To HD or not to HD, that is the question Ever since I had my first webcam, I found that I actually enjoyed making videos. Later on I got for myself a 2GB SD card for my camera that could also shoot videos. and that was the start of my videoblogging. I love the mekap and the big hair I got for this picture :-) Videoblogging to me was pretty easy. First was to record myself. Which is not a problem for me since I look good and have a sexeh voice. And then I transferred the video into the computer and started up Microsoft Movie Maker. Click here. Click there. And then render it into the final video. The final step was to upload it on youtube and wait for it to be ready for viewing. All in all, it didn’t take such a long time. Depending on the length of the project, it could take about 1 to 5 hours. And it was a lot of fun for me! In time, I upgraded to a better camera, higher capacity SD cards and then to Adobe premiere elements where I had fun exploring different video techniques. So last last year, while browsing through youtube, I noticed that there was an increase in videos posted in High Definition. I was very excited to see the quality of these videos.They definitely looked bigger and clearer. I was floored. And jealous since these videos are posted by regular joes like you and me. I want to do that too! I was really keen on editing in HD again. I got to play with the Canon HF10 Camcorder some while back. It was a really fantastic toy, and coupled with Adobe Premiere elements, it was an awesome duo. But while I was really impressed by the quality of the video and the audio of the camcorder, its not really for me. I’m more of an amateur videographer so I dont really need all of its functions hence I don’t really want to make the investment. I prefer the convenience of a point and shoot camera which is compact and is able to take pictures and decent video at the same time. I didn’t think that HD recording would be available for point and shoot cameras so soon. But some months after that, attending a couple of camera launches, point and shoots and even SLR’s are getting the HD recording feature. Oooh! Hence, after a bit of research, I got for myself, the Canon Ixus 200 IS camera and Cyberlink Powerdirector 8 for editing the video. By the way, if you are in Singapore, dont ever buy anything in the first two levels in Sim Lim Square. Isn’t my camera a cutie? :-D I wish that the camera was green, there was none, but its not a big deal. On the other hand, it was interesting to see the new fuctions such as the touchscreen for navigation. We also found out that we can flick it to navigate to the different pictures. And there were a few new image features too like the creative light effect that lets me take shots like this : Which is cute I guess but not really something that I’d be using on a regular basis. Anyway! Editing on the Powerdirector was fine enough. Initially it took a bit of a learning curve since I’m more used to the Premiere Elements interface. Simple things like fading to black, the sticky magnet connector (I don’t know if I’m making sense here) and even trying to make multiple text layers was a challenge. So it took a while for me to figure out how to do the same things that I used to just click here, click here in Premiere Elements. So close to hitting it with a frying pan Eventually, I got to find out about the workarounds to my problems and in the end, it wasn’t such a painful transition. But what I didn’t expect was this. 2 hours and a half to produce my video? Woah! And the program took virtually all of my computer resources that I couldn’t even msn or surf the web without it lagging on me. And I’m working on a 4GB Ram computer mind you. So rather than sit aimlessly at the table, I could multitask and go off to cook or shower or take a nap. And at length when the video finally rendered, I start to upload it to youtube only to be stunned by this. Oh my Pisang Goreng. Another hour and a half! And after that, roughly another hour for the video to be digitalised and finally be ready for viewing. Half a day for a 2 minute video? Half a day?! You must be crazy. As much as I love the quality of HD, I’m not too sure if its all worth the hassle. Is it worth the hassle? Would you care if it is a high definition or standard definition video? Sidenote : Did you check out youtube lately? They have this new function called the ‘Caption Action’ where the software tries to analyze the audio and add subtitles. Suffice to say, it works for some but its mostly not accurate. What the heck is an itunes chicken? Amusing :-P Woke up to a sore neck Woke up on Saturday morning to a sore neck. Just turning my head hurts so much that I had to move very slowly. Even so, there were still sharp pains. So annoying! I’ve no idea what happened. Could it be my sleeping position or could it be this? Thankfully, the pains were completely gone by Sunday. Maybe I should lock stickrinaz in the drawer just in case. How cafe world made me cook for real Cafe world is one of the games that I like to play on Facebook. Its a cute but mindless game where you manage your own cafe by deciding on what to cook. Some of the food could take as fast as 3 minutes and some would be as long as 2 days. But normally the longer it takes, the higher the profit and you could use the money to decorate and furnish your cafe. But the faster cooking ones lets you have more servings so that the customers will not lower the cafe rating and ensure that the traffic keeps on going. One of the first few times that I played Cafe world, I’m quite amused mainly because of the time it takes to cook the item. Cheesecake takes 12 hours to cook? Halibut takes a day to cook? Really? But regardless of of the unrealistic cooking times, I find myself really drawn to the food. It might be a cartoon, but it sure looked yummy! And who could turn away from a face like that? I was intrigued enough to try to make it on my own and since I had most of the ingredients, I decided to make my own Smoked Salmon Latkes. And its quite amusing to see friends on twitter quickly assume that I’m playing Cafe World! Anyway, back to the recipe. First you take two potatoes, peeled and sliced and then placed in the food processor and blend it roughly. Remove excess liquid and then put it in a bowl. Do the same thing to one onion. Drain the excess liquid and combine it with the potato. With that, you add two whipped egg, some salt and pepper and three tablespoon of flour and combine together. And then you take a small scoop and flatten it thinly in a pan of hot oil and let it fry till its cooked. If you like, you can leave the cooked pieces in the oven to keep warm while waiting for the rest to be fried. Once the latkes are cooked, you could garnish it with anything you like like sourcream or even applesauce. Here I put some smoked salmon pieces. I wish that I had some creme fraiche and some caviar to add on top of the salmon but I don’t have them at hand. Not sure if its the real thing but I like it anyway :-) But I dont think that I’d be making it too frequently though, I don’t think its very healthy! Sidenote : While we are on the topic of food, is this creepy to you? Review : Biore Cleansing Oil To me, mekap cleanser is a very important step at the end of the day. As much as I’d love to look immaculate 24/7, having mekap for an extended amount of time is really bad for the skin, regardless of what brand or how expensive it is. Quite by chance, reading this review by Tea Noir made me so intrigued that I wanted one of my own. I couldn’t find it in Rome so I had to wait till I was back in Singapore to get my paws on one. