~ The Day Has Its Own Music. Chirping Of Birds, The Murmur Leaves Make When They Move With The Wind,

~ Doing ordinary things with care fills you with soft warmth and joy.~ 

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Yesterday, as I cleaned and organized my stationery folder, I realized I was happy doing this seemingly banal thing because I was doing it with care. May be the little moments of life, which means almost every moment we spend, are not really that little if we pour care into them. 🌞

~ I will take it slow today and reset my heart and mind. On the days when time feels too hard to catch hold off, a mindful breath, a few hours at my desk, writing my thoughts, making things with paper, all of these are like little gifts to myself 🌸 ~

‘Flavour: It’s Yours’ Taught Me That Talent & Ego Cannot Go Hand In Hand

Of all the romance C-dramas I've watched over the past year, the story troupes have always been very similar : childhood friends meet as adults, fall in love and help each other become their best selves.

But with 'Flavour: It's Yours' (also known as ‘Instead Of Tipsy Why Not Get Drunk), it was a very welcome change.

First up, I love the idea of a wine critic losing his taste buds after he accidentally kisses a girl who's lost her own since she was 10. What?! Who comes up with concepts like these?! Can I please meet them?

The Story & Its Characters:

Lu Wei Xen is China's top wine critic and he's established himself as one of the pioneer voices in the wine-making industry. Various wineries seek his counsel to determine their latest flavors and marketing strategies. Going against his father's wishes to inherit his family business, Lu Wei Xen is formidable, arrogant and talented.

He Bu Zui is a woman who's lost her taste buds due to a traumatic experience in her childhood. Her father, who was once the owner of a winery decided to shut it down in order to heal Bu Zui's condition. Our heroine is now threatened by a cheap gangster-landlord to repay her  father's debt. Using her loss of taste buds as a weapon, she participates in drinking contests and earns money to get her family by.

Unknown to her, her childhood love's (Yi Nan Ke) brother Yi Be Dao is back in town and he has some serious evilry up his sleeve. Sparked by the desire to avenge his father's death, Yi Be Dao will go to any limit to resolve the mystery behind it and find the murderer. 

What Yi Be Dao doesn't expect is crossing paths with the ambitious, headstrong yet soft Mi Ya. Working as an editor at a reputed wine magazine, Mi Ya is extremely independent. She's smart, sassy and isn't afraid to go after what she desires.

After Lu Wei Xen and He Bu Zui accidentally exchange their taste buds through a kiss, we embark on a journey of how the two try to reverse this ordeal for Wei Xen. How can a wine critic still retain his no.1 spot when he cannot even taste wine anymore?

They decide that they only way to break the curse and help get Lu Wei Xen’s taste buds back is to “exchange saliva” through a lot of kissing (since that’s what triggered the weird condition in the first place). So our hero hires our heroine on a contractual basis to help do just this.🤷🏽‍♀️

Mu Chun Feng poses as Wei Xen's competitor and he does a damn fine job at it. I loved watching the wine battles the two of them hold.

I also have a soft spot for Xia Fan who plays Lu Wei Xun's biggest fan. He's a popular vlogger with a huge fan-following and is known for his live sessions. He's a complete fan-girl when it comes to Wei Xun's talent and addresses him as 'idol' in the cutest way. He's also super loyal and stands by his hero when the latter is going through hard times.

What I liked:

What I loved about this show was that while romance was still a big part of it, there was also a murder mystery woven in, in such a seamless, interesting and exciting way. Both the male and female leads were their own persons and were chasing their own individual dreams. The villains' were villain-y enough to make the chase worth it and the side-character narratives were as interesting as those of the leads.

What I didn't like:

~ I'm all in for good kissing but it can't be a forced affair. I thought the show took 'dominant male lead make-out' a bit too far.

~ I also found Yi Be Dao's character too regressive and his vengeance for his twin's death lacking complete knowledge of the situation that caused it.

~ Mi Ya is exceptionally amazing as a woman and I found her too accommodating for a toxic man like Yi Be Dao, even though eventually he does change his ways.

My top 3 learnings:

1. Talent and ego should never go hand in hand.🍜 2. Choose to be seen and loved as you are. 🍜 3. Let that shit go. (It really is too heavy to keep carrying) 🍜

My last thoughts:

In short, I was totally blown away by how unique this drama was and how mature it is compared to its typical, commercial C-Drama cousins. So if you're reading this, I know you're wise enough not to pass this one by.

