Hello, I am down with the annual start-of-the-Melbourne-Winter flu and feeling like shite, but my Virgo brain doesn’t allow me to skip this post, so here I am updating you on the happenings of my life in the past thirty days.
But first, Happy Taurus season y’all! Wishing you a grounding month ahead.
Highlights
π― β if there is a theme I get to associate with the April month, it has to be: “never-ending”. It felt like both my personal and work tasks kept piling up. More and more, no matter how much I worked and how many I cleared off before. Saying that, I am glad I sat and am done (for now) with the CPA exam. Phew!
π» β The weekend after the exam, we did Melbourne Comedy Pub Crawl in Brunswick (shout out to George Zacharopoulos, the Greek comedian – his part was the best among the lot), followed by k-bbq dinner at Goon BBQ with our friends. It was so much fun and completely recharged me.
π₯ β Liz’s parents are in town and invited me for the most elaborate home-cooked dinner. It was delicious, but more so, I felt the love (and later the high from gulping two shots of strong AF Nanjing spirits).
Book Nerding
π β I went to the book club without reading the book: The Whitewash by Siang Liu β but the discussion on the day made me want to read it, so I’ll include it in case you want to/have read it.
π β I read Artemis Made Me Do It, The New House and Too Good to Be True β all three to avoid studying for my exam. Meanwhile, I am currently reading Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow. It’s so good! I honestly can’t remember the last time I read an unputdownable fiction book before this. I 100% recommend it.
π β I have The Mindful Photographer on my bedside for weekend reading, which, unfortunately, I have yet to find the time for.
Foodie Guide-y
πΈ β We went to Rare Hare in Jackalope Mornington Peninsula to celebrate Fafa’s birthday. We did a wine tasting and cocktail drinking, followed by fine dining.
πΈ β Fafa took me to Hai Di Lao for a post-exam hot pot. I am so ready to explore hot pot restaurants with him (and Liz) this winter.
π β Fafa and I are currently addicted to Kottu Mee, Srilankan instant noodles. We have had it on our weekly meal rotation in the past month.
π©βπ³ β I successfully cooked Paneer Pollichathu, Indonesian Prawn Sambal, and Egg Curry – making it to one-third of my cooking goal this year.
π§ β Miznon, an Israeli restaurant in CBD, is my office’s current fave place to go for team lunch.
Couch Potato
πΊ β Really loved The Diplomat, Succession and Yellowjackets. I also liked Nurse and The Tunnel. I re-watched The Hell House LLC 1, 2 and 3, free on Youtube, at least thrice this month – it helped me cope with exam stress.
Browsing History
I have been reading up on food stations in Antarctica. Now I want to go there – mostly to eat at those food stations β₯ I am binge-reading Austin Kleon’s blog – here is a sample of it: A journal is a magic space to hang out β₯ I don’t usually give a song recommendation. Still, I am trying to break my belief that I don’t enjoy music, so here is Bells for Her by Tori Amos β₯ Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa making meaningful changes.
Meanwhile, on Kulture Kween:
I wrote about eating Japanese NattΕ for the first time β₯ Participating in Fiji Kava ceremony while visiting Fiji Cultural Village β₯ Eating Peranakan Cuisine in Singapore β₯
Tiny Joys
Midweek PH β₯ Thu’s Baby Girl β₯ Road Trip β₯ The Bank On Collins β₯ Sparkling Wine β₯ Melbourne Hipster Pockets β₯ Getting an unexpected text message from my loved ones β₯ Midnight Birthday-cake feast β₯ Brown Women Comedy β₯ Just Because Card from Fafa β₯ Apple pie+ice cream β₯ Musubi β₯ Yoga β₯ Rose Tteokbokki β₯ Wendie Cao Rebellious Chinese Daugther comedy show β₯ Work friends β₯ Bali arak β₯ Melbourne tram β₯ Stumbling on random wall arts during my runs β₯ Issan Thai takeaway β₯ Piccolino ice cream β₯ New lipstick and new house plants β₯ Dig Emporium β₯ Autumn colours β₯ Fafa got me a beautiful Amber ring from Qi Crystal β₯
Things In My Mind
Is eggplant an underrated dish??
Thank You, Next!
π§ β Post fiery Aries, I am ready for some earthy indulgence this month with yet another k-bbq with Aina and the gang this weekend, followed by dinner dates peppered in the calendar throughout the month. And I don’t have an exam to study and stress about anymore for some time, so that’s already a big win in May.
π β I’ll be attending two Melbourne Writer Festival events in person next weekend, which I am uber excited about and will write all about it here.
π² β I am travelling to Wondonga for work next week and looking forward to ticking off another Aussie town experience.
πΆββοΈβ I am working on writing 365 post drafts this year for fun. So far, I have written five drafts in my journal. Three hundred sixty more to go in 245 days. What do you think? Doable?
πΆββοΈβ I am trying to convince myself to do the 1000 Steps Walk with Fafa this month as I want to do more outdoor activities for mental health.
π· β Related to the above point β To GoPro or not to GoPro is a question I have been toying with for the past couple of weeks, as an action camera could be a motivating factor for the activities since I enjoy photography. However, when I messaged my K2Gadget cousin to get his Tech Youtuber approval, he suggested Insta 360 X3; But it’s more expensive, more fragile and needs more post-recording work. Well, I think I have answered my question, GoPro it’s.
Follow me on Instagram @KultureKween for more recent updates.
Keep Kultured! β KK.