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the Biore Cleansing Oil Wait … what? Oil to clean your face? If you could get over how greasy it is, oils from coconuts and olives actually make good cleansers. Its not supposed to cause acne since acne is a result of dead skin, hormones and bacteria. Not convinced? Try it! Smear some mekap on your hand and dab a little bit of olive oil and see what happens Thank goodness we have formulated cleansing oils that doesn’t feel so greasy. I’ve been using this cleansing oil since January and I’m liking it so far. Firstly its quite affordable at about $10 SGD and its quite easy to use. First you take an immaculately mekap’ed woman. Me in this instance. Make a guess what mekap I am using :-P And then you squeeze out the cleansing oil in the palm of your hand. I usually need just one pump, you can pump out more but I’m trying to be frugal since I cant find this in Rome :-P The oil is transparent, smells nice and fruity but I’m not sure what fruit it is supposed to be though. Maybe grapefruit? And then massage it gently all over your face and you’ll see that in no time at all, every bit of mekap gets dissolved. Be it blusher, waterproof eyeliner, lipstick. But be extra gentle with the eye area. I’ve read from a number of other reviews that the oil sting their eyes. I didn’t encounter the same issue personally though so I think it could be a new formulation or I have eyes made of metal. And then rinse off the oil with water and admire how nice and clean your face is … complete with all the blemishes :-P Of course I am going to cover my face because of how unglamorous I look like now! The interesting thing is that after using the cleansing oil, my face feels dry. Which is wierd since oil isn’t supposed to make your face dry right? So at this point of time, I’d slap on some moisturizer or if its time for bed, I’d follow up with the rest of my facial care – Cleanser, Toner, Eye Cream and Moisturiser and then dream of pimple and wrinkle free skin. Have you used the Biore Cleansing Oil? What do you think of it? Experiencing my first demonstration In all honesty, at first I wasn’t that interested in attending the Anti Berlusconi demonstration. I just don’t find politics very interesting. But curiosity got the better of me and Cart and I headed to the Piazza Del Popolo last Saturday. By the time we reached there, it was bustling with activity. All the way from the metro to the piazza, it was crowded with people. Cart guessed that there were about a good 30 thousand people when we reached there at 3. There were even more people streaming in as we left later. Many of these people were wearing purple in a demonstration against Berlusconi’s corruption like the hiring of unqualified girls for his party. I was hypothesizing that since purple in Italian is viola, the colour was chosen because it was close to the word violare, which means to violate. There were an impressively large number of people carrying banners and marching around But I was amused and most impressed at this very well made effigy. Everywhere the dummy went, the camera would follow. And in this picture, he was probably trying to make the kid in the red coat cry by lowering the dummy close to the boy. Eventually the speeches started and everyone was listening keenly to the speeches being done on stage. And all around me was cheering and clapping at what was being said. Even though I couldn’t follow smoothly at what was being said, I thought that the event was very well planned and executed. Every speeches went back to back with no awkward pauses. But what amazed me the most was the unity and the very public display of protest. And yet everything was very civil. What an eye opener. I couldnt help but to compare it to Singapore’s own Hong Lim Park and all its regulations. How to say Banana Fritters in Malay Goreng Pisang? Pisang Goreng? Rather than going into a tirade on how to say it correctly, let Teacher Marina show you how to say banana fritters in Malay correctly And if you still want argue with me, I will goreng your pisang! If you liked this post, you might be interested in : Stop saying Nasi Lomak! Oh my! Cart bought me a Vespa! Its a custom painted Vespa PX 125! Ok. So its not a real scooter. But one day … one day … Its just that all the bureaucracy of trying to get a Carta D’Identita and then a Patentino after that is quite daunting. But anyway Stickrinaz is enjoying herself! She really missed riding! Other stickrinaz adventures : Stickrinaz in Malaysia The things I do for Chicken Chop Rinaz is a chair killer O what a day! rinaz and the chocolate factory This gives me motivation to continue exercising In all honesty, I was a little grossed out looking at pictures of myself in December. Its entire my fault, not watching what I was eating and consuming food like Pandoro almost every day and then making it worse by stuffing my face with loads of comfort food when I was back in Singapore. My weight reached almost 70kg. Definitely not good. This is a picture of me and Jules in December. I keep looking at my arms in this picture and thinking what recipes I could do with my succulent arms. The problem probably began last year. Being newly married means that me and Cart wants to share everything together. And that includes food too. When cooking, Cart likes to measure and serve the food portions equally. I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only woman experiencing this with their partners :-P And have you ever seen Italian food portions? Its huge! This pizza is a portion for one person. In the beginning of the year, I could only manage eating half of it. Slowly as the months went by, I found to my horror and fascination that I could finish it all by myself While in Singapore, I’d be exercising regularly, doing yoga and aerobics, taking advantage of the affordable fees from community and sports center. You could go for weekly session for about $50 Singapore dollars for 3 months. I loved the facilities and the instructors are mostly fantastic. The prices of exercise sessions in Rome on the other hand, is costlier. The most affordable one that we could find was about 54 euro per month and the place was rather dated and I didn’t fancy the instructors when they start to get repetitive. So slowly, I started to slack and eventually stopped going. Which is probably not a wise thing to do. I kept telling myself that I’d supplement by going for daily jogs. But that never happened. And the weight kept going up Finally in the beginning of the year, I couldn’t stand it anymore, and I told myself that I better do something about this weight gain. I would like to reaffirm that I do not believe in quick fixes like diet pills, weight loss spas, detoxification programs and I’ll never ever endorse them. You’d see temporary weight loss but then gain it all back some weeks or even days later. Its a waste of time and money in the end. Coincidentally YesPecan was recommending an exercise regime called the 30 day Shred by Jillian Micheals. And I gave it a try. Woah. The first few days was a challenge for me. While lifting my weights in front of me and doing leg stretches at the same time, I felt so wobbly! And I was so sore the next day. Every step I took, I felt my muscles complain. Regardless, I carried on. At first, there was no weight loss but eventually, it was really nice to see the numbers go down :-D Its not a dramatic weight loss. But I’m realistic. I’m happy just to lose slow and steady at 0.5kg every 2 weeks and not gain them back. As for food intake, I still eat practically everything I feel like but I moderate myself to stop when I feel full instead of trying to finish everything on my plate. But what gives me the most motivation is seeing the physical results itself. This is me after finishing my 30 day shred. I apologize in advance if this picture grosses you out, but look at my one pack! No photoshop! Woohoo! As tired as I feel, the desire to have a more toned body is strong enough to want to continue. I’ve still a long way to go to my perfect weight, but I’m really looking forward to seeing more definition! Wish me luck! :-D And guys! Join me! If I can do it, I am sure that you can do it too! Come on and lets motivate each other to lose weight together! If you liked this post, you might enjoy : I survive the Amore Women’s Day out I feel good! I am fat Yoga makes me feel sexeh I love my Rinaz stuff! I like Vector Graphics. The first time that I played around with Macromedia Flash, I thought that it was very cool and eventually, I made a couple of interesting characters. Eventually, I found myself drawing this : Which is a cuter version of me with the layered hair and the Eva Mendes like mole :-P Anyhow, it stuck with me since. I used the image for my blog banner, as my avatar for almost every website that I register with, and eventually took it to the real world. This is my very first Rinaz Item. My Rinaz badge! Just for the fun of it, I made this for to wear for the Nexus Event. It was pretty simple to make, basically its a colour printer cut out and stamped on a badge press. I was really happy at how it turned out. It was really interesting to see the number of people who recognized me from the badge! Later on, after seeing how outdated my old namecards looked like, I made new ones to replace it! I couldnt help but to use the lovely picture that Fari snapped me for the front. The back are some of the characters for my award winning book if I ever stop procrastinating. Anyway namecards are very useful for during events such as blogger events for exchanging information with each other, rather than using a scrap of paper and pen. And it looks much more professional when you whip out your card, arch your eyebrows and say suavely, “Here is my card!” I’ve since updated my namecard to this one It’ll take a while