Shinrin Yoku: Forest Bathing

Escaped reality for a bit by spending a weekend at the cottage: hiked, paddled, stargazed and bonfired. Nature really is restorative to the soul.

Semolina Pasta Dough

After searching for months, I finally found semola rimacinata (re-milled semolina flour). It's used to make Southern Italian pasta, which contains no egg. I tested out my pasta making skills that I learned in Pugila and it wasn't too shabby for a first attempt.

Below is the recipe for the dough, which you can use to make different shapes of pasta. I used the knife dragging technique to make cavatelli and orecchiette.

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Pandemic Summer

Bike rides and park hangs: my life in a nutshell.

Black Lives Matter

We're halfway through 2020 and it's been a complete shitshow. It wasn't the coronavirus that broke me, but the police brutality against Black people and the senseless deaths. There were days when I felt like the world was on fire, or maybe it was just the rage simmering through my body.

Case in point:

• Police brutality occurring at protests against police brutality.
• Cops supporting rather than condemning their fellow colleagues for shoving a 75 year-old-man to the ground and left him lying there, bleeding from the head.
• Voter suppression, specifically to disenfranchise Black communities.

This is the reality: racism is entrenched in our society. How can it not be when this land, North America, was stolen from the Indigenous peoples by the white European settlers. This land, built on the backs of slaves and immigrants and yet they are the ones denied the opportunities. 

The coronavirus has clearly shown the disparity in our society: people of colour, those who are lower income, are more likely to be infected by COVID-19 because they live in higher density neighbourhoods and/or do not have the privilege to work from home. They are disadvantaged in areas such as health, socioeconomic, education and poverty. And people say systemic racism does not exist.

The current environment has also exposed the whiteness of corporations and the media. Exhibit A is the implosion at Bon Appetit, which is disappointing but not surprising because (food) media is inherently white. See also: Alison Roman criticizing women of colour for their successes and not acknowledging the origin of her recipes.

One can only hope that the Black Lives Matter movement will finally force changes in this broken system. How can I not be hopeful when I see mass protests happening across the US and the world?

My commitment on becoming an ally: to read, to listen, to learn, to recognize my own biases (because we all have biases), to not make it about me, to speak up, to get involved.

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Recommendations:

• Read: Homegoing, Girl, Woman, Other
• Listen: 1619, In the Dark (season 2)
• Watch: When They See Us, If Beale Street Could Talk

Travel Memories

As we spend yet another week indoors, I wonder if things will ever get back to "normal", or what the new normal will look like. I've spent the past 10+ years wandering around the globe, thinking about my next destination, but I'm not sure if travel for pleasure will exist in the next year or two. Obviously this is of low priority at the moment because, you know, pandemic.

I've been thinking about my previous adventures and for whatever reason, some moments stand out more than others. Some random memories to share:

On a restaurant rooftop in Istanbul with the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia on the horizon while the call to prayer echoed around the city.

The delight of riding a scooter on Cat Ba Island and the beauty of Ha Long Bay in Vietnam.

Christmas Eve in Kuala Lumpur: people on the streets spraying cans of fake snow at each other in 30 degrees C weather.

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