Three Things From Last Week

Froot Ring, phone detox & zongzi origins

Hello, hi, here are three things from last week that I thought you might like:

1. Froot Loops are called Froot Ring in Asia

Anyways, here is a very happy Adam with his froot ring:

2. I got a new Muji alarm clock that I really like

As you may know, I’ve been trying to spend less time on my phone. I made this whole comic about doing it:

So after all that, I then proceeded to get addicted again while trying to get over my jetlag. OOPS! But now I’m trying to get back on track and one of the biggest excuses I had for myself to check my phone in the morning is to see what time it is. So as a solution I bought myself a cute bedside clock:

It was such a fun little analog clock! It was so cute! And looked so good on my bedside table! But I quickly realized…

I’m fucking blind as fuck without my glasses.

I could not read the time at all in the dark AND without my glasses!!!

Accepting defeat, I searched for a nice big clock with a BIG time for my BLIND eyes and I found this bedside clock from Muji which satiates my wishes for a cute and design-y clock that I can actually read:

If you’re in Taiwan, I got it from here, and if you’re in the US it looks like there’s a similar version (without the dates/temp) and just a massive time (which honestly may be even better for those blind like me).

It’s also cool cause you can adjust the volume of the alarm! A huge win for me as I hate loud things. Hooray for clocks!

3. Zongzi was supposedly originally made as fish food so the fish wouldn’t eat a dead body

If you don’t know what zongzi is, it is a rice dish in Asia made of sticky rice and fillings (such as meat, peanuts, egg yolk) that are shaped in bamboo leaves and steamed. They look like this:

Zongzi are really yummy. I highly recommend trying it if you haven’t before. If you’re in New York and want to try it, here’s the zongzi lady I used to buy it from in Chinatown.

Anyways, my mum bought some from the market the other day and told us about its origin myth. Once upon a time, there was once a very popular poet in China named Qu Yuan. He was an advocate for the people and always tried to appeal to the emperor who ignored his requests. Troubled with his failure to represent the people, he threw himself into the river and killed himself. Yikes!

The people of the kingdom were devastated and in order to stop the fish was eating his body, they threw in zongzi into the river so the fish would eat them instead. So apparently that’s how zongzi came about.

Fun stuff eh?

Anyways, that concludes this week’s “Three Things From Last Week”! I’m thinking of starting this as a fun weekly newsletter as I navigate this new chapter in my life.

I’m not set on the name though… Any thoughts on something more concise and spiffy? The current name just feels too long! Or maybe it’s fine! IDK!!!

I’m open to suggestions!

Please help me!!!!