I’m writing this on a deceptively sunny winter day, reflecting on how I’ve semi-planned my life, my schedule, and my calendar for the next six months. Is this normal? Am I okay?
Highlights
👰🏻♀️ ━ Liz had an absolutely beautiful wedding celebration in Beaconsfield. We celebrated, took tons of pics, ate delicious food (the duck roll was a fave of mine), and drank plenty of fancy Baijiu. We stayed late, continuing our chit-chat while eating the wedding cake. It was one of the best days of the year.
🥾 ━ Jik was in Melbourne for work and stayed over the weekend for my early birthday celebration. We kicked off the festivities with fancy-named cocktails at the rooftop bar at The Emerson in South Yarra, followed by a short walk to Atlas Dining for a best-of-Atlas dinner. The next day, we woke up at 4 AM for a day trip and went hiking at Wilsons Prom (a bucket list item and gift from her—thanks, Jik!).
Foodie Guide-Y
🍛 ━ August menu at home included tacos that I made from slow-cooked meat stew. I also did my first trial of chicken vindaloo, which I need to perfect for Diwali in October. Other than that, I tried my hand at Kerala prawn, it turned out delicious.
🍱 ━ I went to Emiko Davis’ latest book launch, Japanese Pantry, at one of my favorite bookstores in Melbourne, The Cookbook Bookshop. I learned tons of interesting things about her—her life in Italy, Japanese culture, cooking, and life in general. It was such a treat, especially since it started with a glass of wine and a box of assorted foods from her cookbook recipes (I missed out on the miso cookies given at the end of the talk—maybe I should make them myself).
🍲 ━ Still hungry from the above event, I went to Ate Sange and got a congee with preserved egg, scallop, pork, and mushroom. I also had sugar garlic on the side 🍬🧄 for the first time—it was tasty, though some chilli would have elevated it. Next time, I’ll bring my own chili. Arroz Caldo is another congee I had this month. in Dumbo. I had it on the first day, followed by the Japanese XO rice on the second day during the weekend when Jik was here—we visited two days in a row.
🍖 ━ I went to Rice Paper Scissors at Hardware Ln for a Gulf Gang hangout and had the most delicious lamb ribs. I took note to bring Fafa here next time. Another recommended place was Captain Melvine ━ Jen’s old hang spot, which is opposite Aina’s old apartment! Another social dinner date was with Shiv and her partner. We had dinner at Bronga KBBQ and continued with drinks at Red since Goldilocks was full.
🍚 ━ After Liz’s wedding, we went to YOI for supper, and I had Nasi Goreng Kebuli, which has now become my current favourite Indo comfort food. Oh, also, an Indo dish I tried for the first time ever and loved: Ayam Bakar Madura.
🥢 ━ On a random Friday, we went to try the famous pho 🍲 inside Footscray Market—it was worth the hype. On the way home, we stopped at D&K for a mega seaweed (the vegetarian “sardine of the sea” and my go-to study snack) haul.
🥧 ━ At work, we had scones and pies for the August birthday celebration, which I always appreciate—good scones are hard to find in the West (even Starbucks has stopped making them!). We also ordered Peko Peko 🍱 for team lunch, always a delicious treat.
🔥 🥘 ━ On a particularly cold Winter and tiring workday, I went on a solo hot pot date—an annual tradition I’ve kept ever since the hot pot place opened right opposite the bus stop I take home.
🇦🇺 ━ This month, I indulged in some Aussie treats: Woollies ice cream cake (best!), lemon chicken Chinese takeaway (better than I expected), frog chocolate (meh) and Chiko rolls (absolutely horrible!).
🍹 ━ Lastly, I went to Attica with Fafa and our neighbour. My bank balance and I will need more time to process the experience and write about it.
Read, Watched, And Browsed
🪶 ━ A convo during a dinner date reminded me the importance of acknowledgement of country statement and I put them on the blog. I regret I didn’t do it sooner but I am grateful for the random reminder and finally having it up (it’s on the footnote – check it out).
