A Cup of Magic Under the Full Moon

I just finished reading *The Full Moon Coffee Shop* by Mai Mochizuki, translated from Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood, and I absolutely loved it.

The book centers around a magical coffee shop that appears on full moon nights, run by talking cats who seem to know exactly who needs a little guidance. Through this whimsical setup, the author gently brings the characters’ inner thoughts, fears, and desires to the surface. What I loved most is that the characters already seem to know what they want, or what they need to do, but they cannot quite see it clearly or accept it yet. The coffee shop, with its cats, astrology, and beautifully described food and drinks, becomes a soft and magical space where they are able to understand themselves better.

The book also beautifully explores how we are all connected in one way or another. It shows how even small changes can create a big impact in our lives. Without giving away too much of the plot, there is one storyline about a character who moves from a lovely apartment into a rather dingy one and misses the comfort and niceties of the old place. Later, in the epilogue, the author shows how this person begins to spruce up the new apartment with small, thoughtful touches, slowly making it feel like home. I really loved that idea — that sometimes we cannot immediately change everything about our circumstances, but we can still bring beauty, comfort, and intention into the life we already have.

There are many gentle but meaningful themes throughout the book: reflecting on the past, finding the courage to face the future, standing up for yourself, allowing second chances, and rethinking relationships with more compassion. The descriptions of the food and beverages served in the café are absolutely mouthwatering, and the references to music and landmarks in Kyoto add such a lovely atmosphere.

At its heart, this book is about the human side of us: love, kindness, compassion, connection, and the relationships that shape our lives. It is magical without being overly complicated, thoughtful without being heavy, and emotional without feeling forced. The writing is crisp, the story moves quickly, and the whole book feels deeply satisfying.

Overall, *The Full Moon Coffee Shop* was a warm, charming, and beautifully written read. It left me with that cozy feeling of wanting to slow down, notice the small joys, and maybe make myself a very special cup of coffee.

Can This Love Be Translated - Korean Drama

 I finished Can This Love Be Translated today. I had been anticipating this drama for a while and ended up watching it at a pretty fast pace. It stars Kim Seon-ho and Go Youn-jung in the lead roles. 

The highlights for me were:

• Visuals — the locations, cinematography, and lighting were all stunning. It’s easily one of the most visually satisfying dramas I’ve watched in recent times.

• Cast — the male lead is one of my favorite actors, the leads have great chemistry, and the supporting cast is excellent as well.

This is not your standard rom-com. The drama dives into heavier themes such as childhood trauma, personality disorders, loss of privacy as a celebrity, and relationships between introverted individuals. The characters felt raw, vulnerable, and mature. Some scenes reminded me of It’s Okay to Not Be Okay—not in storyline, but in the honest, unfiltered portrayal of emotions and inner struggles.

The show is definitely a slow burn. It unfolds through glances, subtle touches, quiet understanding, and gradual revelations. The performances by both lead actors were exceptional, especially in moments where they come to realizations about themselves—the wonder, acceptance, and emotional clarity were beautifully portrayed. I also found it fascinating how thoughtfully the interpreter’s role was depicted and how it created a deeper layer of connection and understanding between the leads.

The “serial within a serial” concept was another fun element. Watching the behind-the-scenes aspects—the camera setups, location challenges, and production dynamics—felt like getting a glimpse into the making of a drama itself. The portrayal of celebrity culture, fan followings, promo events, and industry networking added an interesting meta layer to the story.

I want to end my review with a line that truly stayed with me. The interpreter’s mentor says:
“There are as many languages on this earth as there are humans. Each individual has their own language—you just need to understand it.”

That thought made a huge impact on me. It reminded me to slow down, listen more carefully, and really hear what people are trying to say.

For me, this drama is a 10/10. It’s not a run-of-the-mill watch, but it’s absolutely worth your time. Beautifully made and deeply felt.
If you’ve watched it, I’d love to know what you thought.

