2025: year in review

Another year has gone. It’s so odd to think of myself as a middle-aged late-thirties woman, but nobody tells you that your thirties can be so fun!

I haven’t blogged in a while, so I’m raring to go!

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A recap of my 2025 resolutions

Feeling like new, as a new mom returning to work, I was in the mood to do new year’s resolutions last year. Here’s what I wrote then, and here’s where I landed:

Books

I managed to read seven—seven! books this year. It might not seem like much, but for me it’s a modest feat, considering how much my reading habits had tapered off in favour of mindless scrolling in the last decade.

It feels good to rekindle the joy of reading. Even the books I read, that I liked the least, had something for me to take away. The biggest disappointment for me was She and Her Cat. It just lacked substance, even for someone like me who lives for slice-of-life. Granted, it was an impulse purchase which wasn’t even on my reading list.

The standouts for me are Platonic and Middlemarch. They both deserve a place on my shelf.

Recipes

It’s so curious to think that a decade ago, I only tried new recipes only once or twice a year. Granted, I didn’t have a proper, comfortable access to a kitchen until I moved in with Ben, nine years ago. It was also being in a dual-income household that afforded me the resources to actually experiment in the kitchen, which, admittedly I only started doing much of when the pandemic happened.

Anyway, I’ve probably tried a dozen or so new recipes. I don’t feel like listing them all here, because some aren’t that new, nor might I care to make them often.

So, here are my favourites this year. I’ve cooked each more than once, and these are part of my weekly lunch rotation:

Poached Chicken with Ginger Scallion Sauce by Judy of The Woks of Life
- In my early twenties, my then-boyfriend used to take me to Lugang Cafe and order their ‘chicken topped with scallion and ginger oil’. That it still haunted me to this day made me hunt for a similar recipe, and I landed on this very accessible one.

Alfredo Salmon Pasta by Nagi Maehashi of RecipeTin Eats
- The idea of salmon in white-sauce pasta actually came to me via a Mrs. Midwest vlog, where she crumbled leftover baked salmon in pasta, with spinach tossed in. Starting from scratch, I found Nagi’s recipe instead, which uses smoked salmon. It’s pretty great! When I remember to, I add spinach to it.

Curried prawns by buddingcook of Australia’s Best Recipes
- This one, I had for the first time at my in-laws’ house in Brisbane. Sue cooked it one evening, and I was smitten. It is an Australian take on curry, and blends Western vegetables with Indian curry powder. I use frozen cooked prawn, because I find fresh prawn goes bad very quickly, and you have to manage the pungent odour when you’re not cooking it on the same day you buy the prawns.

Zuppa Toscana Soup {Olive Garden Copycat Recipe} by Jaclyn of Cooking Classy
- Another Mrs. Midwest feature—she cooked this in one of her vlogs, and I thought it looked really hearty. I was right on the money. It’s so good even by itself. A butcher in Queen Victoria Market explained to me that most pork sausages in Australia are in the Italian style, which traditionally contains fennel. So if you’re in Australia, all you have to do is cut open the casings of regular pork sausages to get the sausage mince. And so, I skip the fennel in the recipe itself.

Other highlights, or those times I baked something for other people and was pleasantly surprised at their joy:

Strawberry cheesecake by Nagi Maehashi of RecipeTin Eats
- I told Ben that I’d bake him a cake for his birthday, and he requested a strawberry cheesecake. So I made one. It’s so remarkably beginner-friendly and quite aesthetic. I made enough to share with a friend. I got compliments on this.

Supernatural brownies by Julia Moskin of NYT Cooking, adapted from Nick Malgieri
- ‘Do not make this if you live alone!!,’ says the most-voted comment on the page. ‘I’ll never need another brownie recipe,’ says another. ‘Stopped collecting brownie recipes since I started making these years ago. Best. Brownie. Ever. They even freeze well, if you can save any from ingestion on day one,’ a third one says. How could I not try them after all of that? And it delivers. If you’re blocked by a paywall, just hit me up—I can gift you a link.

I’ve also learned to make cream cheese frosting, a surfeit of which was a by-product of my carrot cupcakes for Easter. I froze the leftover frosting and slathered them atop honey bread for a community morning tea, a couple months later. They were a hit alongside the cucumber sandwiches. It hit me that I was now the kind of mom who brought baked goods to a potluck. And it felt nice.

I want to make more recipes, particularly more vegetarian-leaning ones, as well as those featuring complex carbs that I have always found boring and sad. For the sake of my and my family’s health and well-being, I’d love to learn to work with beans, barley, lentils, and quinoa more.

Friday abstinence

That is, observing a pescatarian diet on Fridays.

I did well in this regard, in that it stopped feeling like a chore. There have been days when I genuinely forgot that I was meant to be abstaining, but no drama.