📖 ━ Ever since I first discovered zines—when I saw them at Sticky Institute in the laneways of Melbourne during a visit as a tourist—I’ve been endlessly curious about them. There are periods in my life when I lean heavily on zines as a form of mental health support, especially when reading a book or scrolling the internet feels like a drag. A bunch of overseas Etsy zines comforted me in 2014 while I was navigating the bureaucratic maze of migrating to Australia, and later, a great local zine haul got me through the thick of COVID.
In between those times, there were a few more sporadic purchases and a kind of vicarious enjoyment from the many zines featured in Austin Kleon’s books.
I was absolutely delighted when I saw the zine-making workshop at The Chesnut Tree. I attended, learned a lot from the inspiring Jasper, and ended up creating a cute, almost five-year-old–style “Virgo Black Moon Gratitude” zine filled with everything I was grateful for that week.
Once I got home, I treated myself to some Vanessa Berry zines that Jasper had shared, which immediately caught my attention—and I thoroughly enjoyed them.
So yeah—zines. Something to consider introducing to your universe, or if, like me, you’re getting back into them after a while. And if you’ve always been a zine geek, I’d love some recommendations!
🗡️ ━ Fafa and I watched Coolie because, well… Rajinikanth. The movie was horendous, with more plot holes than the holes created by the bullets from the gun shots scenes in it. The only redeeming part of watching it was the endless Passionfruit Mojitos I kept getting delivered to my seat—to dumb down my brain enough to make the movie make any sense. It still didn’t.
📚 ━ I picked up I Am a Fan from my beloved Paperback Bookshop in the city while waiting for Fafa to finish his gym session. This book is a bit overwhelming to digest in one go, so I’ve been reading it a little bit every day during my commute. So far, I’m really enjoying it.
👠 ━ The AJLT series is ending with season 3. I’m not sure if that’s good news or bad news for me.
❤️ ━ During her visit, Jik, Fafa, and I watched the Tamil movie Maaseeran, pausing midway to eat some Indo food we ordered quite late at night. The movie was really good, but even better was the feeling of a typical family night—movie, food, and just hanging out with these two.
👻 ━ The only B-horror movie I watched this month was Classroom 6 on Tubi.
📺 ━ Non-horror binge: Ballard, Matlock, Elsbeth season 2 and rewatching Veep.
🖥️ ━ One of my biggest online pet peeves is abandoned blogs—probably because I’m low-key worried I’ll do the same one day, and KultureKween will just stop somewhere in the middle without a goodbye post. That’s why I tend to be glad when I stumble on an older blog (do people even start blogs anymore?) that’s still alive and kicking, like Sophie’s World.
🔖 ━ Haunted Chennai: Eerie Places Where Spirits Refuse To Leave And Shadows Still Whisper 🔖 A Tiny Travel Bookstore That Takes You Places 🔖 This reminded me of pieces of my life in Singapore 🔖 New All Indonesia declaration card: What Aussie travellers need to know 🔖 Australia Post to deliver 108,000 free postcards to Tasmanian homes 🔖 What five female stars of the food world would tell their younger selves 🔖 Chef Analiese Gregory’s fascinating Chinese family history 🔖 I Don’t Want to Die with a Smartphone in My Hand.
Found and Love
📚 ━ Tiny Bookshop made me miss being a bookseller. It got me thinking about the rise of cozy games and the (diluted) cozy Japanese lit.
🧳 ━ The Traveller’s Notebook 2026 has just been released, and I haven’t even managed to get my hands on the 2025 edition yet.
🖋️ ━ I’ve started a new midweek routine of stopping by BookBinders, a stationery shop near the office. Sometimes I just browse, and other times—especially during a stressful week—I treat myself to stickers and other treasures (like the beautiful Toyu Steel Japanese Green Tea box). I even tucked a few stickers from there into my “Welcome to Melbourne” goodie bag (a little tradition we have whenever we visit each other’s city).
🌿 ━ I tend to lean on alternative ways to cope with winter depression—crystals, St. John’s wort tea, and hot yoga. Since last year, I’ve also added Australian bush drops to my mental health toolkit. Do they work? Well, I haven’t sat in the corner crying yet this year, so I’d say yes.