for to run out of these ones since there are hardly any events that I go to in Rome, but I’ll just keep my fingers crossed that someday I’ll be femes in Italy too About two weeks before the wedding, I was still pondering about which cake to get till a friend suggested that cupcakes could be a good idea. By this time, it was such a last minute idea but I gave it a try anyway. I was very lucky that Izah was willing to accept and rise up to the challenge. She did such a lovely job with the decoration and tiers, that the cupcakes were such a hit! :-) I wish I had a couple extra to be frozen in the icebox for future generations to come though. Later on, after purchasing my Lenovo S10 netbook, I got for myself a customised skin on a whim. It was just a few days after the wedding, so I had a lot on my mind and was a little muddled on the design. In the end, I submitted a repeating image. The skin wasn’t cheap, but I’m really happy with how it turned out since it looks so personalised After living in Rome for a while, I didn’t think that I’d have any more Rinaz stuff. But it was a pleasant surprise that I still did. My friend Lynn, who is a talented craftsmaker made this badge for me. Oooh! Much loves! I love it as its an exact replica and it looks so 3D! I wore it practically everywhere with pride. Unfortunately I accidentally left it in the washing machine and the varnish is scratched. Luckily its not broken, and its now in Lynn’s good hands at the moment. Nevertheless, I had a peek at Lynn making a Cart badge too. I wonder if Cartcart would be willing to wear it around Finally I stumbled upon Beading and Beyond – a website making customised jewellery and upon looking at her works, I ordered a set and was really excited to see it when I reached Singapore. Personally I wish that the figurines look more true to the image, but nevertheless, they look really cute and well made :-) In any case, I love my Rinaz stuff! If you or you know anyone who can craft me a Rinaz stuff, please let me know. I’ll be looking forward to seeing them Sidenote : If you haven’t done so already, come and join Rinaz.net on facebook! :-) Spending Valentines day at Castelli Romani Pretty much like last year’s Valentine’s day, this year was a pretty simple affair. Regardless, Cart and I had a very nice day. The initial plan was to head out to the Mount Terminillo to see the snow but the weather in Rome has been rather bad, hence we headed to Castelli Romani instead. It was interesting going through the roads. There were layers of snow everywhere. Since we were outside of Rome, it was colder and more prone to snow. By the time we reached there, the main roads were closed and I saw a number of traffic police wardens giving fines and towing vehicles away. And then I saw a number of booths being set up. It looked as if there was a pasar malam about to start. I was very curious by this point of time. What was going on? But there was no time to stop and investigate as we both did not want to be late for lunch. Italians are very iffy about their food times. If you go to a restaurant at 3.30pm or later for lunch, big chances is that you’ll be turned away. Anyhow, we headed to Trattoria dei Cacciotori. And much like the last time that we were there, there was an interesting display that we saw, the first thing that we entered the place. Hohoho! Big diamond! Imagine if there were anyone having a diamond ring as big as this! In anycase, we were lucky that even with the large amount of patrons in the trattoria, we had a table. And it was really crowded. The waiters were running around serving the patrons, some looked quite tired. So we camwhored while waiting for our food to arrive. Here I am posing with my mini-hat. I bought this while in Singapore just for fun, not knowing when I’d wear it. But I’m wearing it now since its the last few days of Carnevale. When else would I wear it after all? Its cute how people tend to smile and wave more when I’m wearing it. Hehehe! As a sidenote, I saw something similar to my mini-hat in a shopping mall in Rome. It was almost 50 euro! Woah! I liked it, but I couldn’t bear to pay that much money for it! Cart camwhored too :-P Eventually, our food arrived and it was interesting to see how our table was decorated. With the red flower shaped place mat, and the heart shaped napkin holder. I was admiring the napkin holder and that’s when I saw some words printed behind it. Rubato alla Trattoria dei Cacciotori. And I asked Cartcart what Rubato meant. And he replied, “Stolen from” We had a good laugh out of that. Soonafter our food arrived. I had my beloved Piccantine ai funghi porcini and Cart had his Ravioli. And then Cart had his artichoke while I had my verdure cotte in the background. Cart absolutely LOVES artichoke and he’d buy 6 pieces of fresh artichoke at one go in the market. And for one week he’d make fried artichoke, artichoke in fritata, pasta with artichoke. Oh my god. I don’t mind artichokes in small doses but I’m starting to have a phobia of these things. Anyway! On to the desserts Initially I wanted tiramisu but since they ran out of it, I settled for this Torta Della Nonna. It was good! I loved the lemon cream in my cake. And no, I didnt share with Cartcart Cart can keep his Creme Caramel :-P We left the trattoria after having our espresso and thats when I saw what was going on. The booths were fully set up and there were loads of people in costumes walking around. There was a carnevale festival going on! Oooh! Its not as festive as the ones in Rio De Janeiro but it was still very cheery and happy-fying anyways. I loved looking at the different colours which was in contrast to the cold chilly afternoon. Everyone was having fun, smiling and playing with each other. There were heaps of confetti pieces everywhere. On the floor, on people, being strewn in the air. And there were so many people wearing costumes both young and old. I spotted out this group of costumers wearing a Cleopatra outfit, an ancient Roman soldier, a princess and Pinocchio … Hmm … So tempted to pull his nose off :-P There were also several cute outfits that I spotted out, like a really adorable Hello Kitty baby! Daphne would love that! Unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough to snap them. But I did got a couple of shots. This is Po from the Teletubbies! (By the way, its interesting that the Italian version of Teletubbies, they speak properly, not in baby language) Here is a cute little chicken about to lay an egg And this is a totally fake looking Minnie and Mickey mouse with fake pooh in the background. Could be a copyrighted issue. They were a hit with the kids anyway, with kids asking them constantly to play and dance with them. And there were countless of kids throwing confetti and spraying foam from cans. I’m not too fond of the foam things. So upon spotting them, I quickly swerve and manouvered away. I don’t want to get my outfit messed up. But these kids are having fun spraying it on their friends. Their cheeks a bright pink from all the running around. There was one boy who made a foam beard on himself even. He looked like a young santa claus :-P I was a little confused though, as I saw a couple of policemen confiscating the foam cans from a couple of kids and pulling out the nozzle so that it doesn’t function anymore. The ironic thing is that there was a small booth selling it just next to the policemen. So is it illegal or no? Anyhow, there were also a few sideshows. Cart and I spotted a small parade band, a South American musical performances and this acrobatic act. It was ok. I mean, after being used to seeing Chinese acrobatic troops, I’m a little harder to impress :-P At the end of the road where the festivities ended, Cart and I naturally camwhored. For some reason, my sister thinks that we look very married in this picture. Maybe its because we *are* married :-P We later drove to Nemi just for a quick look see since it was along the way. Cart feared that it would be like during the Ferragosto period and would have absolutely no space for parking. Fortunately, it was fine, and we found a spot at the entrance. I was still fascinated by the stacks of snow everywhere. The different seasons is something interesting to see. The same spot looking different at different times of the year. Lake Nemi is still as pretty as the last time that we’ve been there. I liked looking down to see the different buildings and farms which is built in a concentric manner around the lake and the cars going by the roads. They were so tiny from down there! Like the size of ants. Having a bit of time before it was completely dark, we walked up to an area where you could see the lake better. It was really nice to see the area decorated with valentine’s