Things I’ve loved lately

What has given you joy lately?

This whole year has been difficult for me, and the past months especially so, as I am sure they have been for everyone as well. We’ve lost so much to a virus that the world is still scrambling to understand — be it in the form of loved ones, time, jobs and financial stability, opportunities, and even hopes and plans for a version of the world that no longer exists.

How have you been coping? For me, these things have been really helpful:

*One of my favorite tender moments. IMAGE tvN/CrashLandingOnYou*

Korean Dramas

For me, one of the biggest things that has helped has been discovering Korean dramas. I know I’m very late to this party, but I think I discovered them at just the right time for me, when I was looking to be swept by the idea of finding love so unexpectedly again. My gateway Kdrama is Crash Landing On You, which is a love story between a South Korean heiress and a North Korean special forces captain — but it’s so much more than that. I love the way this show depicted not just the romantic relationships, but also the complicated relationships between parents and children, outsiders and insiders, haves and have nots, and all the unlikely friendships that made the whole series feel so rich and nuanced. Even now, I find myself rewatching my favorite episodes when I need a pick-me-up. After watching a love story working out against such crazy odds like that, it makes it easier for me to believe that nice things can unfold for all of us. I love, love, LOVE this show - and in the future, maybe I’ll be able to write all the reasons why. Since then, I’ve found other Kdramas I’ve loved - What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim?, She was Pretty, Goblin, and Her Private Life are ones that I’ve really enjoyed these past months.

Not-quite-baking baking :)

Like many, baking has had a calming effect on me, though in truth what I’ve been doing isn’t really baking. Apart from making chocolate chip cookies here and there, I’ve never been much of a baker, and right now it hasn’t been easy for me to go out and procure what I need to go full deep dive into baking. What I’ve enjoyed doing though is finding recipe hacks for boxed things - zhushing up instant brownie mixes by adding things like browned butter, replacing the liquid with coffee, playing with different kinds of fat instead of just vegetable oil, and so far (mostly because they’re foolproof!) things have been coming out nicely.

Above is a maple streusel coffee cake-type muffin that I made from a hacked pancake mix recipe. I added oats and whipped maple butter to my streusel (which made it too heavy and caused most of it to sink into the batter), BUT it was so good! On a different day, I made dark chocolate cream cheese muffins from a fudge brownie mix. And on another, some lemon blueberry cream cheese muffins that I tweaked from a box recipe. I’m hoping that I can learn to actually bake from scratch over time, but for now, it’s felt really comforting to make things that turn out exactly as you thought they would - sometimes, even better.

If you have go-to recipe hacks, please do send them my way!

*Here’s a snap of an Italian-style shakshuka that turned out really lovely!*

Finding alternative ways to connect

Finding connections however way I can. Being unable to travel, and unable to meet loved ones in person has been really hard - but one small silver lining is that it’s prompted me (and many others I know) to reconnect with loved ones whom I haven’t been in touch with as often as I would like, often because of time differences and physical distance. Having long heart-to-hearts and spending time online with friends have saved my sanity.

*Commemorating that one time my brother and I placed 10th out of over 300 teams playing FRIENDS trivia!*

Some days, I join a F.R.I.E.N.D.S. online trivia game with my brother, and on others, we just talk on FaceTime while watching some cozy sitcom together.

I have a long-running conversation with my best friend Anna, where we gush over Kdrama oppas and talk about the things that scare and excite us: Oppas! Kissing! The future! Living up to our potential!

When I am lucky, one of my best friends Z and I get to watch things together, even if she’s in Vancouver and I’m in New York.

This weekend, I had a 5-hour zoom call with friends from an MA writing class that I hadn’t had the pleasure of being with since I left Manila in 2016. We picked up right where we left off, and it was just lovely listening to their voices and their stories again. We’ve since committed to a monthly catchup online, and *crosses fingers a book club — just because we missed talking about writing and all the things we love about the written word. I’m so excited!

What have you done to stay connected to your loved ones?

*Here we are - all smiley after a 5-hour marathon call.*

I don’t want to downplay what’s going on around the world — we’re all still in the middle of the pandemic and we’re all scared about what we’re losing and what we still stand to lose as we figure a way out of this.

I do hope though that you are all finding small moments of joy to keep you afloat, and hopefully, we’ll all ride out this wave together.