Chillin' Newsletter Vol.010

Vintage Retro Mid-Century Colorful Abstract Shapes

Chill’n

Newsletter

VOL. 010/2024

Vintage Retro Mid-Century Orange Boomerang

Chill'n is a project developed in Chill Write. From the ground up everything is created at Chill. We pitch ideas to the group, then assignments are divided out, then all the articles are written by the Chill Write Team.

Our Trip to

Japan!

Visiting Japan was a wonderful experience for us. This trip was Jame’s second time to Japan, but this was a new experience for Alex. Unless you count the time Alex went when he was too young to remember anything and never left the airport.

Watercolor Illustration of Tokyo Skytree with Clouds

We all got to the airport around 5 am to around 530 am. Everyone was tired but excited for the week ahead. I decided to watch some movies and a documentary about superheroes, which was really interesting. We flew to Seoul, South Korea first, then we flew to Tokyo Japan with an hour and a half bus ride to the lovely hotel. We arrived after midnight, very exhausted.

Painterly Textured Lunar New Year Cherry Blossoms

One of the first things we did in Japan was visit the top of the Tokyo Skytree. It took three elevator rides in total to reach the top, which was absolutely terrifying for some of the Chillies and mentors. We (Alex and James) didn't get scared, though. It was a magnificent view from the top. We could see the Tokyo Tower (Tokyo's homage to the Eiffel Tower), the Asahi headquarters (which looks like a beer mug) and diner, and Mt. Fuji.

Akihabara was a massive outdoor mall filled with shops, mostly Anime and gaming. James has bought back some gifts for himself and some for friends from chill. Selling mostly T-shirts and toys and figures, the place is massive and 100 percent worth a visit. Alex visited Super Potato a multi-levelled retro game store and purchased an assortment of Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS games with Japanese titles that he could not understand, to say nothing of the dialogue int the games. One of those games was apparently called “Squirrel Fighter”.

We went to a place that donned us in traditional kimonos, and visited a private temple where we participated in a traditional tea ceremony, in which we drank green tea.

Alex was surprised to learn that slurping when drinking is a polite way of signifying that one enjoys the drink.

There were many great restaurants offering delicious Japanese cuisine, but the one that we enjoyed the most was Ganko Takasegawa Nijo-en. This was a traditional Japanese diner with a bamboo aesthetic and a beautiful garden in the back for guests to visit. We were served platters of lovely seafood.

It blended the old with the new, as the venue was staffed with robot kitchenhands that dutifully carried used dishes away. They were just motorized carts, not actual bipedal humanoid machines. One of them beeped at Alex to get out of the way, and Alex apologized and stepped aside. The robot did not respond.

Illustration of a Traditional Japanese Dojo Building

Bonsai sokan style. The art of growing dwarf plants.

The thing James enjoyed the most in Tokyo was Tokyo Disneyland. James was on the hunt for some of the theme park food as he had seen on YouTube. He went on Pirates of the Caribbean: The Ride, Peter Pan, It’s a Small World, Snow White, Pinocchio, Star Wars Star Tours, and Splash Mountain, with lunch in between. He also found popcorn with unique Flavors and Mike Wazowski melon bread.

South Korea Cute and Simple Floral Landscape Cherry Blossom

South Korea Cute and Simple Floral Landscape Plum Blossom

James also enjoyed other wonderful snacks at Universal Studios. James went to mostly the wizarding world of Harry Potter and other shops and food venues. Alex got to go to the beautiful super Nintendo world and was blown away by the moving collectables and enemies, and the thrilling Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge VR experience. It wasn’t a very fast ride, but very well-made and fun. We had dinner at a pizza place in the park. Alex tried the new experience of pizza with honey in it, and James had melon-flavoured Fanta.

Lined Cartoon Buildable Theme Park Ferris Wheel

Lined Cartoon Buildable Theme Park Roller Coaster

Lined Cartoon Buildable Theme Park Carousel

Dotonbori in Osaka was filled with shops, street food, and restaurants with amazing crepes and pork buns. Alex’s group went to a yakiniku (table barbeque) restaurant where he and the others enjoyed some super rare meats.

Japanese Summer Festival Chocolate Banana Snack

Pinoy Nostalgic Strawberry Flavored Candy Snack

The whole trip was freezing cold, of course, but nevertheless heaps of fun. Overall, we had a fantastic time in the land of the rising sun, and we can’t wait to go again in the future.