day decorations. There were balloons and pinks at every turn and corner. Its so secondlife! We walked down the bridge and thats when I saw a familliar face. Its the same kitty I saw the last time we were here with Jerrick! Its impossible to take a clear shot of the cat since she’s always moving and wriggling. And she is still as claw-y as ever. Here she is molesting my chest and clawing my coat But its probably because of the cold. I’m tempted to just kidnap her but she looks well fed and taken cared of, so I’m sure that she belongs to someone. Anyhow, it was getting darker and colder, so we went to seek refuge into a little bar called Locanda lo specchio di Diana. While this bar has excellent strawberry and strawberry cakes, we were here more for the hot chocolate instead since we were still full from our lunch. What was interesting about this place is that they had speciality hot chocolates. I had the orange and cinammon flavoured one and I liked it very much. I didnt take a picture of the hot chocolate that we had, since all hot chocolates look the same as each other. But here is a picture of me posing with my hot chocolate While Cart had his with chilli. I tried a bit but I didnt like it that much. Its a tad bit too hot and a little wierd for me. I think I prefer chilli in Curries and Masak Merah and such. Anyhow see what the hot chocolate did to Cart. First it made him, “Woah this is very hot!” Then he was like, “Urgh! This burning feeling, but I’ll be macho” And then he’s like, “Oh please, its not hot at all!” And finally he’s all Giles-like, “See, I’m a man!” Tee hee hee! We left Nemi pretty much tired from all the walking, but it was such a nice day experiencing and seeing all the sights and sounds (and tastes too) together. I really enjoyed Cart’s company :-) Oh and before I end this post, check out the hat I bought from the festival Cute! And I’m talking about the hat, and not myself, naturally Hohoho! Its like I’m collecting hats all over again. If you enjoyed reading this post, you might also like : Going to Castelli Romani in August Going to Castelli Romani in November My first time seeing snow! It snowed yesterday morning in Rome. I could sense that there was something different. The colour. It seemed a lot brighter than usual. I pulled back the curtain and I was just amazed at what I saw. Oh my! Its snow! Its my first time seeing snow ever and as cheesy as it sounds, it looked quite magical seeing the little flakes floating down. Having lived in Singapore all my life where there is sun all year round, the only time that I’ve seen anything close to snow was from my parent’s old icebox or the skating rink in the mall in Jurong East before it got torn down. (Speaking of Jurong East, I’ve never been to Snow City either) In either case, excitedly, I went out to head to the park near our house have a look see. Brr … its really cold outside. Every step I take feels like I’m crunching the snow below my boots. That reminds me, Ugg boots are not good for snow, since the snow can seep in and melt on your feet. Oh well. Lesson learnt. Everything was covered in white flakes, its so beautiful. I never thought that I’d ever see snow in Rome since Cart told me that its not so frequent for Rome to have snow. The frequency is about once every 10 years or so. So even if snow might not be a big deal, seeing this was quite special to me. Random thought : Hey! If I poured some rose syrup and condensed milk on this, would I be able to have Ice Kacang?! I was amused to see a couple of kids trying to slide down using the snow sled. The funny thing is that the snow wasn’t thick enough. And there were some who were throwing snowballs at each other. I dont think that I could do that though since my fingers already felt like they were going to get frostbites if I stayed out even longer and I haven’t even touched the snow! In any case I couldnt help but to take the opportunity to do one of the things that I love to do … Camwhore! Muahahaha! Unfortunately the snow didnt last too long and by the afternoon, it the snowfalls stopped and the white slowly melted away. Ah shucks. Anyhow, this is a quick video I took while it was still snowing just for memory’s sakes :-) After all, I don’t want to wait another 10 years to get this video :-P Sidenote : Happy Valentines day and Chinese New year to all! :-) How to get Italian men to flirt with you 1. Carry a box filled with food A box of pizza or a box of cakes will do just fine 2. Walk around alone, without your husband or your boyfriend with you And then slowly you’ll find random Italian men waving excitedly and smiling at you saying things like : “Oh for me? Grazie!” “You really shouldn’t have!” “Yes! That’s mine!” So shameless Dammi i soldi se tu vuoi il cibo! What happened to Maggi Mee? On the day before our flight back to Rome, I packed loads of Singaporean foodstuff in my luggage. One of these item is Maggi Mee. Maggi Mee is probably one of the food that many Singaporeans have growing up. Since its so easily prepared, its a saviour especially for people who have no time or too lazy to cook prefer the convenience of an instant food. I made Cart a bowl of Maggi Mee Curry to try for the first time and this is his experience. Please excuse the quality though, I didn’t realise the small resolution. Personally I don’t know what the heck Maggi did to the formulation. Its different! You can taste it! What did you do? What did you do?! Hello Singapore! Finale Its the last week that Cart and I were in Singapore. This is it. This is the last leg. The final dash in the marathon. And so, I tried to maximize it the best I could to visit at least a couple of interesting spots in Singapore before we leave. After our trip to Jurong Bird Park, I thought that Cart would be interested in seeing the rural side of Singapore. And thus we headed to Qian Hu Fish Farm! The ride through Lim Chu Kang Road was very relaxing as we passed by many landmarks and places that makes me feel like we went back to the early 80’s. Like the bus stops. When was the last time that you saw the orange and white seats and roofed bus stops? It was so retro! Eventually, we reached the fish farm and I saw this interesting looking sign : We entered inside. There were so many different types of fishes that I was amused looking at Cart looking so excited at the different species of fishes. I saw stingrays, some panda fishes, angel fishes as well as many others that I don’t remember the names anymore. Whats impressive to me was that, there were a number of really expensive fishes. Some of the breeds were up to thousands of dollars! That’s a very expensive pet. For me, if I were to have a fish tank, I’d be happy with just these Parrot fishes. This is my favourite type of pet fishes. Always smiling! They look so happy and cheerful! How can anyone not like these? After Cart and I have examined practically each and every one of the fishes, it was time for us to head to the fish spa which was just a few steps away. Cart was alredy starting to look a little stressed. We changed into slippers and then dipped our feet in the pool and immediately the little fishes were attracted to our feet. Although, I’ve already had experience at the fish spa, it took a while for me to get used to the fishes because the fishes were a lot bigger compared to the last time that I was there. Nevertheless, it took a while for the ticklish feeling to go away. On the other hand, Cart keeps saying that it felt wierd. Here is a video of our fishy experience. Well … its something to experience and I’m glad that Cart was willing to try it out :-) In the end, the both of us have soft and smooth and touchably soft feet :-P And since we were still in the farm area, I wanted to bring Cart to the Goat farm but unfortunately, when we reached there, it was already closed for the day. Darn! Ah nevermind then, we’ll just head off to the organic farm. So we hopped on the scooter and I went past the road by the interesting retro buildings as well as a old house that reminded me of where I used to live. We finally reached Bollywood veggies where we found out that it was closed on mondays. What a shame :-( Oh well. That means that we had a leisurely time go head over to Jurong East. So leisurely that we could shoot this video on my new Ixus 200 IS :-D I hereby call this bideo – Theme from Karang Guni. You know, as a tribute towards Theme from Mahogany :-D Soonafter we reached Jurong East! We met talented photographer and fellow blogger, YesPecan, for a quick chat and to pass her some EDM items. We shared our orders together since it was cheaper that way. We walked past the shops where I spent years walking past after secondary school. Suffice to say, there were lots of gradual changes