Trauma Thy Name is Yellow Croaker

 A few days ago when my mom was shopping, she bought Yellow Croaker for the first time. She was a little nervous as this was a fish we had never tried before. But we are a somewhat adventurous family, culinary wise, so we decided to give it a go.

I looked up recipes and videos on how to cook it and my mom prepared tilapia for the youngest and squeamish of us. Since I did all the research on how to cook it, I had the honor of being the one to actually handle the fish.

It was pretty frozen so I let it defrost before cleaning it. It had already been gutted and de-fined (?), so all I had to do was take the scales off. That job wasn't to bad (it is actually one of my favorite things to do), but finding scales in my hair the next day was disturbing. I might have nightmares about that.

I didn't have all the ingredients for the marinade but I had enough to make a decent one. I seasoned the fish, set it to marinate and then cooked it. The aroma was perfection. It left the oven looking like it could tackle a culinary catwalk. The trauma is in the eating.

The flavor was incredible, the meat tender and flakey(the good kind), it just had waaaaaaaaaaay too many bones. Big ones, little ones, sharp ones that stab into your gums. Two fish took me roughly an hour to pick through. That's how bony it was. I was exhausted just picking them out.

If I could find Yellow Croaker filets, I would definitely do it again. Until then, my family and I will just have to walk past this fish. There's too much anxiety wrapped around its bony little self. Shame though. It is truly tasty.

As always, feel free to leave me a message below.

This is what I Watched - K-Dramas

 These are the shows that have managed to take my mind off of the Catastrophe of 2026 (what I now call my cards epic blip). I was less likely to dissolve into a puddle of depression when watching them. So that was something my siblings were happy with. All blurbs from AsianWiki.

A Shop for Killers Season 2

Jeong Ji-An is the new CEO for shopping mall Murthehelp. She teams up with her uncle, Jeong Jin-Man, who has returned, and launches a counterattack against Babylon.

Oh My Goodness, this show is the best! Please don't make an American knockoff. You'll mess it up. Right from the start it answers the immediate questions the end off season 1 left us with. It reignited a unhealthy disrespect for sleeping.

See You At Work Tomorrow

Kang Si-Woo appears to be a perfect guy, with good looks and self-discipline. Unfortunately, due to his cold and direct personality, he is known as the most prickly person at work. As a department manager at work, he oversees workers, including Cha Ji-Yoon who has worked there for 7 years. Cha Ji-Yoon is good enough at her job that she is respected by her co-workers. She experiences a slump in her daily life and is not in a romantic relationship, but her ordinary life gets swayed by her supervisor Kang Si-Woo.

A cutesy workplace romance with one of my favorite Male Leads. We got a Cold-at-work, Warm-outside-work Male lead and a friendly Female lead who does her best to clock out on time while trying to forget that her ex-boyfriend ghosted her for 8 whole months. I know, rude much!

Spring Fever

Yoon Bom is a popular and beloved school teacher in Seoul, but, for some reason, she comes to a small town high school with her mind closed from Seoul. There, she meets Sun Jae-Gyu, who is her student Sun Jae-Gyu's  uncle. Sun Jae-Gyu is big and looks tough, yet he is a warm and pleasant guy. He has feelings for her and he expresses his feelings to her in a honest and straightforward way.

A blend of Opposites attract and not judging a book by the cover. Spring Fever is so sweet you might want to check your teeth afterwards. Both main characters have their respective traumas to heal from.

Love In Sync

A romance takes place between a woman who denies empathy and a man, Cha Eun-Hwan, who is burdened with the feelings of others, as they begin to share emotions with each other.

Cha Eun-Hwan is a person who excessively takes on the feelings of others. He works as a psychological counseling expert and he has gained fame with his unique counseling method. He gets involved in an unexpected incident and this shakes the balance of his daily life and emotions.

A overly empathic (and mildly arrogant) counselor and an actress who lacks empathy (and who is bad at emoting). He's a fan of her rival (who's not going to admit to his crush). She's got trauma from her show mom. They are the least likely couple. Which makes them the cutest.