Love Scout - The new Ongoing Korean Drama

Love Scout K Drama (Ongoing) - I am loving this drama and grateful to have it just as When the phone rings wrapped up leaving a gap. (Spoilers ahead)

This drama got me hooked on from the first scene. It reminded me of some of the old Mills and Boon and Silhouette Romances that I used to read(I guess I am dating myself here). 

 Woman CEO who is successful with a bit of sad past but struggles with organization and clumsy. Step in the handsome tall Male Assitant who makes Organizaton look sexy. Lee Joon Hyuk and Han Ji Min are perfect for these roles. 

Looking forward to futher episodes and waiting for their romance to unfold. The OST, the details, the acting, the script—everything is perfection so far.

Comment and let me know if you are watching this series and what are you thoughts on this? 

Happy Sunday!!!

Rescuing my plants from my own mistakes

Hello All,

Happy Fall. Finally we have been having some cooler temps in Texas and I am for one enjoying it. Fall is my most favorite time of the year for sure. Lately I have jumped on the Houseplant bandwagon. It is more popular with the milleneals and Gen Z per most articles I have read - and although I am neither, I am still enjoying this whole houseplants idea except for Fungus Gnats (Which is a story for another time).

Although I have had some house plants over the years, I had not managed to keep them alive and I always thought I did not have the green thumb. But my friend M aka Maneesha dissuaded my beliefs and gave me a few plants that she had propagated for me to try out and my journed started then with a small spider plant and a baby monsterra. Now I have over 40 Plants in my house and it warms my heart.

Today's post is about rescuing three of my plants from my own mistakes - Overwatering and choosing a bigger pot than the plant needs. Over a time period of growing plants I have learnt a few things. Overwatering is the main aspect of it - I killed my plants mostly by overwatering. Again thanks to Maneesha - now I own a moisture meter and when I doubt I double check before I water the plants and I can happily say that most of my plants are doing well now. Keyword being Most - some are still struggling due to my watering zeal.

Second mistake that I was doing was choosing a pot that was bigger than what the plant needed. Most indoor houseplants like to be compact and root bound is what I have figured out. Also bigger pots means more soil and more water retention thus causing root rots.

For all the three plants that I rescued today - I did the following pot mix with whatever ingredients I had. I did not have all the things that are mentioend by different plant youtubers.
2 Parts Orchid Bark (this is what I had on hand) 2 Parts Perlite 2 Parts Cactus soil mix (I used this as I did not have compost or coco chips or peat moss and I felt like this would be less dense than the regular potting soil mix) 1/2 Part of coarse sand (this was just regular sand I had at home - it is medium coarse I would say)

You could obviously do more ore less of any of these and use other ingredients as you have them. If you search Youtube for aroid soil mixes there are gazillion videos out there.

1. Pachira Aquatica or Chinese Money Plant This plant of mine was doing really good and I was trying very hard not to overwater it. But what I had not realized was that it was a nursery pot within a ceramic pot and when I waterd more, the extra water was sitting inside the ceramic pot keeping the bottom part of nursery pot mosit and thus causing root rot. As I removed the plant fro pot, I could easily see two of the plants had root rot (it was five plants braided together) and then just broke off easily. So I removed those, checked the other three to make sure they were okay and then repotted it in the same pot as the pot size for now seemed okay (until next spring) with my new soil mix. I was happy to see that water drained quickly and now I will take it out of the outer pot and then water it to make sure it is drained fully before putting it back in the ceramic pot.

2. Anthurium I had bought this plant from walmart and it was in a very tiny nursery pot and I felt like it was growing quite a bit, so I ended up repotting it in a new pot which in retrospect I know was too large for this. And being a bit ignorant about anthurium and what kind of soil mix it likes, I just used regular indoor potting soil which was too dense and retained a lot of water causing root rot. You can see from pictures below that there were two plants in that anthurium plant and I lost one to root rot. I am hoping that the other one will survie well with the new potting mix. So it is very critical to use a good pot size for the plants.

