The Recipe to a Mui Friday Night at Home
All week I look forward to Friday night - even as a freelancer when there is no end to the week, there’s just something in the air on a Friday night that makes me want to have a good time.
A bit of background on mui Friday nights:
Fridays at my house used to be exclusively for beer and homemade pizzas. My boss at my last job actually got me onto it. He would go out for pizza every Friday night and I’d say to him “man that sounds like fun, I wish I had Friday night pizza night” and he said “Marnie, you are an adult you can do what you want”. And he was right. I was an adult and could do what I wanted. But unfortunately Michael isn’t as pizza obsessed as me and says that having pizza once a week is “too much” (yeah right) so we mix it up a bit now.
The other Friday night tradition at my house is a Friday shot. It’s almost always Jameson and it’s always consumed while listening to Rihanna’s Cheers (Drink to That).
It started when the second round of Sydney lockdowns were announced in June/July 2021 and I had come home from work after a particularly busy day, worrying about what this lockdown meant for me, people kept running in front of my car on the drive home and (unrelated to that) my car’s check engine light came on. I don’t promote drinking to ease the pain of a tough day, but sometimes it's the best you’ve got.
The following Friday - a week into the lockdown - I declared that Friday shots were our new weekly tradition and so it became a thing. I’ve got an instagram highlights reel on my personal account documenting most of our Friday shots.
Aside from that, the goal of a mui Friday night is to unwind, have fun and celebrate love - for good food, delicious drinks, our home, each other and music. So I’ve put together a little recipe you can follow, it’s so easy!
Friday night ingredients:
SET THE SCENE
As an artist, I am a lover of aesthetics and good vibes. The absolute most critical part to a good Friday night is to set the scene. Turn off those overhead lights and get out the candles, switch on the lamps and maybe even install a spinning disco ball (just saying… it’s my favourite part about our lounge room).
THE TUNES
Next, the tunes. One of my favourite, go-to playlists is this one below. It’s a collection of songs curated by Daniel Williams’ instagram cooking series “First, We Vibe”.
THE FOOD
I encourage you to get your hands dirty, and make something. A homemade margarita pizza, carbonara, burritos, burgers, ramen, dumplings. All pretty low fuss, just a bit of chopping and mixing. The best part is, there is no chance of getting stressed because the atmosphere around you is so calming (thanks moody candles and chill beats).
THE BOOZE
Feel free to skip on the alcohol but at least make yourself a pretty drink. One of my favourite non-alcoholic drinks is mineral water and rosemary syrup. Mix it in your fanciest glass and garnish with a sprig of rosemary.
Otherwise, if alcohol is your thing, I recommend picking something that goes with your food. And you don’t have to be an expert in pairing for this - just think about if you were to order that meal at a restaurant, what drinks would be on that menu? Or just treat yourself to something you wouldn’t normally have.
WATCH IT CHIEF
Dinner is ready, your drinks are popped - it’s time to sit your butts down, eat, drink and watch something. Music videos, a movie, a series, your favourite youtube channel - I’ll leave this up to you.
So what does all this look like in action? Every Thursday I’ll be dropping a recipe you can follow along - what to eat, what to drink, what to listen to and what to watch - for a perfect Friday night, according to me. And what does all this have to do with me being an illustrator? Shouldn’t I be doing blog posts about art? Well yes, but this will give you a glimpse into how an illustrator spends her Friday nights.
Ok mui-heads, see you Thursday.