🌶️ ━ Recently, I tried a chilli oil that was underwhelming, which got me thinking about my favourites. At the top is Mr C Garlic Chilli Oil, followed by Scorpion Eye Chilli, with Lao Gan Ma in third place. (Try the chilli oil—Mr C really is the best. Scorpion Chilli, Lao Gan Ma, and the tofu block one are great too.)
🚶🏽♀️ ━ The Field Star Oracle deck, which I backed on Kickstarter last year, finally arrived—and I’m in love with it. Now I just need to put my Camino de Santiago plan into action sooner rather than later.
📗 ━ One last find of the month: Road Book. I know it’s irresponsible to lust after a notebook that costs more than a semester at uni, but hey, maybe someday the Universe will bring us together.
Google Search This Month
My internet research lately includes Black Salt, Gunther, which is the same as Kashmiri Chilli, which restaurant and/or top-something list Attica belongs to, and 2020 Bonnet-Ponson Chamery Rouge’s dupe.
Meanwhile, on Kulture Kween:
This month, I wrote about Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage Stamp Book Milestones and Memories 🖋️ The Mega Bali Guide for First-Time (and Return) Travellers 🖋️ The Sacred Ritual of Martabak Manis 🖋️ Sammy, My Emotional Support Luggage 🖋️ Ronin Omakase Lunch 🖋️ My opinions on AJLT.
Tiny Joys
A 3-hour Sunday nap with the laptop on ❤ admitting my happiness is very food-centric ❤ a handwritten wedding RSVP card ❤ The Jiks tradition of preparing a care package for the visiting Jik as a welcome this time I got her stickers and some snacks ❤spotting a woman wearing a fancy saree at Southern Cross station on a workday morning ❤ Anzari is back, yay! ❤ Heart shapped quail egg in hot pot ❤ quail egg in hot pot ❤ quail egg ❤hot pot ❤ better sleep ❤ clear blue sky ❤ photo box date ❤ having the house to myself for half a day ❤ jaywalking for coffee ❤ not having to wake up earlier than usual ❤ office birthday celebration with the best food spread ❤ Post-Pilates glow ❤ Strawberry Mochi perfume ❤ Body Shop Passionfruit limited edition range ❤ the bus driver waiting and opening the door for me while I was half-running to the bus stop ❤ the flowers I got for a charity stays fresh for weeks ❤ New Nescafé pods with cacao flavour ❤ and a walk for mental health ❤ Peeling an orange ❤ Almond Chocolate ❤ Book browsing and journaling at ChesnutTree bookshop on a random day accompanied with honey soy chai
Tiny joys sponsored by Fafa: Onigiri map with a chop ❤ Introducing me to almond friand ❤ Getting me bird stickers that remind me of Ofu ❤ Buying me too-cute-not-to-wear-it-outside Cat PJs ❤ Surprised me with a Vanilla cupcake ❤ Picking me up from the bus stop ❤ Getting Gongura Kodi Vepudu chicken for lunch while I was studying ❤ Cutting mini red apples cut for me every day ❤ Getting the most delicious oxtail soup and chicken from Nelayan on a random Saturday ❤ Driving us to Starbucks so I could get my Period Scones ❤ and weekend supply of Sougumbap ❤ getting me Mango Tango Crush Boost ❤
Time Machine
🌴 ━ The happenings of this time last year and last decade.
Thank You, Next!
🥘 ━ One of the biggest perks of marrying a Mallu is Onam—specifically getting to enjoy Onam Sadhya! Over the weekend, we are going for an Onam feast in Mukka.
🏖️ ━ I’m off to New Caledonia to celebrate my birthday. The trip was inspired by a (similar) yearning to go on a vacation just to breathe and read (I’m travelling with a fresh book, Hunger Like Thirsts).
🍽️ ━ At the tail end of my so-called birthday celebration—which I fully intend to stretch out as long as possible—I have a dinner date with Liz. It’s a tradition we started a few years ago: taking each other to new-to-us restaurants. So far, we’ve tried Aru, Cha Ching, and Meletos, and this time we’re going for Pastuso.
⭐ ━ This month’s tarot card is The Star. I’m ready for all my birthday wishes—and more—to come true in September!
Follow me on Instagram @KultureKween for more recent updates.
Cieee sounds like you had a fun August boo 😘😘😘