The Idea of this concept was to swap 2 pieces of literature and review them, I ended up with Twin-Star Exorcist and Lachie with Deltora Quest.

Jewel Gemstones. Jewelry Crystal Gems, Diamond Jewel Precious Gemstone, Luxury Brilliant Gems. Crystal Jewels Vector Illustration Icons Set

Deltora Quest review First...

Set in the land of Deltora which has been over-run by the evil shadow lord, we follow Lief, Barda and Jasmine as they travel to all sorts of deadly locations in order to gather the 7 gems of Deltora-The Diamond, The Emerald, The Lapis Lazuli, The Topaz, the Opal, The Ruby and the Amethyst. At each stage of the journey, there is a map view of the land of Deltora, showing the locations of the gems. This helps the reader track of the three’s journey. On their quest, they encounter the other races of Deltora and fight against creatures that serve the Shadow Lord. If you’re a fan of fantasy and adventure stories, Emily Rodda’s Deltora Quest, published in 2000, will keep you hooked from page 1 to the end. There are 3 series total, the 1st one has 7, 2nd has 3 and the last series has 4.

-Lachie

Deltora Quest review First...

-Lachie

Twin Star Exorcist

I have read the first half of the first volume Lachie lent me. The characters are fleshed out and give a decent amount of surprise, alongside the world building the story has been able to achieve a deep understanding in a short amount of time. The uniqueness of the plot is structured very much like an anime as opposed as to a typical manga which allows most to enjoy without much of a habit of reading. I cannot comment on the plot after the first half of first volume but the way the characters and world are built

I feel that the story could go many ways.

My biggest criticisms have to be, the lack of suspense and the very typical anime story. I feel like this half-isekai is a bit overdone nowadays. Otherwise great story and good read.

- William

Chill Search

To Find:

Connection
Ice Breaker
Friendships
Roger St
Chill

Energy
Jerry
Wagging
Fascinating
Silly

Ramen
Free
Proud
Brave
Effort

Chuffed
Variable
Calm
Collective

Ingredients for a Dinner Party

Recipe 1: Mushroom Cream Pasta

Serves 4-6, for GF option remove bread crumbs and use GF pasta

Ingredients:

½ cup nutritional yeast

1½ cups cashews soaked in 2 cups mushroom broth (I use Imagine Foods)

8 ounces (225 grams) mushrooms

2 medium sweet onions

I tsp or 2 cloves garlic, minced

½ cup olive oil, divided

I pound penne, prepared

I cup frozen peas, thawed

Optional: I cup panko bread crumbs mixed with I tbsp olive oil for topping

Method:

In a wide, large Dutch oven, sauté the mushrooms, onions, and garlic in 2 tablespoons of oil over high heat, but do not add salt. Salt will make the mushrooms weep, or lose their water, and they won't get crispy and delicious. This will take several minutes.

While they are cooking, add the cashews, their liquid, and the remainder of the olive oil to your blender.

Blend for 2 minutes, rest for I minute, and repeat until the mixture is thick and creamy.

If you have a high-powered blender, you can skip the soaking and process on the hot soup setting. Once the cashew cream is smooth, add to the mushrooms and heat through. You can either toss this with the pasta and serve immediately, or you can bake it.

If baking, combine everything in the Dutch oven, sprinkle the panko crumbs over, and bake at 325° for 20 minutes.

(N.B. 325 degrees F is equivalent to 160 degrees C)

My Experience

Pasta making experience: For this particular recipe, I made my own pasta. The pasta machine that I have, like all pasta machines, this one takes practice and this was my first time making pasta from scratch and I over-kneaded so it was very chewy. When doing research about making pasta from scratch, a lot of recipes used a mix of plain four and semolina flour but I used 100% semolina flour and water. Overall, I would say that homemade pasta is pretty simple provided that you know how to use the machine in the first place!

White Rectangle Background with Uneven Edges

The sauce: the sauce making experience was pretty simple, it is just 3 main ingredients, cashews, mushroom stock and oil blended up and then once I cooked it, I added nutritional yeast which has a cheesy flavour.

Overall, the taste of the dish was great, although one thing that I could improve on would be the pasta making, the sauce on the other hand would be good with almost any pasta, even some grains or seeds like buckwheat or quinoa.

Recipe 2: Lentil Lasagne