10 Fun Tricks to Beat the Winter Blues

With the Omicron variant, 25-degree-Fahrenheit weathers and a studio apartment to myself, this winter is the one where I go out the least. In the past month, I stepped out of my apartment only…. once a week. Sad it may seem, but I am actually having a great time: cozy, comfortable, and relaxing.

Here are 10 fun things I do to make my winter joyful. I hope it lights up yours too!

Winter mood

1. Cook up a hearty meal, such as spaghetti and meatballs. Here is my go-to recipe:

• Mix everything together from @seriouseats' ingredient list, without the onions, garlic and chicken stock gelatin. To make the texture and flavor even better, I also replace ground pork with Italian sausages that are broken down into pieces.

• Form the mix into meatballs however large you’d like.

• Make this super rich tomato sauce from blogger Pia Baroncini and cook on low for ~40 minutes. Video tutorial below, what a cute couple!

• Fry the meatballs a little, then drop them into the sauce 20 minutes before serving.

• Make pasta.

• And just like that, you’re done! Chef’s kiss!

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A post shared by Pia Baroncini (Arrobio) (@piabaroncini)

2. Bake this divine chocolate lava cake from @recipetineats. 6 ingredients, 30 mins prep + bake. Shortcut: Put a Lindt chocolate ball in place of the molten center. When finish, put a scoop of ice cream on top. Heaven!

3. Make THE best banana bread you’ll ever have. So delicious, all my friends asked me for the recipe.

4. Light up some candles. My favorite combo: Diptyque’s rose + bonfire candles. Soon after, any of my previous worries and anxiety would dissipate into this gorgeous scent.

5. Play some peaceful music in the background, like this spotify list. Puts me right to sleep.

6. Put on your coziest winter outfits, like this pair of llama fur slippers. They never fail to cheer me up, especially after a long day at work.

7. Wear a cotton bathrobe after a steamy shower. This has been a part of my evening ritual, ever since 2015.

8. Treat yourself to a quality spa. I am especially looking forward to booking a session at this Japanese spa in Greenwich Village.

9. Appreciate some art. Art always sends good vibes - no matter if it is a painting, a book, a movie, or a performance. This winter, I wish to check out many of the famous books/movies that I still somehow have never seen. My to-do list for the MLK day weekend: Finish The Great Gatsby. Yes, growing up in China, I have never read it!

10. Start a creative project. If you have some occasional creative juices flowing around, now is the time to get a project started. There is nothing more joyful than seeing your creation come into fruition, ready to entertain and nurture the world. I started my blog in the winter of 2019, and I have been loving every minute of it since. Somehow, writing became a therapy for me, helping me decompress outside my busy day job.

Et voila! These 10 things have helped me beat any blues I had, no matter if it is winter or not. Seasons always change, so is life. Before you realize, it will be breeze and sunshine again!

What are your fun tricks to beat the winter blues?

What Unexpected Relationships Have You Formed During The Pandemic?

This article is inspired by an essay with the same title on Cup of Jo by Abigail Rasminsky. Living in an apartment building in LA, the author - a writer and editor with a seven-year-old, formed a deep bond with her neighbor, a 70-year-old man who lives alone. It started with small gestures - exchanging bagels, bananas, cookies - then blossomed into a deeper relationship that mimics family. Things like that gave her extra warmth from a community she never thought of before - outside her circle of close friends and family.

That reminded me of my own experience here at New York City, with a community of security guards.

I started going back to the office pretty early, starting last October, and I was definitely one of the <15 people who came to work every day in a building that used to occupy a few thousand employees. The usually crowded lobby was now empty, and the security guards eventually knew me - the Asian girl with brown-rimmed glasses and a blue mask that walked in every day.

At first, we just nodded and smiled (under a mask) at each other. Then, one day when I left the building, a female security guard said to me, “Have a great weekend!” Surprised, I replied, “Thank you, you too!”

Soon, they started looking at the lunch I brought back with enormous curiosity.

“Sushi!” A man in the uniform said, “That looks so good!”

Or, looking at the oranges I brought back from Whole Foods, placed on top of a bowl of Sweetgreen as if the fruits are in a basket, “Did you just came back from an orchard?“

One day, a security guard decided to play soccer in the lobby with a ball of paper on a Friday night. “Soccer!” He shouted at me, as I walked past the security gate outside the elevator. I kicked the ball right back to him, and we shared a few laughs.

I am normally a very introvert person who do not really talk to strangers, and I still don’t know any of the security guards’ names. However, these interactions really provided a sense of warmth and community in my life that I didn’t expect I’d experience during a pandemic.

Becoming an adult, sometimes it can feel as if you are very much on your own. In the adult world, everything is a lot of work - you need to constantly work on your career, your social life, your health - or, it seems like, you will lose it all - without a good network of allies at your company, without close friends, without people that will lend a helping hand if you are sick.

Being organically involved in a community just because I am geographically close - because I bike from Midtown East to Midtown West to go to the office every day - really provided a safety net for my daily life.

It reminds me, when I am overwhelmed occasionally, that I’m being taken care of by the world.

Readers, what unexpected relationships have you formed during the pandemic?

On the day of election, New Yorkers waving to a young man who celebrated by riding a bike on the street and sounding a horn in his hand. Photographed by me, also celebrating, riding a citi bike.