19 October 2025
This Week’s Little Joys: Donabe Rice, Mala Hotpot, K-pop Nostalgia, and Yiko’s New Obsession
Jjji
Girls. We Survived Another Week.
Writing this weekly series has been my tiny therapy — it lets me pause, look back, and reflect on the busy week. More than anything, it helps me notice the small joys in my life — the quiet, everyday things that somehow keep me grounded in this big, chaotic city.
This week’s survival kit included:
- A comforting Japanese-style Donabe rice recipe that tastes like a warm hug,
- A new homemade dog treat experiment for Yiko,
- My weekly Mala hotpot ritual at my favorite spot in Seoul,
- A random K-pop meme that completely hijacked my brain,
- and A Paul Thomas Anderson film that reminded me what real cinema feels like.
Little things, I know — but they carried me through the week.
Donabe Rice Recipe — My Cozy Comfort Food in Seoul
Nothing beats a warm bowl of Donabe rice on a chilly Seoul evening.
When I have no idea what to make for dinner, this is my go-to combo: Donabe rice + any kind of seasoned fish.
This Japanese-style clay pot rice recipe gives about 4–5 servings and tastes healthy, homey, and full of quiet satisfaction. But honestly? The process of making it is half the joy.
I love the ritual of touching the Donabe pot — it feels alive somehow.
Every time I cook with it, I feel like I’m slowly seasoning it to grow into me. It’s not just cookware; it’s something that coexists with me.
Ingredients for Donabe Rice
- Rice — 2 cupsFish — any kind (mackerel, salmon, flounder, etc.)
- Mushrooms — any mix you like
- Miso — 1 tbsp for rice, 2 tbsp for fish
- Mirin — 2 tbsp for rice
- Soy sauce — 2 tbsp for rice, 3 tbsp for fish
- Tsuyu — 1 tbsp for rice
- Dashi powder — 1.5 tbsp for rice
- Lemon juice (100%) — a splash or to taste
How to Make Donabe Rice
🍚Cook the rice
- In a donabe, add rice and water.
- Season with 2 tsp each of dashi, miso, soy sauce, and mirin.
- Flatten the rice evenly and top with mushrooms.
- Cover and cook over medium heat for 11–13 minutes
🐠Cook the fish
- If fresh: pan-fry until you get a nice golden sear.
Then add 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp mirin, and a bit of butter. - If frozen: air-fry or oven-bake until golden and crisp (about 7–10 minutes).
🍴Combine
- Once the rice is done, place the fish and its sauce on top.
- Cover again and let it rest for 10 minutes.
🍛Finish & serve
- Right before eating, drizzle with lemon juice to brighten everything up.
(Trust me — you’ll thank yourself later.)
Dog Treat Recipe — Pollock + Seaweed Rolls for Yiko
My dad always gives me tons of unsalted seaweed whenever I visit him. — not the packaged kind, but the ones you roast by hand over a gas flame. Dangerous? Yes. Delicious? Absolutely.
Every time I eat the seaweed, my dog Yiko circles like a tiny shark, nose practically glued to the air, captivated by the smell and the crunch.
So I did some research — turns out, plain roasted seaweed is actually good for dogs (in moderation).
So these days, I make Yiko what I call her pollock sushi: three freeze-dried pollock cubes rolled inside a roasted seaweed strip. (I roll it the same way people do rollies)
She’s obsessed. And trust me — Jindo dogs are picky eaters.
She used to leave half her food untouched, but now she finishes everything just to get her “sushi.”
Both pollock and seaweed are halmeoni-coded (grandma-coded) foods, so maybe it’s destiny. Yiko’s a true Korean native dog at heart.
Mala Hotpot in Seoul — The Spicy Cure-All
Chinese food is my soul food. And Mala hotpot? That’s my religion.
That numbing, spicy, soul-awakening flavor fills a void nothing else can.
Recently, I went back to Yongga Mala Hotpot, my favorite most affordable Mala spot in Seoul.
Each person gets their own little pot, and all the ingredients circle around you like a sushi train — endless plates of tofu, beef, lotus root, and mushrooms floating by like gifts from the spice gods.
For a Mala addict like me, it’s the ultimate amusement park.
It’s also the best kind of self-care: cheap, satisfying, and guaranteed mood-lifting.
For around $15 USD for all-you-can-eat meat and authentic Chinese hotpot ingredients.
If you ever search for “best Mala hotpot in Seoul,” this is it.
K-pop Nostalgia — The “My Hips Won’t Stop” Meme
If you’ve been anywhere on Korean Instagram lately, you’ve probably seen the “골반이 멈추질 않아” (“My hips won’t stop moving”) meme — created by @ponggwi, using AOA’s Short Skirt instrumental.
The clips are quirky and absurdly funny: retro-style edits of women whose hips literally won’t stop dancing. It’s interactive, chaotic, and weirdly nostalgic.
The editing screams 2010s — pixel fonts, sparkly borders, and early internet avatar characters.
It’s gotten so viral that even typing “hip” on Google Korea now autocompletes to “골반이 멈추질 않아.”(My hip won't stop moving).
Thanks to it, I’ve fallen back into a K-pop nostalgia spiral — revisiting all the second and third-gen(?) hits that raised me.
A few bangers for you to try: (I should really start compiling a playlist)
- EXO – Growl
- Brown Eyed Girls – Abracadabra
- Sistar – Touch My Body
- T-ARA – Roly Poly
- f(x) – Electric Shock, Hot Summer
- Lee Hyori – Miss Korea
- BoA – Game
- Taemin – Danger
- SHINee - Ring Ding Dong, Juliette
- KARA - STEP, Mister
Movie of the Week — One Battle After Another
I finally watched Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film, One Battle After Another, this week — and wow.
Three hours that felt like ninety minutes. Every frame had me glued.
I’ll save my full thoughts for a separate review, but for now: it’s one of the most immersive films I’ve seen in years.
The last time I felt this level of emotional whiplash was Everything Everywhere All at Once.
If you can, watch it in IMAX.
I used to think IMAX was just a bigger screen — it’s not. It’s an experience. You feel the film in your chest.
Still can’t believe I didn’t watch Dune that way. Lesson learned.
With streaming taking over, going to the theater feels rare now — but for movies like this, it’s definitely worth it.
From now on, it’s IMAX or nothing. (I MEAN IT!)
Wrapping Up
Cooking, eating, rewatching, rediscovering — happiness isn’t a diamond ring.
It’s made up of tiny moments like these.
(Though let’s be real, I wouldn’t say no to diamonds either.) 💅
I’m grateful for my people — the friends who eat hotpot with me, my parents healthy enough to still roast seaweed over a gas flame (a dangerous art form, honestly), and the fact that I’m still employed and can afford my weekly Mala ritual and the occasional IMAX escape.
If you’re reading this, I’d love to hear from you.
Which big city do you live in, and what were your small joys this week?
Tell me everything — I want to know what keeps you grounded in the chaos.