here. And we headed towards the hawker center where Cart noticed a new Italian food stall. Guess what he ordered? Penne Arrabbiata, naturally! It was his benchmark food to compare if it is up to standard to his Italian tongue. Anyway Cart thought that it tasted a little strange though with the massive amount of garlic, the inclusion of bay leaves and the sweet tomato sauce. I didn’t pay too much attention though. I was too busy eating my fried pineapple rice. You cant get that in Rome! I had a lovely chat with Yespecan and we quickly updated each other with what’s new, unfortunately, time passed by too quickly and we had to say our goodbyes as I wanted to rush home to fetch my mum to head to say hello to my old exercise class. Mum and I used to go for aerobics together every Monday evening and after work, we’d get ready and ride the scooter to get to the community center and for the next hour, we’d burn fat together. As mundane as it sounds, I quite miss this arrangement. I saw this cute little kitten on a motorcycle as we went towards the community center. When we entered the exercise room, there were a number of new people but there were also faces that I remember. They were there for my wedding too :-) And naturally, after the exercise class, I disturbed them for a picture :-P Don’t we look sexeh? Unfortunately for me, I cant help but to stare at my tummy. I really gained a lot of weight since I’ve arrived in Singapore. I need to exercise more and lose weight! — The ironic thing is that next day, the first place that Cart and I went to was Macdougals (This spelling is on purpose) Yes, there are plentiful of Macdougals in Rome too, much to Cart’s disdain, but it was pretty much in Singapore and in Malaysia are the Macdonalds which I was sure to be halal. And the egg mcmuffin was the only one thing that I liked from this place, so I better fill up my quota right? :-) In anycase, we headed towards the city area and parked my scooter inside Takashimaya shopping center – the land where where tai-tai’s roam. Yeah, act Taitai only Sidenote : Normally, when I am in Orchard Road, I’d usually park at Wisma Atria or Far East Plaza. I wouldn’t park at Takashimaya the parking rate there is crazy for 2 wheelers. When we left, at least $5 were charged to my cashcard. Freaking heck. That’s a lot for a motorcycle. Anyways! We are here to spend my voucher which I won from the Ping.sg 2nd Anniversary event! Guess what I decided on buying? Was it electronic items? Was it household items? I bought bras! Yeah, I could have bought some in Italy itself, but I wasn’t ready enough for Italian women to be fondling my girls. I headed towards the Sloggies corner since I prefer my bras to be simple without all those embellishments. Not sure what my size was, I asked the saleslady for help. I was surprised to hear from her that I am now a 36C cup. I’m not too sure if that’s such a good thing. As a sidenote, I had a rather strange saleslady, she kept knocking at the changing room, shoving in more bras and making me try on more and more stuff. But I really didn’t want to bust my voucher cap. Moreover, these bras are not what I’d regularly wear since it was a little on the expensive side. Nevertheless, the fit was pretty good. C cup eh? But anyway, here are my new ahem cup holders :-D After lunch, we dropped by Funan Center to collect my new namecards. There sure were a lot of pigeons right next to where I parked I still wondered upon why I did made the namecards when there are hardly any events that I go to in Italy. Regardless, I think my new cards look spiffy with the new updated Italian words in them. But in retrospect, I think that I should have added some words regarding the things that I do at the back, instead of leaving so much green space. Is just that I’m still not sure what to put. Writer? Photographer? Video Editor? Sexeh blogger extraordinaire? Anyway, what do you think? And since we were in the area, we popped by one of the electronic shops to get an additional battery for my new Ixus 200 IS camera. If I am not wrong, the place was called Song Brothers. It was completely a smooth experience buying items from there. The lady serving me was polite and clear. None of the drama that happened as when I was at Sim Lim Square. She sold me a battery and even helped to stick a protective cover on my camera’s LCD. It was then, when I asked her how much does the same camera costed there. I dont remember what she quoted but for sure, it was a more competitive price to Sim Lim Square and even Mustafa Center. It was heartbreaking that I had to go through all that drama when we could have gone here instead! Doh! Seriously everyone, I will never ever go to Sim Lim Square ever again and nor do I recommend anyone, locals or tourists alike to go there. Anyhow, I was already rushing to head back to Jurong where we will be meeting my aunt and cousins later but Cart pulled my hand and insisted that we have coffee, “It wont take long, it’s only espresso” So we walked towards Espressoul which was just a couple of blocks away from Funan Center and facing Parliament House. “Two espresso please! Make it ristretto!” And that was when Cart finally had the espresso that was acceptable to his standards :-P And by pure chance we met with Danny! Head barista and one of the owners of former Geek Terminal. Geek Terminal is popular hangout with a large number of bloggers as it was the location where quite a number of blogger related events were held. Plus, they had really good coffee. Illy! The best coffee according to Cart. Danny told us that they have since shifted from the old location to there and rebranded themselves as Espressoul. Unfortunately, we did not have much time to chat more and we said our goodbyes and we rushed down to the Singapore Discovery center. The last time I was at the Singapore Discover Center, it was in 2006 and I had to accompany a few club members for a competition. It seems much the same since then except for the newly functioning Joo Kun MRT station. Hopefully, now, it will be more accessible for more visitors :-) Anyhow the reason why we were here was mainly to watch Avatar! My cousins has been raving about this movie for weeks and was willing to watching it again! Check out how tall the seats go up to Personally, I quite liked watching the movie here. Its not crowded with people so it was more conducive and feels more relaxed. The screen was as good as a regular cinema since it was about 5 storey tall. Plus you could bring in your own food and choose your own seats :-D It was good to spend some time with Cik Enon and the cousins :-) Just too bad that my mum couldn’t make it and my sister already fainted in bed, tired from school. I’m sure they would have enjoyed it too :-) Coincidentally later Juli asked me out for dinner at Holland Village just as we left Singapore Discover Center. Why not? I thought to myself. When will be the next time that we meet anyway? And thus, we went to Holland Village. It was an interesting place to go to on account of the number of expatriates hanging out here, thus the culture and the air is a little bit different. I guess a little more well heeled. We met Juli and walked towards a Lebanese restaurant, and I was a little bit stunned at what was on the main road. There were at least 20 soldiers guarding the area. I was too nervous to even snap a picture lest they shoot me with the rifle they were holding. The restaurant caretaker assured me that they were there just for safekeeping as there were concerns that there will be fights brewing from the many pubs in the area. And eventually, we made our order. It was a rather nice place and I quite liked the decorations. I didn’t take much pictures though. I don’t know, I guess I just wasn’t in the mood :-P Anyway the food was alright. I didnt liked the appetizer too much but I enjoyed my shawarma plate but poor Juli couldn’t eat her food as it looked and reminded her too much of the male anatomy! LOL! After we said our goodbyes, just for the fun of it, I did a little detour to see my former schools. The gates were shut since it was night time, but its nice to be back in memory lane. This is what used to be Jurong Institute. Jurong Institute doesn’t exist anymore but I had a lot of happy (as well as not so happy) memories here. I could probably write a teen novel based on the accounts that happened to me here. Ho ho ho! Idea! And here is Bukit View Secondary. It was a lot larger than what I remembered. Even during my short stint as a teacher there, there were plentiful of changes. One of the memorable incidents that happened there was when my friends treated me to a coke drink during my birthday. I took a sip and it was horrible! Turns out that they spiked my drink