My Bias, My Boss

As the CEO, Kang Ha-Gi has successfully led fashion startup Appello. He looks cold from afar, but he actually has a warm heart. His calm and cool demeanor is shaken by his new employee Nam Da-Reum.

For the past 11 years, Nam Da-Reum has been a fan of idol group member Lee Chan. She turned down a job offer from a large company so she could work at Appello, where Lee Chan works as a director. Just as she is about to turn her passion into a career, she unexpectedly gets involved with CEO Kang Ha-Gi. This places her work life in a difficult situation.

Lee Chan has transformed from an idol to an actor and an icon of his era. He looks perfect, but he has actually lived with loneliness that nobody knows about. He expanded his career to the director position at fashion startup Appello. There he faces his fan Nam Da-Reum.

This ones for all those fangirlies and all the fanboys! A long term fangirl, one of the hardcore ones, quits her boring corporate job to work at the company founded by her ult-bias. Only he's not there full-time and her boss is someone else (a very handsome someone, but let's not quibble). Now, she has somehow ended up in a love triangle. The handsome boss or the Ult-Bias, how to choose?

Sidenote: the boss's sassy AI is hilarious! My money is on the boss, btw.

Flex x Cop season 1

Jin I-Soo is a 3rd generation member of a chaebol family. He has a childish personality and loves to have fun. Jin I-Soo becomes a detective for a police violent crimes team. He tries to wipe out criminals by using his enormous wealth, personal connections, and his brilliant intelligence. He works with Lee Gang-Hyun, who leads the violent crimes team. She is a veteran detective and highly dedicated to catching criminals. She also has smooth social skills. Although Lee Gang-Hyun views Jin I-Soo as a thorn in her side, they begin to work together as partners. She experiences a big change in her deceptive life.

This is a slightly older show that just got a season 2 this year. That is a very rare feat to accomplish. I decided to give this show a watch since the second season was airing. Word of caution: Your stomach muscles might get a work out. The lead is a adrenaline hog Chaebol's son who is the disgrace of his family. After a very (oh, so very) unfortunate misunderstanding causes him to be arrested, he ends up disowned. Once the truth comes out, his brother and the police make a deal to clean up the mess. Now he's working as a police officer.

As always, feel free to leave me a message below.

That Exact Moment......

 This one is for my fellow bookworms. You know that exact moment when right as you look at your TBR pile of 100+ books and say to yourself that you got nothing new to read, then suddenly you finally get a copy of a book you have been yearning to own for years along with some others that look promising? I'm in that moment.

While at the time of writing this, I am still not in capable of full access to my personal library, that did not stop me from building a cozy little refuge of books to soothe my poor little bookish heart. I have been keeping up with the new releases and today was a lovely day.

There was a book that had the most engaging premise but it wasn't in English. I read 99.9999% all English (with that 00000.1% being French subtitles and French Wikipedia with 50% comprehension(I hate this math. It hurts my head)) and this book was not in either of those languages. So all I could do was look at the webpage with all the book reviews. But now I have the book {cue unnecessary creepy laughter}.

So I will now go. I have a book to explore. As always, feel free to leave me a message below.

Yes, I got teary.....

 I occasionally watch documentaries. They are not always the most interesting things but I like absorbing random bits of knowledge and learning something I didn't know before. So, when I saw a documentary about the PBS show Wishbone,What's the Story, Wishbone?, I figured I'd check it out.

Now when I was younger, Wishbone was one of my favorite shows to watch. I enjoyed the adventures that little dog had each time a book was opened. I think my love of classic books came partly from that. Wishbone was my stepping stone to PBS' Masterpiece Theater and Great Performances which was my stepping stone to picking up the books mentioned which eventually led me to explore authors I'd never heard of before but who were contemporaries of famous classic authors. It led me down a rabbit hole to where I am today.

Learning about how this show got its start was fascinating. Everything about this show was serendipitous. Things that shouldn't have worked or made sense, just did. People learning on the fly managed to somehow not ruin everything. And they truly gave their all. It made me feel honored to have been able to watch this show when it aired. And yes, it made me get a little teary-eyed. It also made me sad that PBS let this treasure go.

