Gosh, what a big year we are wrapping up! I was asked what my word of the year would be. After a short, half-assed but well-meant reflection, I settled on an Indonesian saying: “Jatuh 7 kali, bangkit 8 kali” which was borrowed from a Japanese idiom: Nanakorobi Yaoki – literally translated as fall seven times, stand up eight. It is a reminder that when life knocks you down, stand back up.
2023 feels exactly like that for me. It has been both tiring and rewarding and, at times, very testing – kinda like Nine of Wands in the tarot world. Alas, it’s almost done, and it’s time to let it go with gratitude.
Highlights
🐶 ━ During a sleepover at Liz’s place, we got sloshed, woke up with a hangover, and forced ourselves to attend the pre-booked Humming Puppy yoga class in the morning. We followed up on our accomplishment (of not throwing up in class) with a walk around the memory lane – from Windsor to Phraran Market. It was one of the best adult-friend weekends I have had for a long time.
🎄 ━ For Christmas, Fafa and I got each other Ginger-themed PJs. We also bought the house a heavily discounted Google Nest and loaded it with a decade’s worth of pictures. I am chalking it up as one of the best purchases of the year.
👩🏼🍳 ━ Speaking of purchases, I also treated myself to a recipe journal for consistently cooking throughout this year. It’s from Papier and customisable, so I titled it: Food Memoirs, Kitchen Musings, and Recipe Scribes. I never thought I’d keep a recipe journal, but after trying to squeeze the smallest handwriting onto the recipe cards I have been writing on in the past year, I gave up and got the journal so I could write and draw freely.
🌴 ━ There are so many other highlights for this month, mostly, of course, Bali-related, which I am writing about in separate posts, so stay tuned! If I had to pick one highlight from the Bali trip so far, it would be lounging around the pool in our Ubud hotel.
Culture Chat
My colleague went to her hometown in Nepal and got me a pair of beautiful Jutta, Nepali traditional footwear ✾ A cookbook for culture-curious foodies in your life: National Dish Around the World in Search of Food, History and the Meaning of Home by Anya von Bremzen ✾ Journey into the traditional cultures along Vietnam’s stunning southern coastline with Gods of The Sea multi-day tour ✾ The tradition of Chinese food on Christmas ✾
Read, Watched and Browsed
📚 ━ It has been a while since I read a good poetry book, and I was thrilled when I stumbled upon Morgan Richard Olivier’s The Tears That Taught Me. The last book I read for the year Quietly Hostile: Essays – tbh, not my cuppa tea.
🎥 ━ So… here I am recommending a movie that I’d never watched if Fafa hadn’t “conned” me to: Leo, starring an actor that I usually couldn’t stand but actually played well in this movie: Vijay.
🎙️ ━ Podcast for writers.
📱 ━ If there is one thing that I picked up during COVID and reaped the biggest benefit from, it’s regular journaling. I will write about it in detail soon, but if you are considering journaling this year (you should!), you can start with the Journal app on Apple’s new iOS or, better yet, the Day One app. Another app I recommend, which is timely for the new year, is the Habit-Tracker app. There is a free version, but I recommend paying AUD8 for a lifetime premium version.
🔖 ━ This article about hobbi-days is so on point ❥ Another interesting concept that most of us can benefit from is Grey Rocking ❥ Ideas for small act kindness we can do during this festive season ❥
Foodie Guide-y
🍶 ━ We celebrated the Finance Christmas party at Hwaro, a Korean BBQ place, in the city. We had so much fun and soju; it was a miracle that everyone turned up to work the next day.
🍜 ━ For our last meal of the year together, my colleagues and I went to Lulu’s Char Koay Teow. Hands down, it is the best Kway Teow I have had in Melbourne.
🍱 ━ There is a new Toddy shop in town! Or maybe the only one… It’s fittingly called The Toddy Shop. We went to check it out the day after it opened and can’t wait to go back again.
☕ ━ Dropout Chaiwalla opened a new branch in Southern Cross and has become my weekly morning brekkie stop for chai and vada.
🍦 ━ Fafa and I went to soi 38 on an impromptu date, followed by Beku for Indo ice cream fix. I had my current fave, Ketan Hitam, and Fafa stuck with his all-time fave, Paan.
🍣 ━ Caught up with Aina and Jen for a Christmas/NY/long-overdue catch-up at Tetsujin, a sushi train restaurant in the city.
🍪 ━ Baked cookies from the secret family recipe Liz shared with me. It didn’t turn out half as good as hers. Oh well… at least I can tick off “bake Christmas cookies” from my to-do list.
🍱 ━ Adding this Indonesian restaurant in DC to my USA travel list.
Tiny Joys
❤ Lost Days ❤ Learning new things ❤ Hanging out with my cousins ❤ Self Hugs ❤ Christmas gifts and gifts in general ❤ Rainy days when I am inside ❤ Toffeenut Latte ❤ unexpected postcards ❤ Chili Cheese Dosa ❤ Christmas earrings ❤ Discovering new neighbourhoods just by taking train ❤ good neighbours ❤ random friendships ❤ Tarot Community Club
Best of Kulture Kween This Year:
- Gohyang Kalguksu Gwangjang Worthy of Netflix Fame
- Must Eat Korean Chicken Dishes in Korea
- Banchan The Icon of Korean Food Culture
- Poop Cafe in Ssamzigil Insadong Seoul
- Tsumugi’s Temple-Inspired 18-Dish Breakfast in Tokyo
- Memory of Insadong The Cultural Hearth of Seoul Korea
- Trail of Korean Food Tied with Culture and Traditions
- A Morning in Mangwon Market Korea Traditional Market
- Toddy Shop in Kerala An Authentic Mallu Experience
- When in Aussie Dabble in Jaffle
And I just realized I only did one Culture Chat this year, with the lovely Chinggay! Haiz… I promise to do more highlighting artists from different cultures next year.
Meanwhile, I had a Culture Chat with Chinggay, The Filipina Tarot Reader Behind Practical Magic; wrote about exploring Hikifune in Tokyo, Japan and eating Sudachi Soba in Osaka and Indonesian Cuisine in Tokyo.
Time Machine
Read more about last year’s happenings.
Thank You, Next!
🪙 ━ January card is the Nine of Cups, depicted with a table filled with delicious food on the Fifth Spirit Tarot deck. It seems fitting as my first week of January will be filled with hunting good Indo food in Bali with my cousins.
🌴 ━ Yes, we still have a few more days in Bali before returning home to Melbourne, back to reality and my to-do list. According to Todoist (the app I use for my to-do list – another one that I highly recommend), I completed 17,850 tasks this year and am starting the next year with 4,018 things to do. All I could think about when I read the stat was: “Why do I do this to myself?“
📆 ━ Contrary to the above point (or maybe because of the above point), instead of hitting the ground running in January, I am turning it into a reset, restart, and planning month. Historically, I used to do this at the end of the year, but the past few Decembers have proven that it’s just not doable with the holiday and travel stuff.
🪓 ━ Liz got me an axe-throwing session for my last birthday, and we are finally doing it in mid-Jan. Here’s to experiencing new and fun things!
🚗 ━ We are going on a road trip on Australia Day weekend, perhaps to one of these 7 Quirkiest Towns In Victoria.
And that’s all I can think about for now. I am off to celebrate the anniversary with Fafa at Merah Putih tonight, followed by NYE/NY celebration in the Ocean Villa with Jik and her family tomorrow.
Wishing everyone a fabulous 2024!!! And Keep Kultured! ━ KK.
Follow me on Instagram @KultureKween for more recent updates.