with soy sauce! Urgh! Happy birthday indeed! — The next day we went back to Vivo city to meet with sweet (and newly married!) UFC for lunch. While waiting for her, Cart and I contemplated on buying this made in Singapore aromatherapy diffuser. But I was worried that I would not have any space in my luggage so in the end, reluctantly, I didn’t get one. We also passed by this shop. Can you spot something interesting? We met UFC and we had a chat about her new married life and what she was up to and she handed me these adorable little hair sticks that I picked from her blogshop. She even gave me more discount … I should have gotten more stuff! :-P These are hairsticks, not colour pencils And then we went to Candy Empire to buy the German version of Pocket Coffee. Before I coming to Singapore, I was contemplating on bringing something unique from Italy. Initially I thought of bringing Ferrero Rodnoir, however a friend informed me that it was already available in Singapore. So I brought Pocket Coffee instead! The supermarket cashier was giving me wierd looks when I bought like 20 boxes at one go. So I give them a seductive look in reply. Like this : Rinaz act seductive Anyway, to my horror, it was only when we arrived in Singapore when my friend, Eu Chai informed me that was Pocket Coffee being sold in Singapore albeit, it was manufactured in Germany. And Cart and I had to see this for ourselves. Suffice to say, it doesnt taste the same as the original, Italian version. So we were a little more placated. We said our goodbyes to UFC and that was when suddenly I remembered … I didnt take a picture of UFC! We then rushed over to Jurong Point to meet with my friends Jayden and Mus and Hema! We had such a lovely time chatting the whole evening from Coffee Bean, all the way to Swensens where we had dinner later. Its nice to be surrounded by happy, funny and cheerful people. Mus even declared that he wore a green sweater specially for me since I like green! Bwahahaha! I dont remember what we chatted about, but for sure, I had big smiles and was laughing all throughout the evening. And here were are in an unofficial United Colours of Benetton advertisment. — Thursday. It was our final day in Singapore. I woke up early and already I felt the webs of sadness starting to form. But in any case, I had a of of things to settle before the flight. First I headed to the ICA to collect my new passport since the old one was expiring mid 2010. It was a leap of faith thing. I wasnt sure if they would be ready in time since I applied just the week before. But luckily for me, the man behind the counter pulled out my new passport and thus I was cleared! As a sidenote, isn’t it annoying that government websites still needed internet exploiter for online transactions such as these? It took some while for me to get through it since I was using Ubuntu on my netbook and Internet Explorer isn’t compatible with Linux. In the end, I had to use my brother’s lappy with windoze. Go figure. And then I rushed to send some packages to friends and then to the post office as I was anticipating that my luggage might be over the airplane limit and thus I bought a Singpost box. Little did I realise that it was a little too big for me to stuff on the scooter. Luckily for me, I had a long elastic hair band which I attached to one end and used a brochure to hold the other side. And I rode slowly, praying that it didn’t break. I even rushed by Jurong East Library to pay my fines (How did I get one anyway? I havent been borrowing for over a year :-P) And I saw the familliar Jurong East Entertainment, which was right next to it, being half demolished. A little nostalgic for me I guess, since this was one of the places that I hang out at as a student. Anyone remember the $1.99 meal from Long John Silvers? Finally after all of the chores, I rushed towards home and rushed to the wet market and then to fairprice to get some condiments and Singapore foodstuff, you know, stuff that I couldn’t get in Rome. My Lingham’s Chilli Sauce is my main priority! Here is a portion of the food that we bought. Initially, Cart was concerned that the food might not clear the immigration, but I was gung ho about it and wrapped it neatly among our clothes. And then we packed like crazy! So much things to pack and I was already worried that including the books that I wanted to carry with me, would be too heavy in the end and I had to reluctantly leave them, for now. It took several hours to pack and after the whole affair, I saw that it would be impossible to have time for a family dinner at West Coast Food Center, so we had to make do with the hawker center which was next to our house instead (My dad wasn’t too fond of the food there unfortunately) I desperately tried to eat a couple more Singapore food to ease me through the next 11 months or so. I wouldn’t be able to have these anymore And this is the final meal that I had in Singapore. Half eaten chicken rice before I remembered to snap a picture of it. And then it was already time to go to the airport. Hema was so kind to volunteer to drive us to the airport. Juli was already there in the front seat next to her and I took in the last Singapore sights. Several of my relatives were there to wish Cart and me goodbye, my aunts, cousins and grandmother. I was mostly quiet the entire time because I was feeling emotional. Bye everyone. Thank you so much for your hospitality! It has been a lovely three weeks. Its too bad that I was not able to show Cart all of the places that I wanted to show him, like the Singapore Museums, Haw Par Villa and others. But hopefully we’ll be there December 2010. God willing :-) We’ll meet again soon! :-] And stop pressurising me to have kids. KTHANXBAI! Hello Singapore! Part 6 On the last day of 2009 thanks to Geri, Cart and I visited the Jurong Bird Park. Its been a long while since I last been here – probably in my early secondary school days. Like the Zoo, for sure, there has been a lot of changes here. It seemed a lot larger than I last remembered it. One of the interesting species of bird that I noticed was this one which originated from Egypt on account of the strange angle that its bending its legs as opposed as to how a cat will bend its legs. I also saw a number of beautiful looking birds. Like this Malay Fish Owl. Ohh … look at how striking the eyes are! Now if there were ever a Bomoh Potter, Asian version of Harry Potter, he’d totally take this beautiful creature. There were so much to see in the park. The only unfortunate part is that, still being a school holiday, the park was crowded with rather hyperactive kids We went in the area where there was a penguin feeding and the kids were running around on the parquet stage despite the emcee’s plea for the area to be cleared. There were parents even encouraging these kids to carry on what they were doing In any case, Cart and I had a really nice time exploring. We just wished that we went there earlier though. I thought that we could have explored the place in about 3 hours. Unfortunately, there were a couple of displays that we had to skip because of lack of time. Like the African bird display. By the time we got there, we only saw these creepy displays. Being it almost sunset, I was nervous to stay too long in case they turn alive and kill us both and hung us up a pole. Like this I dont like human sized statues! Seriously! Look at how sinister they look! — The next day, Cart and I headed to Vivo City to meet a couple more Singaporeans living in Italy. Hehehe. I quite like this picture. Even wearing casual clothes, we look so high society! Its a bit sad that its evident that I’ve put on quite a bit of weight while in Singapore, with the incessant stuffing of my face with local food. It was as always nice to meet people who have experienced the same situation that I did, living overseas, overcoming language barriers and the homesickness that comes every now and then. A few hours later, after the rest had to leave, Eu Chai a fellow Singaporean that I met through the facebook group, Cart and I adjourned to Barcelos. I’ve seen rather confounding restaurant reviews between Barcelos and Nandos since both specialise in chicken and both lets you choose the level of spiciness you want. I loved my chicken so much. The picture might not give it much justice but its good! Red flag means Supa Peri. That means I am strong enough to take the heat! And Cart had a vegetarian stir fry. Red flag! We are both powerful people! And we gnawed a bowl of potato wedges between us. Barcelos is a little on the pricey side if you compare it to regular fast food restaurants, my set meal costed about $14 while Cart’s was $13 but I think that its nice to try something new once in a while. Ayam