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GIF Credits: GIF 1: @movielosophy​ | GIF 2: An Asian Drama Vortex | GIF 3: Pi Yanuo | GIF 4: Tumgir | GIF 5 & 9: Foolish Asian Drama Life | GIF 6: The Ofy | GIF 7 & 8: Tumbex 

~ He Buzui and Lu Weixun from ‘Instead of Tipsy Why Not Get Drunk’ (2019) ~

Manchurian Dosa | 11th May, Sunday

Went with the Nanus to eat Manchurian Dosa and Schezwan Cheese Frankie at Ghatkopar, on a whim. 👯‍♀️

The Manchurian was green oniony, hot, sour, and garlicky. The chutney was a refreshing contrast against the heat of the Manchurian. The dosa was beautifully soft and yum. 🤤

Unfortunately, it was too dark to take a photo of the Schezwan Cheese Frankie. But it ticked all the boxes --- flaky, crispy cover, potato filling that was heartily assembled with cheese and a generous addition of onions (my favorite part is their crunch), and the goodness of Indian Chinese's version of Schezwan sauce.🤤

“It is okay if you are slowly becoming the person you want to be. Real growth takes time. The things that stick and the things that stay are often the things we put together gradually, with heart and soul and effort. What arrives too fast often leaves that quickly, too. What arrives slowly is often what we savor most, because it is what we placed all of our love into, it's what we made space in our lives to hold. Please do not think you are falling behind just because your growth is not happening as fast as you thought it might. Seasons don't turn overnight, but always arrive just in time.” - Brianna Weist

a) One of my favorite quotes from ‘Mr. Queen’

b) I still don’t fully realize how hard I’ve fallen for this drama. 

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Pictures | TVN & The Doodle App

“Real time is slower than social-media time, where everything feels urgent. Real time often includes periods of silence, reflection, growth, space, self-forgiveness, processing with loved ones, rest, and responsibility."

-  @adriennemareebrown @artidote 

~ I Found A Long-Lost Part Of Myself While Watching 'Meteor Garden' ~

Here's a fact: you can never get over the first drama you've watched. 

Every drama-lover I know confesses this lovingly. So, as I waited for being lovestruck yet one more time, I was drama-struck by Cupid instead.

My very first drama happened to be 'Meteor Garden’ (2018) a Chinese remake of the popular K-drama 'Boys Over Flowers'. Like the blink of an eye, I didn’t realize when I was already forty minutes into the first episode. 

That's how the drama bug got me.

The Story:

Meteor Garden revolves around the story of two Ming De university students, Daoming Si (Dylan Wang) and Dong Shancai (Shen Yue). While a typical rich brat meets a poor but badass girl, the story also pans out to accommodate a great cast of secondary characters. 

Beginning with the 'F4', Ming De's most popular boy-group starring its leader Ah Si (fierce, smart heir to the Daoming Group of industries), Huaze Lei (musical genius), Ximen Yan (tea god) and Feng Meizuo (art lover with an unbeatable memory).

There’s Dong Shancai's adorable mother and father, her best friends, Chen Qing (banana expert) and Xiao You (bubble-tea partner).

Over a span of 49 episodes, we watch Shancai and Si's unexpected love bloom, we celebrate the spirit of 'family' -- both in blood and otherwise, we cherish friendship as true as the color of a clear sky and we come face to face with a bounty of life-lessons as we fall deeper and deeper for the characters that make the show.

My favorite learnings from the drama:

1. Dong Shancai's character is a far cry from your typical C-drama heroine. She's strong, confident, boisterous and unafraid of speaking her mind. I absolutely love the way she teaches you to own who you are. To own your whole person --- your strengths, your weaknesses and to keep going exactly when you want to give up.

2. Meteor Garden celebrates love in different forms. The love between a mother and daughter, that between between two lovers, two friends, two almost-lovers-but-now-lifetime-BFFs, the kind of love that hurts because it isn't yours to claim, the kind of love that teaches you how to love with a big heart and then, the kind of love that you must let go of so that you can meet a love you deserve.

3. The F4 sum up the following sentence: find your tribe and love them hard. Their lifelong kinship reminds you that 'family' goes way past DNA and some of the best people in your life today, could have once-upon-a-time been complete strangers. They support, encourage, guide and hold each other up.

4. As a typical C-drama lead, you'd expect Daoming Se to totally own his privilege without acknowledging its side-effects. But Si's transformation from exactly this sort of person to someone who is open to changing for the better is refreshing. What blows my mind is how Si shows courage to write his own story, not the one that's expected of him.

5. While we're used to 'voicing' our opinions, Shancai taught me it's better to let your actions and virtues do the talking. Because, a pure heart may not always be a loud one but it will be seen nonetheless, since it is true to itself.

6. And then you have my favorite learning of all time: LOVE IS WORTH IT ALL.

It is worth growing into, growing for and fighting with every ounce of your soul. 

I've watched many love stories and read quite a few too, but I am unabashedly biased towards Si's pure, magical love for Shancai and vice versa.

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Image Credits | Netflix 

Image Art | Doodle Shape (Android App)

~ Someone please bury my heart with this show because I just finished watching it and I can’t. I just can’t. ~