3. Kalanchoe This beautiful flower plant was gifted to me by my cousin, but we were out of country for almost 10 days and this plant had completely withered without water. I tried to revive it by overwatering - SIGH and it was just not doing good. Leaves completely dropped and then today I noticed that one of the stems (it had 3 stems) was looking really black and I immediatly realized it was root rot and that stem was dying. Again I removed all the excess soil from the roots and then repotted it with the above mix. I also recently learned that Kalanchoe is a succulent and it retains a lot of water in its stems. So I am hoping with this soil mix it will come back and thrive. Crossing my fingers. I forgot to take pics of this plant..sorry.
Here are all the three pots that I repotted today.

I am writing a blog post after a long time. Thanks for stopping by and taking time to read. Any thoughts and comments or suggestions, please feel free to drop a comment for me.
Happy Planting folks......

My Mister Korean Drama

"Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films." - Director Bong Joon-ho said in his award acceptance speech. This totally sums up my experience with Korean Drama's. So thankful for Netflix in bringing these dramas for my viewing pleasure. 

If I love a movie or a drama - I tend to look up people associated with it - actors, directors, cinematographers etc and see other projects from them. So that is how I ended up with the serial "My Mister". I saw this amazing actress IU aka Lee Ji-eun in Hotel Del Luna and was so impressed by her. I will admit that it took me a few tries to see the first Episode of My Mister as I was seeing more of the Romance Dramas. But boy oh boy, after that first episode, I was hooked really bad and binge watched the serial.

(Picture Courtesy - NETFLIX)

This drama made me feel sad, hopeful, grateful and much more. You will fall in love with each of the characters, their relationships, conflicts and dynamics. The constant struggle to maintain a balance in life and the journey to find the inner peace and strength. Too much emotions are running through my head and I will try my level best to put it across as best as I can. 

The director has handled the relationship of the leads so well. He has depicted how a higher level of human relationship can exist between a man and woman with almost 2 decades of age difference without it being romantic. Lee Sun-kyun and Lee Ji-eun who play Park Dong-hoon and Lee Ji-an in the series have just done an outstanding job. Just like Ji-an's grandmother says - "If you think about it, all relationships are amazing and precious". That is exactly what this is. The raw-ness of humanity and how two people got saved because of each other is shown very well. 

The bond between the brothers, the bickering, the affection and the understanding. Neighborhood, family, friendship and even the morning soccer club. It is all relevant and needed. 

I had to look up "Jeong" because of this drama - one of Korean Cultural Values. As that is what this Drama taught me. Although jeong is better felt than put into words, the best way to describe it is a deep connection and emotional bond that builds over time and through shared experiences with other people, places, or things.

I am sure I can say so much more about this drama series. But maybe another time. For now, I will let you see it and please share your thoughts and comments on it.

Happy Thursday!!

"Hymn of Death"

Hello All, it has been a while since I posted on this blog. I have always been fan of Korean Drama and wanted to post my thoughts on this new Drama that I saw on Netflix.

(Picture Courtesy - NETFLIX)

"Hymn of Death" - An intense Korean mini series starring Lee Jong-Suk and Shin Hye-sun. It is one of the best Korean dramas I have seen in a long time. Emotionally Charged, it draws you in. For days after seeing it, I was still immersed in the despair, passion and love of the lead characters. Playwright Kim Woo-Jin and his love for Yun Sim-Deok, a talented Soprano set against a backdrop of Japanese occupied Korea, is what this drama is about. But to me it felt much more than that, it had intense longing and passion - towards country, towards writing, towards love. 

Lee Jung-Suk has just excelled in this role of Kim Woo-Jin. He is torn between his duties as a husband in his arranged marriage and between this fierce longing and love he feels towards the singer. It is a beautifully written tale of Love and does not drag on unnecessarily. You will notice that there are other people acting in this drama, but they all fall short in favor of the lead characters. Lee Jong-Suk especially stole the show as he displays the internal conflict so well. And as you go through the episodes, you can feel his turmoil as he struggles with what is expected from him and what his heart desires. And of course it helps that he looks devastatingly handsome in this three piece suit.

