology (which I love), and I especially appreciated how it normalised girls getting their period, something that was treated as somewhat embarrassing in the brown media when I was growing up.
📺 ━ I binged Hostage and Deadwater Fell (I’ll watch any British crime drama with David Tennant in it). I rewatched Little Things. I also rewatched Dexter and realised the Prado family season is actually my favourite. I always thought it was Trinity, but hey, tastes change. A mom colleague recommended Unknown Number (WTF!).
🎙️ ━ And equally WTF: Who TF Did I Marry and I Fell In Love With My Psychiatrist on TikTok? Absolute gold.
Found and Love
💼 ━ As a birthday gift, I treated myself (thank you, me!) to a July tote work bag after carrying a backpack for the last five years. Because grown-up women wear leather totes to work. At first, I thought it was too big (I’m so used to my compact work backpack), but I’m slowly growing to like its roominess.
🖊️ ━ After endless tip-exing, the smudging ruined my trusty Pilot G-7 on my Leuchtturm journal. I’m currently researching smudge-free pens and stumbled upon the Ten Pen Thing article. I love it. I still have no luck, though. Please share some recommendations if you have any.
🗒️ ━ Still on stationery: as you know, I’m a to-do list girlie. Aside from my trusty Todoist app, I needed an actual planner to write my daily/weekly to-dos at home and at work—so I don’t need to go to my phone all the time, and I can keep a weekly view on my desk, which I really appreciate. I’ve tried so many planners before—Filofax, Post-it, Passion Planner, MiGoals, Ink + Volt—but nothing has been as satisfying as the $10 flip spiral notebook I got recently. Each page is labelled as a “Today List,” but I use it weekly, so I only need one for the whole year. I love it so much that I got myself another one to leave on my work desk.
Meanwhile, on Kulture Kween:
This month, I wrote about A Magical Evening on the Budapest Danube Dinner Cruise 🖋️ Emotional Support Chilli in My Carry On 🖋️ Indonesian Restaurant in South Pacific 🖋️ Morning stroll at Port Moselle Market Noumea 🖋️ and the best French Feast in the South Pacific 🖋️
Tiny Joys
Jik moved into her home 🏠 Fafa left me a love note ❤ warmer days ❤ white blossoms on the perpendicular street ❤ I’m back to journaling regularly ❤ Amma’s voice ❤ my nails with nail stickers ❤ warm rice ❤ Palo Santo smell ❤ Postcards ❤ Birthday week ❤ Atolea necklace ❤ Sleeping on the flight, and hey—we got an unexpectedly delicious hot meal of curry lamb and rice; it was yum ❤ Drinking 10 flavors of different tea that Fafa got for me ❤ Hilarious titties birthday card from Jik ❤ Power of a friend phone call ❤ Cadbury almond chocolate ❤ Aunties in Singapore TikTok ❤ Unexpected gift from a long-lost friend I’d just reconnected with ❤ KitKat with r “R U OK?” written on it ❤ Passion Fruit ❤ Freshly made onigiri ❤ Heartfelt compliments – given and recieved ❤ Fresh flowers ❤ Days I didn’t study on purpose ❤
Time Machine
🌴 ━ The happenings of this time last year and last decade.
Things In My Mind
🚜 ━ I, too, dream of living in the Japanese countryside, and seeing someone actually living that dream—especially in their 20s—is so inspiring. I want to befriend her, but how creepy would it be to contact someone just because I read an article about her life (not even written by her) online?
🐚 ━ I’m always wary of places and people that give me bad vibes, and usually I try to GTFO out of their periphery ASAP. Unfortunately, my last experience with that feeling was during my days in New Caledonia. But that’s okay—I guess I don’t have to like every single place I’m privileged to travel to.
🚏 ━ Lately, I’ve been taking bus replacements from my place to the office, and I keep discovering new things along the way—including the fact that Jimmy Wong has his own dedicated lane named after him.
💭 ━ Asmi shared one of her “feet in front of the heater” thoughts: how the frequency of IG posts can indicate mental health—the more you post, especially if you are not a regular IG poster, the more your mental health is tanking. I completely relate.
Thank You, Next!
☕ ━ This month’s tarot card is a baby Salamander – Page of Wands. Page of Wands points to a period of fresh energy, curiosity, and beginnings. It suggests the month will carry the vibe of exploration, enthusiasm, and creative spark. Nice! From the tunnel where I am standing right now, I could use all of that in the upcoming weeks.
💛 ━ We’re celebrating Diwali at work, and I’m in charge of feeding Chicken vindaloo to the entire office. Have I ever cooked a vindaloo before? Yes—twice in the span of a month (though the first one turned out more like curry). Do I know what authentic vindaloo is supposed to taste like? No clue. But I’m hoping my colleagues are in the same boat.
🛫 ━ I have the exam mid-month on one of the fluffiest subjects, and I’ve been slogging my soul away studying for it. The very next day, I’m flying to Auckland and then Wellington for work. The weekend after, I’ll be off celebrating Diwali with the fam.
A lot to look forward to next month, meanwhile, here’s to the in-between days, that are equal parts cozy and spooky for us all.
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My fav post every month 😍
iii it?