coriander in pho

not a food blog

  • “You be good to you, maaan.”

    “You be good to you, maaan.”

    I’ve been forgetting to update the blog.

    So, what’s new? I had my birthday, that’s a start. Nothing super fancy, though. The four of us — my husband, me, and our kids — rarely celebrate our birthdays with parties. It’s always a 6 AM birthday song with a cake and our sleepy faces and bedheads. Sometimes, we had a day trip to amusement parks or a nice lunch or dinner at an upscale restaurant, but most of the times, it’s always us looking for noodles because noodles represent longevity.

    We also have another Animal Crossing player in the house. It used to be me and my son, then my son decided to delete the game because “it’s too boring.” My daughter got her brother’s Nintendo Switch Lite, while my son got my Nintendo Switch — a pretext and an excuse for me to buy a new Nintendo Switch. And no, not the OLED version. I am still preferring Nintendo Switch Animal Crossing design.

    My daughter got hooked up on Animal Crossing in no time. She always watching me play, and she’s really happy she can finally play the same game like I do. My son, looking at his sister and his mom playing Animal Crossing, decided that “it’s high time for me to return to Animal Crossing” ?

    The kids visited my island, and we had a blast. We took a visit to Brewster cafe to chill and drink coffee.

    The year 2022 is coming to an end, and 2023 seems like another episode of uncertainty. I’m leaving you with some digital wisdom from Kapp’n and Pascal.

  • Some sort of self-reflection

    Some sort of self-reflection

    I just remembered, and realized, I went radio silence after my last post about Covid where I literally grilled myself on my apartment’s rooftop in the noon-time.

    As you might all know, I am now Covid-negative. So, yay. The test kit shown that wonderful one stripe on Sunday, and I had to attend a workshop on the following week, so another yay recovery.

    Our workshop happened in Kuala Lumpur, so that was a huge plus for me. No timezone weirdness and no long-haul flight. With the Division Meetup and Covid, I don’t think I would be able to face through another long trip.

    During the workshop, we talked a lot about leadership and team dynamics. Interestingly, all those chats about leadership and management made me think on how I would like to close this year and open the next year.

    I really don’t want to “close this year strongly”, or as kids used to say: “With a bang.”

    I’m too tired for that. I don’t want to close the year of 2022 with a bang, pow, or anything like that. It has enough surprises already, so I don’t think I want to add more noise on it.

    I’m aiming to close the year gently and feeling content. I also want to open the next year feeling mindful and calm.

    I actually have this thing in mind: I want to eat less and more.

    Why “eating”? It’s one of our basic needs, and I love food.

    I want to be more mindful with my eating pattern, hence “eating less”. As in, understanding the food I consume and actually enjoying it instead of being a glutton (something I’m really good at, other than being a sloth.)

    At the same time, I want to eat more. With more gusto, more understanding of the food and the food’s history and story, more mindfulness, and more quality of life. This does not mean I will only look for expensive (in monetary sense) food, no. I’m looking for appreciating food more, and enjoying the process itself: Cooking and eating.

    Here’s for a more delicious 2023.

    Pavlova from Kenny Hills Bakery, Ampang

  • Sunbathing

    Sunbathing

    Nope. Still no negative news. I also found my anosmia comes and goes — most of the times, in-between. Like, I can smell Vicks VapoRub, but I can’t smell anything from my shampoo (and it’s obnoxiously fragranced.) I can smell curry, but I can’t smell teriyaki sauce. It feels like my nose is a factory complex, and they shut down some of the areas and keep some stay on.

    Anyway! We have sunny day here in this wonderful Saturday, and since we FINALLY have a newly appointed Prime Minister after 5-6 days of no movements, next Monday is declared as a public holiday. KL-ites left the town in throngs last night to enjoy the long weekend, so I guessed the apartment complex will be pretty quiet.

    I decided to go to the rooftop to caught some sun. And yes, I wear mask on my way there — and I only removed it when I’m alone and outdoor.

    This is the outdoor fitness area. I personally like our gym, but this area is perfect if you want to exercise in the morning too.

    And look at the sun!

    I always thought I hated sun — born and raised in the tropics, I have enough of sun. After Denver, though, I appreciate sun — AND HUMIDITY — a whole lot more.