I found myself wanting to share this show with my younger siblings. Aside from me, I don't think any of them has ever seen it. So I will now go on a quest to share it with them. If you all get a chance, check out the documentary. As always, feel free to leave me a message below.

Why do I do this to myself

 I don't like being super close to large bodies of water. Now let me clarify what I mean by "large bodies of water". If it's over my head when I stand up and has a current, my anxiety is going to spike. But if it's just me and Jimmy in the kiddie pool, I'm cooler than a blizzard. I know some might think I need to get therapy for it but as it doesn't mess with my life in general, I'm leaving it.

Now, the other day I put on a movie to listen to while I sewed (Pic below, also so sorry for bad pic. I had a lot going on that day). I was in a bit of a mood so San Andres was the choice. I was cool the majority of the film but my anxiety spiked right when the tsunami hit. This wasn't helped by the sudden power surge we ended up having as well.

I know it's a movie. I know it's all fake. I do. As contrary as it may seem, I enjoy the beach. I have fond memories of playing at the shallow water near the shore. I just feel uncomfortable going further than that. So watching disaster films that keep showing one of my nightmare scenarios is probably unhealthy. So why do I keep watching? I genuinely wish I knew.

As always, feel free to leave me a message below.

P.S. Why does almost every disaster film include either a flood or tsunami? Can we please just not do it each time?

The Other Bennett Sister

 I am a Jane Austen fan. I still remember the day I saw the 1990s BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice for the first time at the age of 7. It's a fond memory. I also remember the day I borrowed Pride and Prejudice from the library. The day I bought my own copy was one where I bounced around the house in glee. I got my hands on way too many retellings, variations, and fan fiction. I keep telling myself I won't fall for another rendition. Hi, me who failed.

One of my favorite fashion historians on YouTube, Abby Cox, loved this show so much she did a slightly unhinged review. Check that out as it is *chef's kiss*. I have the novel this mini series was based off of in my ever growing TBR pile.

Mary is the often overlooked and forgotten Bennett sister. The show speed runs through the events of Pride and Prejudice in the first two episodes as it shows you things from Mary's perspective. After that, all the focus is on how Mary slowly steps out of the shadows of her sisters and into her own light. And in the process finds a place to belong and love.

Sidenote: I think the Gardiners are the healthiest example of family in the show. Also I have always like them. They always seemed to me like people one would like to know. This show just reinforced that thought. Also my mom and I had a bet going and I lost. The actress who played Mrs.Gardiner was not in Bridgerton. My bad. Let's blame it on my undiagnosed partial face blindness. That's better than saying I am bad at remembering faces, right? Right??

As always, feel free to leave me a message below.

The Overdue Review: Doors Without End by Richard A Bamberg

 I read this book a long time ago. I was enamored then. I reread it recently and I found my re-enamored. If any of you out there are a fan of Marvel, Sci-fi, or simply questioning "What If", this novel is something that would be up your alley. Blurb from Goodreads.

When Robert Randall encounters a teenager during a blizzard, he quickly learns that her strangeness is only a foreshadowing of her impact on his life. Within minutes of meeting Kira, Robert is forced to kill, something he had sworn to never do again.

With her pursuers hounding their every move, Robert must escort Kira through the endless doors that connect the universes. All the while trying to get back to Kira’s dimension and rescue her mother from her captors.

Honestly, their blurb doesn't do the book justice. Here's my take:

Widower Robert Randall has been having a rough time. Aside from losing his beloved wife and their unborn child, his in-laws hate him, he's got the world's worst case of writers block and he can't stop talking to his dead comrade at arms. Just when he's about to drunkenly put a hole in his brain, Robert is stopped by thirteen year old Kira. She's on the run, being chased by strange gunman. Robert is quick to come to her rescue. Little does he expect his decision to change his life.

Richard A Bamberg's Doors Without End is a book you should read at least once. Robert is a beautifully broken and flawed character that you still find yourself rooting for, probably because he is so broken. This story is a fun journey I hope you all try.

As always, feel free to leave me a message below.