penyet is still the best! Anyhow, I had a really lovely chat with Eu Chai. I find him witty and charming with a lot of interesting stories to share. There was one time when he was in university in Venice when a classmate asked him, “How do I say in Italian, do you have a lighter?” And he cheekily replied, “You say, Can you light my fire?” And she went up to a guy and said just that! Last Eu Chai said was that they were in a relationship because the guy was ecstatic that a girl would ask him that :-P I was amused and could listen to Eu Chai for hours. But we had to leave to go to another meet. So we were forced to say our goodbyes. Before we left, I snapped a picture of a map from Gothere.sg on how to go from Vivocity to Hillcrest Road I still got lost anyway -_- And Geri was furious! “Where are you guys?!” She smsed “I am hungry! You are late! late! late!” I was flabbergasted. My internal GPS failed to function when I saw the unfamilliar road. Moreoever with a pillion behind me, I got even more confuzzled. To add to that, it started to drizzle. -_- When we finally reached peperoni’s pizzeria, we were about an hour late. Geri looked as if she was about to faint from hunger. I tried to bribe her with a present but I don’t think that it worked though :-P Anyway Geri got me a really thoughtful gift in return, which I love so much :-) I looked at the menu and ordered a pizza. In my opinion, Peperoni is probably one of the best pizza that I have ever had in Singapore. The grand sized pizza is something to be seen Sweska, Nicole and Daphne posing with pizza in January 2009 Anyway Cart ordered Penne Arrabiatta Its his benchmark of checking the standards of pasta in Singapore by always ordering the same item in places that serves Italian food. Even Pastamania. While Geri ordered creamy chicken pasta Creamy pasta is her favourite type. Well, if she comes to Rome, we’d gladly whip up some creamy pasta for her :-) It was lovely to be in the company of Geri. We met a long time ago in the heydays of IRC and I always admired her intelligence and savvyness. Unfortunately, Geri had to go soonafter the dinner since she had to go to work the next day. Serves us right for being late! — The next day, Spai, Cart and I made the decision to finally buy the electronics items that we’ve long wanted. Since Cart has been stolen of his handphone, he desperately needed a new one and I was keen to try out editing in HD videos. So Cart has decided on getting a Nokia E72 and I was enamoured with the Canon Ixus 200 IS And thus the three of us made a trip to Sim Lim Square to look at the prices. Personally for me, I was already disenchanted with Sim Lim Square due to the very rough salespeople there. And I really didn’t have the intention to buy anything there. But since the boys said that it will be fine, alright then. After having a nice cuppa coffee right below Sim Lim Square, (Spai was most enchanted by the pretty coffee art) we looked around the first two levels since they specialised in gadgets such as these. So after a while, after comparing the different prices in the shops, we went back to the shop with the best quoted price. I was ready to make my purchase when the boys started to ask about additional batteries that the camera could use. Salesman : This battery is very good! Comes from Japan. $45 only! Me : I don’t want the battery. Looks expensive. The second floor shop sells it for only $25 (And it was true) And thats when the salesman flipped out Salesman : YOU ARE SO STINGY! EVERYTHING WANT TO COMPARE! I was stunned Me : Why are you so rude? I was ready to buy from you but you are being so rude! Salesman : GET OUT OF MY SHOP! DONT WASTE MY TIME! I DONT WANT TO SELL TO YOU! It took a while for me to calm down. I was really pissed off by the man’s rude behaviour. I didn’t do anything violent. But the situation really hit my nerve. Its people like him that gives Sim Lim Square a bad reputation. Please avoid focuspoint electronics at all costs. I made a feedback to Singapore Service Star. But I doubt that they would do anything about that. To calm me down, the boys took me to have dinner at Little India which is just a bit of a walk away. I was upset more at how idiotic people could be, more than anything else. It was always full of life in Little India. Kind of scary to ride a scooter in during the weekdays though, but there would always be something interesting to see at every corner. Indian clothes shop, Jewellery Shop, Eyebrow Threading shop … We were joined with fellow blogger, Bradley and his friendly wife Margie for dinner at Cart’s favourite Indian restaurant, Komala’s. At this point of time, I forgot to take pictures due to the animated conversations that we had between the 5 of us. I found Brad and Margie to be intelligent, easy going and fun loving people. Brad shared his experiences of living in Singapore and Margie started to tell me about the similarities about tagalog and malay language and I was quite surprised at the number of words that we shared. Like Gunting for Scissors, Tolong for Help and others that I dont quite remember right now. Serves me right for taking such a long time to blog :-P They tucked in to a hearty Indian meal. While I had my veggie burger with potato wedges I seriously wouldn’t mind turning into a vegetarian if I could have food like this every day. Its really flavourful and a lot more satisfying than the Steakhouse burger that I had some weeks prior to that. Thus Spai, Cart and I enjoyed our meal but I’m not too sure if Brad and Margie did though, since the next day he twittered something about having stomach pains. Uh oh. The five of us then went over to Mustafa center which is a 24 hour shopping mart which is popular with the locals as well as tourists due to the competitive price that they had. Not to mention the much more professional service by the salesmen. Check out our new toys :-D I would have preferred my camera in green but there wasn’t any for that particular model. Cart naturally couldn’t stop fondling his new Nokia E72. It was a lot easier to type on plurk and twitter on that. Darn, I should have gotten one too. And thus, from this point onwards, the images in this blog post uses the new Canon Ixus 200 IS. – The next day mum hosted a kenduri with our extended family for giving thanks and prayers for the safe journeys that my parents had while performing their pilgrimage and for Cart and my travel here. A large amount of people arrived, which was expected since my mum had 10 siblings while my dad had 12. Go figure the number of cousins :-P It feels somewhat like Hari Raya with the familliar faces all around and for a moment, everything about Rome was forgotten. It was until they started asking when Cart and I are going to have kids. Everyone keeps asking that! This is stressful! Anyway! To change topic, my uncle set up a chocolate fountain and all the kids scrambled to eat it! It was interesting to see the chocolate sloshing down. Here’s a video I took of the chocolate fountain in HD! I should have took a few seconds to include all the yummy home cooked food though. There were so much! And I ate like there is no tomorrow. Later on during the evening, a couple of my secondary school classmates arrived – Jamaliah and Surina. And we told each other stories of how we hanged out beside the bookshop and thus nicknamed ourselves the title of, “Bookshop Girls”. And we marvelled at how coincidental that each of us in the group (save for one) married a non Singaporean (How wierd is that?) as we looked at each other’s wedding photos. And here we are posing with the ketupat that I bought while in Geylang. I’m totally going to hang this up for Hari Raya this year. If Italians can hang wreaths on their door during xmas, I want to hang a ketupat. Its a pity that my ketupat is a bit flat from the flight back to Rome. Ketupat penyet. A cat that does not like catnip Janet is a cat adopted by Spai at his old workplace for a couple of years now. She’s a sweet, docile and mild mannered cat. Janet in her whorish sleeping position Cart and I chanced upon a tea shop and to my surprise, they sold catnip! Naturally I got some to experiment with Janet since cats are supposed to go crazy over this stuff. And this is what happens : Meh. Cheat my feelings only. Hello Singapore! Part 5 While having dinner with Juli and Hema, Hema told me a most interesting information. Hema : You know, I’ve been allocated to school. Me : Thats cool! Hema : Guess where? Me : I’ve no idea And then she disclosed that it was at the school that I used to be attached to. It was probably the longest attachment that I involved in, till I had to quit before migrating to Italy. I was amused. After one legacy, a new one comes in :-P Hema : Come