I would like to take it a step further, and go vegetarian when I can.

Alcohol

The funny thing about abstaining from alcohol is realising you never really cared for it much. This was easy. I have a new rule for myself moving forward—no alcohol unless in a social situation, and when I actually want a drink.

Digital minimalism

Boy, I have been reading and writing about digital minimalism since Cal Newport wrote a book on the subject, which has been more than half a decade since.

Perhaps it has something to do with becoming a mother, and being much more time-poor than if I were child-free, but I made huge strides in becoming less ‘terminally online’. This year, I successfully got into the habit of leaving my phone in the bedroom as I went downstairs to start my day, or leaving it at home when I went on a short errand (usually picking Elijah up from daycare, or dropping him off), and a few times, even leaving it out of my reach when I went to bed.

Honestly, it feels liberating to not be beholden to that impulse to open my phone and scroll on social media at any given moment. To not look for it. To not care about Facebook or Instagram for days on end. More of my free time is spent doing things offline that feel meaningful to me, even if it’s just keeping the house tidy, or doing bits of gardening work.

I think a part of it is wanting to ensure that Ben and I model good behaviour for Elijah. I want him to grow up like I did, and not normalise an environment where everyone’s sitting around, all on their phones. Even though we don’t use the iPad on Elijah, what minimal exposure he has had to it induces a very strong reaction from him whenever he’d even just see me holding my iPad. It’s honestly disturbing. This is not how I’d like him to grow up. On the rare occasions that we get to sit down for dinner all together, Ben also reminds me that it is ideal for mealtimes to be screen-free—not even with television.

Physical activity

I did so well in this area—of trying to walk every day and working out twice a week—then it kind of tapered off towards the end of the year as I prioritised family time and well-being over trying to do it all. It… does not feel good. I miss working out. I should pick it up again the soonest.

I recently read a NY Times article, titled ‘How Little Exercise Can You Get Away With?‘, and it made me rethink my approaches to my own workouts. I try to maintain a twice-weekly strength training regime, informed by the training I used to do with my old trainer in the Philippines. Honestly, it feels a bit tedious. It starts with 15 minutes of moderate (not HIIT) cardio, then at least three supersets of exercises, each superset going for three sets (sorry my wording is so clumsy. I hope you understand what I’m saying.) The entire thing easily takes up 90 minutes, if you account for changing and all the shuffling that goes with going to the gym. And I very rarely take a break for longer than two minutes between sets.

I suppose I need to be much more flexible with what comprises a full workout. I really don’t like the idea of splitting muscle groups between workouts. Hmm. So I am considering just dropping the number of sets. Or maybe discarding supersets and just doing one exercise per set?

I’ve been working out since 2017 and I think it’s paid off. Even though I’m very firmly overweight and am at my heaviest, ever, I still get away with some clothes that fit me 20 lbs ago. All things considered, I still quite like my curves.

I don’t want to drop what little cardio I do. It’s the only thing that really makes me sweat. And I really hate it, therefore it should stay.

I do wish to incorporate some sports, just for the dynamic and social component of it. An indoor badminton court recently opened near here. And these warmer months are great for lawn bowling.

Snacking

I didn’t quite hit my stride as far as ‘no mindless snacking’ is concerned. I find that snacks are offered to me wherever I go—in morning teas, on random occasions at work, at home. I did not need to procure my own snacks to be able to binge or indulge in something nearly every day. So moving forward, I simply have to refuse.

Instead, I hope to reframe my relationship in terms of abundance and gluttony—too much and in excess can be sinful. For my own circumstances, nearly all my wants and whims, far beyond my needs, are practically within my fingertips. What a time to be alive, when your problem is that you seem to cannot stop putting food in your mouth.

Honestly, it’s so disordered. I am a fiend.

Other non-resolutions that happened this year

That is, other things I didn’t plan for, but were wonderful additions to my life:

A sense of community

How beautiful it is, to find a community that feels meaningful to you. I didn’t understand it before this year, but in my own way, I signed up to be a member of a local community garden, as well as a group called the Catholic Women’s League, which does occasional retreats. I’ve been to nearly every one as far as I could tell, and every single retreat has been a positive, reflective experience.

I have also joined my local parish’s choir—and guess what—they’re all Filipino. I also put my hand up to be proclaimer of the Word, on Sundays when my choir isn’t rostered.

I spent my twenties feeling like a stranger to every church I attend mass in. I suppose it’s the nature of many parishes in the Philippines—when the pews are filled shoulder-to-shoulder every Sunday, well, it’s a nice problem to have, but it also means people are less inclined to feel like a tight community.

