I was away for three weekends and returned to Melbourne, greeted by days that turned dark by 6 PM. Typical!
Alas, here I am—after days of juggling jet lag, work, zoning out in front of my desktop by 4 PM, and passing out in front of the TV—along with the powerful (and not-so-pleasant) effects of the Supermoon New Moon in Gemini, writing to both me and you.
Highlights
At work, we have a WIP team meeting every Wednesday, which we kick off by sharing a highlight from our personal or professional lives—a practice I picked up from my previous team.
Recently, a colleague pointed out that almost all of my highlights are food-related. At first, I thought, Nah, that’s just a coincidence. But as I write this entry, it’s become crystal clear how spot-on her observation was.
Foodie Guide-Y
🍓 ━ First weekend back, I took the train to Fitzroy for Teishoku at Ima Asa Yoru, then walked to OSOI for an iced strawberry matcha.
👩🏽🍳 ━ The next couple of weekends, we had friends over—I cooked and cooked and cooked until the whole house smelled like food all day. I made Bakwan Jagung, Kerala Beef, Padang-style Udang Sambal ala Chef Edi, a too-spicy Sambal Ijo with anchovies, fried some Kerupuk Udang, and served our drinking guests spiced cider from Daylesford. I also had to feed them my semi-failed fried cauliflower, Sayur Lodeh, and Potato Curry (speaking of potatoes—after a whole month of thinking about, shaving, researching, and cooking potatoes, I am officially potato-ed out).
🍰 ━ For dessert, we had Rasamalai Cake that Shoba brought us. It was my first time trying it, and now I know what cake I want for my birthday (Fafa, please take note).
🍜 ━ Speaking of first time, I had Aburasoba for the first time (ticking off my “try one new dish a month” resolution) at Southern Cross Station—and it was delicious.
🥧 ━ My cousin came to visit from Medan with her kids and brought us the famous Bolu Meranti. I UberEats-ed Angaan’s Chicken Vindaloo—easily my favourite thing from there. We reminisced about the old days and promised to visit Medan sometime soon.
🧆 ━ The Chicken Vindaloo even inspired me to make Chicken Achari—our go-to dish whenever we visit Usman in Singapore.
🍋 ━ Also, I am firmly in my “lime-as-a-decor-on-the-dish” era.
🥩 ━ We went to Robata for the Whiskey and Wagyu event—my third or fourth visit there for something special. World Whisky Day is celebrated annually on the third Saturday of May. The food was delicious, and so was the whiskey tasting. The only thing I would gladly skip? The soaked whiskey uni—yuck.
🧇 ━ Throughout the month, I’ve craved one thing and one thing only: Martabak Manis. (I used to think it was pronounced “Mertabak.”) I now start my weekends with coffee and martabak in bed. It’s such an indulgence, I know—but who cares? YOLO!
🥡 ━ We also checked out Old Street Hunan Restaurant in Chinatown. Since we loved Hunan food so much in Singapore, I figured it was time to test whether we still feel the same in Melbourne. We had smoked beef—which was really good—and chilli pork. It was tasty, but not quite the life-changing chilli-up we had in Singapore.
🥡 ━ We returned to Shibashi Yakiniku in Carlton, but it wasn’t a great dinner experience. We concluded that if it’s a BBQ date night, it has to be KBBQ.
🍠 ━ We also did a big Asian groceries haul and picked up chicken feet, chicken rice paste, rice cakes, soju, and beef biltong.
🥘 ━ Some more memorable food-centric moments this month: Fafa and I had a lunch date at Roti Road. He had chicken rice; I had Char Kway Teow. Fafa Uber-ed me Crazy Rice. Our neighbour dropped by with a plate of freshly grilled meat—it was so juicy and full of flavour. Another delicious Peko Peko team lunch with the office crew. We had $26 Steak Night. I had Parota with sugar, tried Dubai chocolate, took home pandan ice cream from Kariton, and shared a LeTAO dessert with Fafa.
Read, Watched, And Browsed
🎶 ━ I made a song for Fafa: I want to sleep in ur pillow, stick myself and be ur tail (he is not amused).
👻 ━ Horror binge summary: Fréwaka (folklore horror is my jam), Double Blind, Malum (a remake of Last Shift—but I still find Last Shift, which I’ve watched multiple times, to be better). I also watched The Front Room (weirdly creepy) and paid $6 to stream Project MKHEVE. I started Dive on Netflix but had to turn it off—it gave me way too much anxiety.
📺 ━ Returning favourite TV shows: YOU (best season ever!), Dexter: Original Sin, Black Mirror and the continous comfort: Grey’s Anatomy.
🎧 ━ I’m currently listening to Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, narrated by the man himself, and have just started reading Sign of Damage.
Meanwhile, on Kulture Kween:
This month, I wrote about Berlin Dead Chicken Alley Is My Mothership 🖋️ I Tracked Down Indonesian Food in Reykjavík Iceland 🖋️ A Charm, A Puffin and Other Questionable Reasons to Travel to Iceland 🖋️ Post-it Note, Hot Chocolate, Wool Blankets, and the Northern Lights
Tiny Joys
Yoga movement that opened up stiffen by winter body ❤ Spotting a Jiji tattoo ❤ Autumn colours ❤ Iced strawberry matcha ❤ Commentary channels ❤ Sleeping soundly ❤ Stanley Road in WeFo ❤ Discovering that Manisha Koirala is Nepalese (fun fact from Asmi) ❤ Liz’s beautiful wedding invitation ❤ Sharing a bottle of rosé on a random Friday in the office ❤ Catching a whiff of a perfume I used to wear in past seasons of my life ❤ Shitty weather that made me feel slightly better about skipping a run ❤ Lunch date with Fafa ❤ Getting my nails done in “warna janda” ❤ Frank Green bottle from Asmi ❤ Fafa getting me individually packed Tam Tams ❤ Tim Tams ❤ Afternoon naps, morning pages, and tiny joys ❤ Melbourne’s beautiful skyline ❤ Unlimited hot showers ❤ Leftover meals eaten the next day—especially at work ❤ A colleague deciding not to quit ❤ Catered lunch during 2 days of workshop ❤ Journaling ❤ The lady who cycles to the park I run in, just to eat her fried rice breakfast—so much respect ❤ An insulated house ❤ Scoring Moon River on vinyl ❤ Papier notebook ❤ WFH on a cold day ❤ Melbourne graffiti ❤ All the times Jik and I travelled to meet and hang out over a weekend with no solid plans—just because. It was so fun ❤
Time Machine
🌴 ━ The happenings of this time last year.
Thank You, Next!
♨️ ━ Two springs ago, I received a glamping hot spring trip as a birthday gift from my cousin—and we’re finally cashing it in during the first week of June. I also booked a massage for myself and dinner for us at the same place. It’s going to be a super indulgent weekend, and I know the memories will warm me when the weather plummets to single digits.
🦪 ━ I’m off to Hobart for an unofficial two-person babymoon/baby shower/hen party with my bestie over the King’s Birthday weekend.
🥕 ━ The weekend after—and every weekend following—my social calendar is packed, starting with a vegan date with my neighbour (neither of us is vegan), a winter solstice dinner at Jen’s, and a possible cooking class on the other side of town with my office mates.
☕ ━ I also have a food writing event and a tea leaf reading class booked. I figured I might as well squeeze in as much as I can before my next study period begins.
🪄 ━ Ten of Wands. A questionable card to draw for a month full of fun, socialising, and travel—but hey, let’s see what June has in store for me… and for you.
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