    Too bad I didn’t bring anything to drink. I was in a bad mood since yesterday, what’s with being confined and stuff. Having an alone moment like this outdoor definitely helps.

  • And onwards to the next day…

    And onwards to the next day…

    That T line looks really obnoxious, don’t you think?

    Today’s test

    Like, “HEH HEH HEH, YEA, THE VIRUS IS DEFINITELY A LOT MORE THAN THE CONTROL LIQUID.” It pisses me off.

    Anyway! No fever, although if we are looking at my temperature, science books would tell me that rather than fever, I would have hypothermia by now.

    (The normal average temperature of a healthy human being is 36.5°C. Below 36°C, medics usually looking at you with great concerns.)

    My sense of smell and taste came back, and I’m so glad. I never been this happy when sniffing Vicks VapoRub with all my might. Ah, yes, that sharp childhood-pain smell ?

    My appetite… Has been interesting. I know I want to eat food, but I never got actually hungry, you know? Like, you know when you feeling hungry, and you are actively looking for food? In my case, it’s more like a “ooh, chicken katsu curry would be nice. I want warm rice!” but there is no hunger. My friend told me to be aware of this and making sure I keep my appetite so my body will get the nutrients its needed. From my experience, this happens when my gut bacterias are disturbed (well, it’s Covid.) I should add yogurt and Yakult on my diet then.

    The headache has been less than yesterday too. I felt greatly helped by this fella.

    I just found out that in the western countries, this type of drink (we called it “isotonic drink” over here) is considered as sports drink.

    The drink helped me to keep myself properly hydrated. Sometimes, just drinking regular water won’t cut it and it even “flushed” out some stuffs that your body actually needs. This drink helps in replacing the loss. The only downside is, this drink is soda-like, and I… tend to avoid soda. It gives this funny feeling on my nose.

    A bit of TMI, I’ve been having runny nose and coughing more than usual today, especially earlier in the morning. I really hope this is a good sign as my body is actively getting rid of the virus.

    Also, I think my body is less inflamed than yesterday (I really can’t find better expressions on this. So sorry.) Yesterday, I sensed some tiny ulcers on my tongue. Also, when I gargled using mouthwash, yes, RIP tongue and my gums felt like it was on fire. Today, no ulcers (yay!) and no pain on my gums.

    Today’s lunch. Looking so fanceeeh with Japanese meal (chicken katsu curry bento, chuka iidako, and avocado veggie salad.)

    And yes, I know what you are thinking. That what I ordered when I didn’t feel hungry. When they arrived, I just realized I’m hungry. So, yeah.

    I might test myself again either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow (Saturday). Wish me luck!

  • And then, it happens…

    And then, it happens…

    I know I supposed to write about the recent Division Meetup in Denver, but in a most uncharacteristically me, I didn’t take a lot of pictures and videos. I found myself drained throughout the travel, and while I enjoyed the meetup and meeting my colleagues, I couldn’t be in my 100% condition as I really want to take things slow. The flight reservation processes have been long, annoying, and painful, and I think I’m going to swore off from Egencia for a decade or so.

    Anyway.

    I got Covid.

    I’ve been down with cold since Monday, and it was… Weird. It came suddenly. I remember I coughed once — once — in the morning, and things felt going downhill from there. I got tired easily and unable to concentrate. I had to excuse myself to logout earlier than usual and take a rest. In the night time, things got worse. My body aching all over, and I got serious chills. All that with my body temperature stays OK-ish/super low grade fever (37.2°C) so I didn’t suspect Covid.

    The tiredness continued on the next day, but slightly better. I managed to do my work and logged out on time, even though I still got some mild headaches.

    Now, at that point, I legit thought to myself:

    “Huh. This feels similar with what happened when I got my first vaccination dosage.”

    I got alarmed last midnight (last midnight? This midnight?) Being an Indonesian, I always have eucalyptus oil (minyak kayu putih) and Vicks VapoRub on my bedside table. This is the “if you know, you know”-moment. These two have really strong scents that said giving healing properties.

    I took the eucalyptus oil and when I opened it, I realized I couldn’t smell anything. I took Vicks and sniffed it, still no dice.