In Australia, especially in rural towns, church attendance is so meagre, that parishioners and the priest alike would greet and introduce themselves to new faces. With my own local, it took my becoming a mother before I let myself integrate into the community. People are kind and understanding about Elijah’s behaviour during mass. People talk to me and ask about me during community morning teas. The parish priest knows me by face and by name, and he knows my son, too. I never thought I’d get to this point.

Small wins with hobbies

My local library—how blessed am I; is this how it feels to have a local library network?—had a free ukulele class early in the year. I took the plunge. I bought a ukulele off Facebook Marketplace. It’s perfectly tuned and it sits in my office still perfectly tuned and perfectly ignored.

But I know I can pick it up now, any time, look up chords online, and teach myself as little or as much as I’m comfortable with.

I also finally, finally bought a sewing machine—again for cheap, bless Facebook Marketplace. I did a first project off of an old dress that I could no longer wear, but meant a lot to me. My local library network also has a free sewing lounge, where this lovely woman offers her time to teach and guide beginners like me to sew—whether by hand or with a machine.

My gardening game has also never been better. A decade ago I couldn’t even work up the courage to dig up a plant from its pot to transplant. This year, I grew pansies, cosmos, strawberries, potatoes… It’s so much fun.

Got really into letter-writing

I have Jenna to thank for my renewed love for giving and posting handwritten letters and cards. I exchange cards with relatives. I write letters when I can. I learned to post mail by inserting it in a mailbox, like in cartoons. It’s… so weird. I don’t remembe ever indulging in posting letters in the Philippines. I’m not even sure if we have mailboxes for posting mail with. I know PhilPost exists, but that’s the extent of what I know.

But it’s so much fun to let your personality shine through. In the ink and paper you choose. In your handwriting. In the stamps you choose. In the little embellishments you indulge in, like a personal wax seal, a return address stamp, or a stamp of Saint Anthony, who will see your mail safely to its recipient. I have partaken of it all.

Finally bought myself a gaming PC

I didn’t end up becoming an Overwatch streamer, or rise above bronze, or any of the sort of fantasies I’d had before I had a PC.

That was in May. In the eight months since, my PC has seen 0.0 hours of gaming. Sorry, Toby.

It’s odd, and illuminating, and liberating, to think that I have become that ‘boring’ mom who doesn’t game, considering my regard (or lack thereof) for non-gamers back in my youth. Gaming was a huge part of my identity. The last few years would have pandered to me and my generation, putting out remakes of games I absolutely loved as a child. But it turns out, I have had zero desire to pick up a single game for even just an hour. It’s funny how life turns out. But I am at peace. Saka natahimik din.

Travelled to the Philippines, after three years

This is one of those entries that should probably be its own entry. Ben, Elijah, and I finally travelled home to the Philippines. It was Elijah’s first overseas trip, and it was the first time that most of my family was meeting him.

It was a hellish, wonderful three weeks. It was my second time coming home since moving to Australia, and every trip decreases my anxieties about travel.

I cannot wait to return, hopefully sooner than three years!

Made a new friend

‘What is a friend? One soul abiding in two bodies.’

Probably the most unexpected thing this year was meeting the person who has become, to date, my best and greatest friend.

I used to tell people that friendships are secondary to me, because I honestly didn’t feel the need to connect with people in my life in a way that felt essential to my being. I had my husband, my family; I had my sisters, I’d reason out. I think I felt that way, because I just didn’t know or feel firsthand the absolute joy of connecting with a friend.

Steve, I don’t think I would have had the zeal to live out so many of my hobbies and interests this year, if it weren’t for you. And all you did was exist. I didn’t realise hanging out could be fun well into adulthood. That I could feel good about passing the time in the company of someone who wasn’t my immediate family. Suddenly I had the motivation to go places, do things, and not have to subject my husband to my company and my whims nearly every day of our lives. Ben has always been worried for me and how small my world was, revolving just around him and Elijah.

I didn’t know that friendship can feel this secure, where I don’t need to worry about what you’re thinking, or how I’m coming across. Our banter comes easily. And I trust you.

Suddenly we have company over a few times a month, doing small, simple rituals like movie night and dinner. You’ve been there for me when I needed help, when it’s taken me this long to learn to ask for help. You’ve probably cooked and baked more stuff for me and Ben, than I have for you!

I want you to know that you’re an amazing, beautiful person, and I wish you as much happiness as this life can give.

Overall, 2025 felt like a year that just kept giving. How fitting, as it is the year of my Chinese sign. I turned thirty-six. Somehow, most things in my life lined up, and I am realising even today who I am and the life I want to live.

I thank the Lord for the year that has been, as it felt like I have begun to live the life I’ve always valued.

We close our eyes
and the world has turned around again

We close our eyes and dream
and another year has come and gone