Not A Newsletter: Sep26

September was a slow re-entry month. Lots of dumplings, one ballet, two birthday celebrations (mine is still in progress, because it is a season, not a day) and a very honest relationship with my sofa.

Highlights

🥳 ━ I spent a week in India, then a shorter stint in Sri Lanka for my birthday, followed by an even shorter one in Singapore. All to say, the month started on a very high note, and I am still basking in the post-birthday travel glow.

🩰 ━ I went to see the ballet Dracula at Her Majesty’s with two of my colleagues, ticking off another square on my Bingo card. One of them casually mentioned that she brings her journal when she dines alone at fancy restaurants. I think I’ve found my tribe! The ballet itself was so good, especially the ghosts. It also reminded me of mindfulness, because if I didn’t give it my full attention, I’d miss the magic. Theatre is the cure for TikTok brain.

🔮 ━ I had my solar return reading with Natta, which is now part of my birthday tradition. We talked about astrocartography (apparently where you celebrate your birthday shapes the year ahead), retirement and other goals, because you know I am a Virgo.

👶 ━ We hung out at Aina’s place with Jen’s fam, and everything on the table came from Nagi’s cookbook (we are all Nagi-in-the-kitchen families). I loved every dish, but Jen’s pasta salad is the one I’m remaking ASAP. Then came hours of playing Sleeping Queens. I love this game so much that I bought my own copy to play with my nieces at Diwali.

Culture Chat

🍛 ━ I’ve been reading Third Culture Cooking, and it has me rethinking everything I cook at home, plus all the dishes I’ve eaten at friends’ tables and in immigrant-run restaurants across Singapore and Australia. So much of what I make is a blend I never had a name for.

Foodie Guide-Y

🎂 ━ Liz and I had our biannual birthday dinner date at Reine & La Rue. Gorgeous room, magical ambience, impeccable service. The food unfortunately was hit and miss, so it’s not somewhere I’d recommend, but if you do go, order my two favourites, the duck pâté and the London Estate duck main.

🌶️ ━ My birthday present to myself this year was a Chin Chin cooking class. I turned up carrying four bags like Elsbeth Tascioni (two camera bags, a journal bag and a tote, for the record). I learned to make chilli crisp, made friends with a lovely mum named Carly, and picked up so much from the very inspiring Chef Ben that I bought the new cookbook on the spot and had him sign it. The whole experience finally made me understand why Chin Chin is a Melbourne institution with a cult following. Count me in.

🥟 ━ Before Dracula, my colleagues’ plan (I just tagged along) was to try the new taco place in Chinatown. The queue was far too long, so I suggested my usual, Shanghai Dumplings. We ordered the trifecta of peanut sauce wontons, fried mini pork dumplings and crab and pork xiao long bao, plus green beans, and this time an egg custard bao for dessert. We demolished everything. So good.

🍮 ━ That egg custard bao unlocked something (even more) gluttonous in me, and I am now on a mission to find the best egg custard bao in Melbourne. So far I’ve tried two more via Uber Eats, both from Chinese restaurants with “dumplings” in their name, and neither came close to the first one I had in Chinatown.

🦀 ━ But if I must crown one dish of the month, it goes to the crab spaghetti at the QuarterHouse where we went for my colleague farewell.

🍽️ ━ Other food moments. Scones at the iconic Hopetoun Tea Rooms before my solar return reading, which I’m officially adding to the birthday tradition. An Emerging Writers’ Festival talk about food, held at an eatery that seemed underprepared for the event, followed by dinner at Warung Sambal and a gelato cone with fior di latte on top and coffee on the bottom. That unpreparedness repeated itself when I took Fafa out for Rajasthani food in Carlton. Still, I’m grateful for the new experiences. Other firsts include a kinako latte at Victoria 279, a colleague’s coconut banana cake, another colleague’s homemade salami and, also at work, the pistachio gelato RTD.

Read, Watched & Browsed

🎬 ━ I watched Bethlehem Kudumba Unit in a cinema in Kochi and absolutely loved it. Ten out of ten, and so wholesome. My other trip to the movies was Practical Magic 2 at the Sun Theatre, because how could I not? I am midnight margaritas crew for life.

📖 ━ I finished Walking on the Ceiling by Ayşegül Savaş, my second book of hers and another one I loved. Now I’m wondering whether to keep going and finally tick off my side quest of reading every book by a single author.

📺 ━ I landed from Singapore on the red-eye, did the unpack-a-little-then-collapse routine, and slept until 7pm. When I woke up, a whole new season of Criminal Minds: Evolution was waiting for me. Coming home to a show lined up is self-care, and I will not be taking questions. I also finished the latest season of Grey’s Anatomy, plus the last few episodes of Abbott Elementary and High Potential on the plane. The show that bored me senseless was Netflix’s Perfect Lie. Rich, unhappy married couples cheating on each other. How many more times are we going to repeat this plot?

Meanwhile, on Kulture Kween

✍️ ━ It started with finding a little comfort with Indonesian food in Kochi on my last night in India, then old forts and seaside daydreams in Galle from my Sri Lanka birthday detour. Back to Kerala for coffee and cutlet at the roadside Indian Coffee House, morning chai by the backwaters at Raja Tea Shop Alappuzha, and Philipkutty’s Farm, the homestay that felt like coming home. To close the month, my Culture Chat with Raine Cabral Laysico on Filipino food in Melbourne went live, the perfect follow-up to her Bulacan cuisine supper club night.

Tiny Joys

Amma’s voice ❤️ chicken nuggets ❤️ crab salad ❤️ a new raincoat ❤️ easy-to-follow Chin Chin recipes ❤️ egg custard buns ❤️ Fafa cutting passionfruit for me ❤️ free coffee ❤️ fresh bedsheets ❤️ the group chat with my cousins ❤️ gym friends ❤️ an impromptu solo dinner date ❤️ kerupuk putih ❤️ Lucy ❤️ matchy PJs ❤️ silk PJs ❤️ morning rain ❤️ my Kobo ❤️ nice-smelling candles ❤️ night-time ice cream ❤️ non-tech Boomerang ❤️ an on-time Uber ❤️ onigiri ❤️ pho on a cold rainy day ❤️ a rainbow ❤️ scones ❤️ a seat on the bus ❤️ short clean nails ❤️ teh botol ❤️ ticking off (and crossing off) my to-do list ❤️ Vicks ❤️ warmer days ❤️ my Bulldogs jacket ❤️ yummy cocktails

Time Machine

🌴 ━ This time last year, I was eating my way through Noumea. Meanwhile, a decade ago, I was a fresh Melbourne immigrant still working through culture shock.

Thank You, Next!

🔮 ━ Tarot of the month is the Three of Wands, the card of looking ahead. It’s about plans already in motion, foresight, expansion and opportunities that stretch beyond where you’re standing now, often with a hint of travel or life overseas. The groundwork is done, so this is the part where you trust it and keep your eyes on the horizon. With a visa in progress and astrocartography still on my mind, it feels very on the nose.

🗓️ ━ Social calendar. I’m hosting a girls’ dinner at ours this weekend, repeating another Thai feast, this time inspired by Chin Chin. The following weekend will be pretty low-key, and I’m savouring it, because it’s the last quiet one before every weekend fills up with birthdays, parties and birthday parties until the end of the year.

🎃 ━ And with that, I welcome spooky season.

Keep Kultured! ━ KK.

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