Not a Newsletter: Oct21 Edition

Hello! I have had my MacBook open on my lap for more than an hour to write this semi-regular not-really-travel-culture-related life update.

This long weekend was supposed to be the much-needed self-care break for both of us, during which we planned an Airbnb stay, beach visits and cheese tasting session. Instead, we had a colossal power outage, a dark house and dead phones for days.

I woke up freezing this morning and decided enough is enough and booked a hotel room in the city where I am writing this from.

Even though Melbourne has been officially out of lockdown since last week, we still haven’t had visitors over to the house as it’s still furniture-less because of the shipment issues due to Covid (Oh, Covid, the gift that keeps giving). Meanwhile, my work is getting busier ━ but good busy. I am grateful that I get to work on the trusty excel sheets as a part of my daily tasks.

Last week was our wedding anniversary, and we were supposed to fly to Queensland to celebrate it, but the borders were still closed. So instead, Fafa took me to Komeyui for an omakase experience. The Indo-chef there treated me extra special once I told him that I, too, am an Indonesian.

Aside from waking up to what felt like a winter morning, today has also been one of the month’s highlights. We went to the Morning Peninsula for wine and dined sesh at The Cups Estate, enjoyed a massive Singaporean Chili Crab feast at The Old Beijing for dinner, followed by an impromptu hotel stay at the newly built Bradys Hotel, which by far is the best value for money hotel I have ever stayed in Australasia.

More This and That…

🌺💀🌹 ━ Today is Dia de Muertos, Halloween, and Beltane in the Southern Hemisphere. I hope you had some celebration to honour the dead and or dress up and eat candies.

👩🏽‍🍳 ━ This month, I cooked Indonesian Curry Lamb (Gulai Kambing), which turned out excellent and Timorese Fish Soup (Sup Ikan Timor) from the recipe I found inside Coconut & Sambal book. I also learned that brown onion paste couldn’t be fried hard.

🍱 ━ Now that the lockdown/prison life is over, I ate so much good food in the name of supporting the local economy ━ , from two visits to Gyoza Gyoza within a week to get takeaways, a sushi pack from Hinoki Japanese Pantry and a spicy seafood pack from Nana Thai style hotpot & BBQ. I also got a chocolate wine from Queen’s Victoria Market to be shared with my girlfriends when they visit.

🔮 ━ Some of the decks I ordered many moons ago finally arrived this month, including The Real Talk Tarot, The Sisterhood Tarot, which I am currently practising with; Yokai Yochi Tarot and the Southern Oracle deck that I will be reviewing on the blog next year.

Love and Found

😷 ━ Corona Diaries.

📚 ━ Fafa proposed that we gift each other a book for this anniversary. I got his from the Carlton Readings, while mine was This Chicken Life: Stories of Chickens and the Australians who Love Them by Ilana Rose, which he got from The Chesnut Tree, the neighbourhood bookstore. I also read and loved The Guilt Trip and The Other Woman by Sandie Jones. I am accompanied by Mel Robbins, reading The High Five Habits on my runs.

📺 ━ How good was YOU season 3?!! I was worried that the marriage life would dampen the story, but nope! Joe and Love delivered ━ my only complaint: I don’t see any chemistry between Joe and Marriane. I also have caught up with and currently have a weekly what-was-said-what-they-meant Succession dissecting date with Fafa.

🎮 ━ I played the nourishing and relaxing Spiritfarer most nights during the last lockdown. Highly recommend!

❤️ 💛 💙 💜 💚 ━ Inspired by Pam Grout’s E-squared that I am currently rereading, I have started to seek and document the heart shapes and rainbow colours in my daily life. It’s both fun and reassuring.

Browsing History

One of my morning rituals is to enjoy a cup of coffee while reading my fave newsletter and standing in power pose each workday. Here are my current faves: No Girl is an Island by Lani V Cox, Mari Andrew’s Out of The Blue, From The Desk of Austin Kleon, Nisha’s Internet Tote Bag, and The Art of Noticing by Rob Walker.

Meanwhile, on Kulture Kween:

I wrote about Melbourne Lockdown and Freedom Weekend ✍🏽 I also wrote about Onigiri, Nasi Pedas, Nasi Tumpeng and eating Nasi Bakar at my cousin’s every Diwali as a part of Project Rice ✍🏽 I interviewed Soni, the Chilean witch behind the Happy Halloween tarot which prompted me to write about my own experience eating Chilean cuisine and drinking Teh Tarik in Singapore.

Tiny Joys

Soaking sesh 🛀🏿🌟 online Airbnb experiences 🌟 planning Diwali celebrations 🌟 Queen Victoria Market‘s jam doughnut 🌟 2022 Passion Planner 🌟 New plants I got from Bunnings 🌟 Bunnings itself 🌟 Sechuan Congee from Dumbo 🌟 Indian groceries store in the neighbourhood.

Time Machine

Read more about last year’s happenings.

Next Month

I am elated that we will be celebrating Diwali in the new house! Also, Jik is visiting us next week for Diwali and her birthday celebration. So most probably, this blog will be put on hiatus, at least for the first half of the month.

Back soon 🙂

Stay tuned, stay cultured! 🌈 ━ KK.

Follow me on Instagram @KultureKween for more recent updates.