A Fresh Start, Enlightening Ramen and Recipe Recommendations
Picnic Journal #23
Hello and welcome back to Picnic Journal, a newsletter where you can feel inspired by a hermit woman who lives on the internet and never leaves her home but is happy that way. Here is what I thought about, things I did, places I saw with my eyeballs, doodles I drew, and things I created this week.
I bought new coloured pencils because I am a 26-year-old child
I finally bit the bullet and bought a new 36-pack of Prisma Color pencils. My drawing teacher at University told us he liked Prisma Color and I haven’t strayed from that recommendation since… If there is something really dumb that you want to buy that will bring an exponential amount of joy into your life and is not even that expensive, just buy it! Money is round, it will always come back to you. Here’s a picture I drew on the KTX with my new pencils.
People Watching Ramen
This week in Seoul was sponsored by a light summer breeze and a much-needed break from the humidity and frizzy hair. It was the first time all summer where it felt cooler being outside rather than staying inside. We ventured to a cute little Japanese ramen restaurant nearby and watched as people walked by. We saw a completely new side of our neighbourhood and it was absolutely delightful. The cool summer night, the ramen, the sense of community and us wondering why the heck we had never eaten here before and who the heck all of these people were; a wonderful little serendipitous life cocktail.
Never Have I Ever Season 3
I am a huge Mindy Kaling fan and Never Have I Ever is one of my favourite Mindy Kaling brainchildren. You KNOW I watched the latest season in one day and you BET I loved every minute. Devi Vishwakumar is the teenage coming of age star we all needed a long time ago. Also, the interiors of Devi’s house, and the costumes in this show, I LOVE. I am just really not a fan of Paxton Hall-Yoshida because every time he is on the screen I remember that they are not real high schoolers and nobody has this kind of teenage experience and it’s all an illusion. Speaking of coming of age, I also watched ‘A Cinderella Story’ this week while eating homemade lasagna. It was a good week.
I forgot that I can do whatever I want
This week I finally understood some things that are super obvious and have been staring me in the face for the last 5 years but have only started to make sense now. Namely the fact that I can do and make whatever the hell I want and there isn’t really much anyone can do about it!
Recipes I Have Been Into
Yes. I cook now. Thank you. I used to cook but then I moved to Korea and had to contort myself into human Tetris shapes just to stand in our kitchen. Now that I have extra time and a nice amount of counter space, I have finally become the long orange Tetris piece and can go absolutely bananas in the kitchen. Here are some recipes I liked!
I made lasagna for the first time ever and it was fucking yummy. This recipe will now be the recipe I use for the rest of my life. I swapped the parsley with basil because I couldn’t find any at our local supermarket.
The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Ever
(Their title, not mine, but I don’t dispute it) I made these recently for a baby shower I hosted for a friend. This is the only picture I took on the day of the party because I was so busy trying to ensure everything was going smoothly. I wish I took more photos of the food I prepared! Oh well, next time! You can kind of see the cookies I made in this pic!
Pork and ricotta meatballs with tagliatelle
Okay, this entire recipe is not my fave but the meatballs themselves are amazing. I ignore the rest of the recipe and just make the balls. YUM!
Jjimdak is one of my favourite (slash the easiest) Korean foods to make. I tried two different recipes this month and this one was my favourite. I actually don’t follow the recipes super strictly because Korean food is really up to your taste preference. Whether or not you like sweet sauces, spicy sauces, or salty sauces, the choice is yours when it comes to “ingredients” and “measurements”(ugh, such a drag).
Okay, that’s all for now. Have a good day and a happy week. Follow my Instagram if you like my newsletter because it’s kind of like a live version of Picnic Journal. Bye!
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