Shin Hye-Sun has shined in this drama. The Haughty singer, the helpless elder sister, the daughter who must make all the sacrifices for her family and her forbidden but unstoppable love for Woo-Jin. Her expressions of joy and sadness are so well done that you just absolutely get drawn in. She portrays a certain vulnerability in her character that I think is hard to do and she does it very gracefully. 

In the very first episode, Kim Woo-Jin will be reading a book by Takeo Arishima and the words are - “Watch, Watch how love takes from you. The moment you underestimate love as nothing but gentle strength, you have made a mistake. Love is something that you use to your advantage. To Love is to take unsparingly.” Sim-Deok walks in at that moment recognizing the author and she says she does not agree with the author. She says when you are in love it cannot be helped. To Love means give unsparingly no matter what. This was set well when the two lead characters meet and shows Sim-Deok’s passion and why she starts a relationship with Woo-Jin even after knowing he is married. Her enthusiasm for Woo-Jin’s writing, her encouragement that he write again, their comfortable silences when they meet - SIGH, it is all so poignant and so well written and of course so wonderfully enacted by Lee Jong-Suk and Shin Hye-Sun.

Hymn of Death is a romantic drama in essence, but the Japanese occupation of Korea plays an important role too. They have done a very good job balancing the history and romance part of it. It presents a story of a man and a woman who have been doing things to please and make sacrifices for their families when their own wishes are simple joys. He wants to write and she wants to sing. Living your life fiercely and joyfully does not need to be something Grand. Because more often than not, things that make us happy are simple things. Ending is something that I won’t comment on because whether I agree with it or not, maybe that is the way it needs to happen or that is the way it was. But overall, I absolutely loved this mini series and highly recommend it. 

Snail Mail Love

February is the month of IncoWriMo......What is this?

It is International Correspondence Writing Month

The goal is to hand write a letter, a postcard, note or anything and send it - I mean mail it via snail mail to someone everyday in the month of February.

Sounds interesting does it not? It is always easy to send an email or text or a message via the different social media, but it is really nice and relaxing to take some time out of your busy day to sit down and write some one a handwritten letter. This one is a true win-win because you and the recipient are happy.

As you can see in this photo, I am using some Global Forever Stamps - for international mail and some limited edition forever stamps for local mailing. If there are some stamp collectors in my recipients, I am sure they will be happy.

Here is the website for InCoWriMo 2018. The signups are closed now. But you can find addresses of people who have already signed up in the address list and you can still send some one a post card or a letter. 

Who to write to - You can pick some addresses from the InCoWriMo website, or write to your friends and family. You can send a thank you note to your local congress person, or your pastor/priest or teachers. It can be anybody. Ideally, you would mail the letter, but if that person is somebody who you meet often, you can of course hand deliver the mail. 

What to write does not have to be a big deal - you can write just about anything. Write about your pet, your car, your hobbies, your town, your passion, about yourself. Write about a book you read or movie you saw - almost like a review. Tell people about your day, your week...protocol is to keep it upbeat and positive. Recipients will be happy to get a letter about almost any topic in the world. 

Ah the handwriting Dillemma - my advice is accept your handwriting for what it is, maybe writing more often will help you. Do the best you can, keep it as readable as you can and enjoy this part of letter writing too. It will help you practice your writing and give some rest from typing. 

Supplies - you hardly need anything fancy. Just any paper and pen will do. I am of course using my fountain pens and a clairefontane letter pad (which works well for fountain pens). But just a simple note on a cheap copy paper or any paper, or a store bought simple greeting card, anything will work. :)

Be unreasonable, do not give into reasons as to why you cannot do this. I firmly believe that writing forces you to focus, makes you think of things that are important to you, rekindle some of your passions/hobbies (now this might not sometimes be good on your wallet) and motivate you. I also think of it as some ME Time - relaxing and almost meditative. 

Hope to see some of you participate in InCoWriMo. And you can stick to your local country and not send anything international if you want to keep you postage costs low. 


Cheers and Happy Tuesday and happy upcoming Hump Day..