For my favourite games, I prefer to play them only once or twice every year, oftentimes even less. Same with my favourite delicate dishes in the culinary arts.

Here's something from the director of Studio Ghibli films, Hayao Miyazaki:

-Do you have any ideas on how today's children, such as Chihiro, can regain their energy?

Hayao Miyazaki: If you let me have my own way, I'd first reduce the amount of manga, video games, and weekly magazines. I would drastically reduce the number of businesses that target children.

Our work is part of them, but I think we should let our children watch animation only once or twice a year, and ban cram school as well.

If we let children have more of their own time and have their own way, they'll become more lively in a year or so.

There are too many people who make money off of children. There is evidence we can live without such things here in this park, yet there are too many things around us to relieve our unsatisfied hearts and boredom.

This is the fault of adults; it's adults who are in the wrong shape. Children are just mirrors, so no wonder they are in the wrong shape.

[Source: Interview: Miyazaki on Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi]

Games

So what games do I enjoy once or twice a year?

Journey

I end up playing Journey by thatgamecompany less than once a year, usually on the anniversary of the game's release in March when there are most likely to be other people playing. Then you can meet companions for your pilgrimage across a vast, isolating desert of glittering, undulating dunes to the mysterious, glowing mountaintop in the distance.

For Journey, I love to play the soundtrack on piano, sometimes for days every week or two. It is so stirring, haunting, the way it ebbs and swells and flows. But I rarely play the game itself. Part of it is that I am more entranced by the music than the emotion of reaching the mountaintop. But also I do feel that it is best enjoyed once or twice a year. It is close to a pilgrimage, gameplay-wise and in terms of how often I revisit it – an experience verging on sacred.

Screenshot from *Journey* of rolling pink dunes and green skies

Forgotton Anne

Forgotton Anne is inspired by Studio Ghibli films, both visually and narrative-wise. It is made by ThroughLine Games in Denmark. You play as the Enforcer, Anne, who sets out to quash a rebellion in a magical land of forgotten objects.

Like Miyazaki encourages for his own films at Studio Ghibli, I enjoy playing Forgotton Anne once or twice a year.

Dishes

And what desserts do I enjoy making once or twice a year? For me, this includes macarons, and a pistachio mousse and raspberry sorbet & meringue dessert.

The acclaimed dessert maestro, MasterChef semifinalist and KOI restaurant founder Reynold Poernomo has said on his funny YouTube videos that he actually doesn't like sweetness very much. This is what makes his desserts so interesting on the palate, because they explore many punchy complementary flavours like saltiness and sourness to offset and play alongside the sweetness. I also don't like to eat sweet processed foods very often, and that's part of why I only make these once or twice a year, or less.

Macarons

I use Tim Clark's recipe for macarons shared via Kirsten Tibballs. Tim Clark is a co-founder of Cacao, who have been rated as making the best macarons in Melbourne. Their macarons have a crisp, delicate shell, and soft, chewy centre, filled with an array of utterly delicious flavours ranging from tart – like raspberry, strawberry & cream and violet & blackcurrant – to rich – like salted caramel, pistachio, honeycomb and chocolate.

You can watch this tour of Cacao with Tibballs and Clark. The recipe by Tim Clark is available on Kirsten Tibballs' website under her online culinary school, Savour School, replete with a video of Clark and Tibballs making the recipe and providing all their best cooking tips.

Or if you really want, you can order these beautiful macarons from Cacao's website, but be warned that macarons can be pretty pricey. (That's also why it's a treat for once or twice in the year for us.)

Pistachio Mousse, Pistachio Financier, Raspberry Meringue and Raspberry Sorbet

This dessert by Emelia Jackson features a layer of earthy, dense pistachio cake, topped with creamy mousse and crunchy toasted pistachios. It is paired with a sweet, tart, melt-in-your-mouth raspberry sorbet, luscious macerated raspberries that just pop in your mouth, and lastly, a crisp, gorgeous, magenta raspberry meringue shard that fizzes on your tongue.

As well as being an irresistible textural and taste sensation, with the sweet, tart notes of raspberry playing off beautifully against the earthy pistachio, it is so visually arresting. Splashes of verdant lime pop out against velvety red and vibrant magenta (like this entire post for that matter, hehe).