Hello! Hope everyone’s doing great. How’s your March been? To me, March has been the most festive month by far in 2025. From celebrating another trip around the sun, hosting Eid, welcoming bright season, to having lots of excessive thoughts and reflections on things I can just laugh about it now (in a good way!). Thanks to each of you who said the exact same thing to me basically “We’re not saving lives, we can only do our best”. Need to write it here at least as a reminder for me.
Apart from that, Eid Mubarak to those celebrating! Feels special ending the month with Eid, spring, and finally done with spring cleaning too. So, what I learnt in March?1. Had more kitchen trial & error, from recipe to cooking method. Apart from making some (ratio) adjustments to the flourless cocoa banana cake I posted a while ago, I attempted to make homemade roasted honey almond. Still a work in progress to adjust the method but taste-wise it is already according to my liking. Sweet with a hint of salty. So good!2. I also attempted to cook oven-baked tuna pasta, where I basically just put everything together in stoneware and let it bake in the oven. Very simple yet still tasty. Good alternative cooking method for a lazy person like me with minimum cleanup.3. Guess it’s officially spring now!The clocks go forward one hour at 1 AM at the end of March, which was on Sunday, March 30th. It’s the start of the blue background season with bits of color here and there.4. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but after spending (probably more than) 1/3 of my life in a four seasons country, now I realise how I do appreciate warmer weather and it’s a small little thing I’m looking forward to. From where I am today, it is now two-digit weather. This is the kind of weather my body is built for haha!5. A glimpse of the festive season with Southeast Asian food. From red coconut chicken, Indonesian beef rendang (it’s once listed as CNN’s #1 world best food travel reader choice!), Indonesian hard-boiled egg in sambal balado, corn fritters, and prawn crackers. Although my belly feels full of 3 months’ worth of food in a day, my heart feels full of joy. And more importantly, kudos to the Indonesian (and Southeast Asian) chef who cooks this kind of dish from scratch! It’s heck full of prep and marination. No wonder they taste so good. Maybe this is one example of what they call “Good things take time and effort” haha.6. Long time since I revisited the city tour. From John Rylands Library, Manchester Cathedral, to Manchester Museum and many more in a day. I learnt that I can combat feelings of sleepiness with… walking! Had sleep deprived the night before but turns out it’s totally fine with walking
Right, that’s all for now. Still have lots of (static) work-in-progress things on my list that need to be revisited. And as always, I’ll still try to post in between. Once again, Eid Mubarak to those celebrating. Wishing everyone a good start to spring!
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