    With a really long whisper of “shitshitshitshitshitshit” because I didn’t want to wake up my husband, I took the Covid test and… Those two dreadful lines appeared.

    I woke up my husband, and he checked on me if I’m alright (no chest pain, no difficulty in breathing, etc.) Thankfully, so far so good. I still have a bit of runny nose, and a slight cough. Some mild headaches are still here, but in general, I’m doing alright.

    The only thing that I’m concerned is the loss of appetite, though. I guess it’s normal, since cold and flu tends to affect appetite, but I’m hoping I can get my appetite back so I can eat and recharge myself.

    Also, I know that it’s recommended for Covid patients to sunbath, but gosh dang it, Kuala Lumpur’s weather is not being super sunny right now.

    Thankfully, my husband and my kids are all tested negative.

    Oh well. I have faith in you, two vaccination shots and two booster shots! Let’s beat this darn virus!

  • Drawing Practice: Night time

    Drawing Practice: Night time

    I’m currently watching “The Sandman” on Netflix, and this image keeps popping on my head — also, I want to learn minimalist approach by using two colors only (with varied values.)

    Pretty happy with how it looks. I’m actually aiming it to be “less creepy” and “more Totoro-y” (that scene where Satsuki and Mei waiting for their dad on the bus stop, with Satsuki caught a glimpse of Totoro from under her umbrella.)

    Anyway, music mood:

  • On WP Courses Blog

    On WP Courses Blog

    Earlier today, I did a bit of touch-up on my Writings & Drawings page to make it tidier and not too overwhelming. I know that I’m aspiring to be a children’s storybook illustrator and at the same time, I’m trying to keep the traffic to this site really minimum as I’m still not comfortable having folks looking into my site, so it’s like dealing with a super weird paradox, but yeah, we’ll get there.

    Anyway, I tidied up the WP Courses area of my Drawings then I decided to check how the website is going. Now that I’m in a different role in my work, I am no longer actively involved with the WP Courses team. I kinda miss them, though. WP Courses was the first time I had public speaking and I was terrified, and the team has been super awesome in encouraging me and celebrating the fact that I finished my first time hosting a workshop without passing out in the middle of the event.

    I checked WP Courses’ blog, for fun’s sake, and I found myself pleasantly surprised to see so many awesome posts and workshop replays. One of my favorites is What makes good podcast art? – workshop replay.

    While the majority of your focus when starting a podcast is on creating the content of the podcast itself, thinking about what your art might look like is also worth considering.

    Competition is stiff – podcast art can grab the potential listener’s attention while they’re browsing!

    There is another post on How to interview people face to face – workshop replay. I personally feel it’s really neat and it covers not only the technical aspect of blogging, podcasting, and website building but on how we interview people in a general sense.

    It’s easy to tell me that I might be biased since I’m working in Automattic and I was part of WP Courses team, and perhaps I am. However, there are only so many things a Happiness Engineer can do for folks on chats or emails, and there is vast information available that might suit one’s pace. I’ve been dealing with enough customer service on chats and emails with me as the end-user, and as helpful as the support staff is, the process can be quite frustrating and nerve-wracking; the feeling that you got to be “there” and “present” when responding and the waiting time until you receive the reply from the support agent.

    For some urgent inquiries, such as billings, accounts, or security issues, I can understand. For some non-urgent things, or when I’m seeking tips or guidance, recorded workshop videos or blog posts like the ones in WP Courses are an excellent option. I can watch and read them on my own time and pause it whenever needed.

    Also, thanks to Domestika, I am now more open to the idea of online courses. Trust me when I said that I used to doubt online courses. “Is that legit? Are the courses actually, you know, courses? This is not some kind of that hit-and-run scam, right?” (then I joined WP Courses team– I KNOW, I KNOW.)

    I would say that we have been sleeping on WP Courses Blog for far too long, and it’s about time for folks to explore a bit more of WordPress and WordPress.com.

    Also, all courses in WP Courses are free (you read that right.)

    Anyway, fun fact, I was in the team doing illustrations for the courses and the blog posts, and here are some of the drafts I made before we changed our style to vector-look.

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