lah! There will be a staff meeting tomorrow! And thus, it was the perfect opportunity for me to meet up with ex colleagues. I just hope that they don’t chase me away :-P It took a while for me to get used to. The building and the area changed so much from the construction works that I had to make a huge roundabout looking for the new entrance. By the time I entered the school, pretty much everyone was pretty surprised to see me. I saw a number of familiar as well as new faces. And I learnt that there were a number of staff who has transferred or had already retired. It was really nice to catch up with my ex colleagues and seeing how they were. I just wished that I had more time. I chanced upon Hema and together we decided to have a late lunch together with my sister. I was already late for the lunch date and worried that she would be furious. And she was. When we arrived home, she looked visibly upset. Nevertheless, a date was a date and after Hema talked to my mum we left for Sakae Sushi, which was located right next to the Boon Lay Interchange. It was interesting walking through the interchange as it was newly opened, fully air conditioned, indoor bus interchange. When we got in the restaurant, I started to get quite excited. Sushi! Its been a long time since I’ve eaten Sushi to my hearts desire! It used to be that while I still living in Singapore, I’d go to Giant supermarket after 9pm to get a discounted price for a party plate Sushi. Even though there are Japanese restaurants in Rome, the prices are rather expensive due to the costs of seafood. (Personally for me, that’s strange as there are seas in Rome after all) But apart from that, Sushi in Rome can get a little strange. So, confidently I said : Lets get the biggest Sushi plate! I’m sure we can finish it all! And this is their 50 dollars party plate. And I started to eat with gusto. Mmm! Unagi! My favourite! But like in the economic terms of the law of diminishing returns, as I started to eat my 10th Sushi, I started to feel full. And then later my sister and Hema both said, Thats it! Cant eat anymore! There were three left. What the!? Still can pose some more. Of course, not wanting to waste food, I slowly forced myself to finish them. In the end, I felt so stuffed, it was uncomfortable. The witch from Hansel and Gretel would have loved to BBQ me. Unfortunately, when we reached home, I started to have pain in my right chest which became more intense when I tried to take deep breaths and I went to sleep the pain away. Thankfully, the pain was completely gone the next day, and after a walk around the park with my mum, Cart and I headed to Geylang Serai to meet up with a couple of Singaporeans living in Italy who were coincidentally having their vacations in Singapore at the moment. Geylang Serai brings a lot of memories here. My family used to go here regularly during Hari Raya to buy clothes and items for the house. I loved the food here and shopping is pretty reasonable. A bit unfortunate that nowadays, when anyone mentions Geylang, the first thing that they would think of is the red light district. There were loads of changes here. The last time that I remembered, there was a temporary wet market about 100 meters away from the Paya Lebar Mrt Station. This picture was taken in December 2007 Now, the wet market is gone, and instead, there is a two storey market build next to it I forgot to take a picture of the market, but here is a picture of a pigeon : I’m not sure why this pigeon is lying on the floor in the hot afternoon. Thankfully, there wasn’t any juvenile delinquents teasing it at the time. And then I saw Lana and her baby Giulio in a curious scene. Its my first time seeing a baby with a baby leash. But regardless of what your stand is about baby leashes, its said to be popular in Italy as Italian kids are very energetic and the leash keeps them safe from wandering too far away. We met up with Lina and together we headed to the hawker center, located upstairs. I, of course, ordered my favourite, Ayam Penyet and we had a lovely chat about our lives in Italy over local food. Lana tells me that travels back and forth between Italy and Singapore while Lina said that she had to learn Italian very quickly since her husband was relocated to work. I am still struggling with my Italian :-P After we adjourned, we headed to the Geylang Serai shopping center next door when I proceeded to buy a number of P. Ramlee movies like Bujang Lapok, Madu Tiga, Labu & Labi, Ikan Emas … but too bad that they were still in VCD format. It would have been great to have them in DVD format and most especially, with subtitles! As a sidenote, Cart and I were watching Sepet by Yasmin Ahamd and he kept asking and asking and asking. “Is she malay? Is he Chinese? What is the significance? Why did he do that?” I had to keep telling him, “Abang, its a story. Just watch and see how the story develops lah. I am watching this for the first time also, I don’t know! Diam boleh tak?” And then Cart would have this mournful eyes and said “You know I am foreign and dont know of these cultural implications” and for a while it will be quiet and then he starts asking again Anyway later in the evening, Cart and I got ready to head to Clementi Woods Sakura International buffet to meet my Jurong Institute Classmates. It was a pretty impromtu meeting since I asked around only about a week before the actual day but the turnout was still pretty good. The first person that I met was CK and we got nervous when we saw loads of people at the entrance and we didn’t book in advance! Luckily for us, we got a table in the end but it was too bad that we were arranged in such a way that I couldn’t hear the other half of the conversation, but I had a lovely chat with Dorris and her boyfriend who met in Australia while Dorris was attached for work then. They said that they would probably head to the States for work experience after they got married. That’s quite romantic I think :-) All in all, I had a very lovely evening just chatting with my friends, re-acquainting with everyone. We’ve grown so much since school days. It seems that everyone is getting married or have kids already or already complaining about their works and stuff. Rite of passage I guess. Next : Seeing Birds Hello Singapore! Part 4 Saturday morning, I thought that I’d drop by to see the wonderful people of Tech65 during their live recordings. The group usually recorded at Geekterminal, however I’ve been told that its been closed down. So a quick check on twitter shows that they are having it in the new Hackerspace instead. It wasn’t difficult getting there since Arab Street was one of my favourite place to go to in Singapore. Unfortunately, by the time that Cart and I arrived, the group has already finished their recording. Also, a number of the members wasn’t there. Daniel was in Hong Kong, Nicole was away. But I did managed to meet dear Fari who was still as adorable as ever as well as the amiable Justin who was one of the co-owners of Hackerspace. Fari showed us around Hackerspace and I saw a very interesting looking area. At first glance, it looked like a spa where you could get massages or get your nails done since there were draperies everywhere. But in reality, members could do their work in quiet environment. So quiet that we chanced upon this : A sleeping DK. Hehehe Cart and I stayed a while to join in the Android enthusiasts gathering and it was really amusing to see all the coders trying to get the answer right for the Dont forget the lyrics game. Miccheng is amused I have to admit that I was really horrible. I had my trusty S10 with me. So I googled the lyrics and nudged the competitors with the answers. Of course, everyone won! :-P We said our goodbyes and Spai joined us later for lunch. I suggested that we had lunch at Cafe Le Caire since the food that I had there the last time was really tasty. Unfortunately, this time round. The standards has really dropped. The service was so slow. It probably took a good 20 minutes till there was someone to serve us. Even then when I asked the server about the food, he didn’t know anything! Oh horrors! The worst part is, I didn’t liked anything that was served. Bah. Lets change topic. Like this cute wedding bears that I stumbled upon on our way to go to Funan Center. Speaking of weddings, Cart and I stumbled upon a wedding shop and I saw a very beautiful wedding gown. Cart said, “You like that dress? Well, those days are over now”. Hai … bertuah punya suami… -_-” I passed my new namecards to Tommyprint which I’ve edited with Italian words and ordered 300 copies. Although now that I think about it … why even bother? Its not like when I’m in Singapore when I’m considered such a celebrity. I’ve never been to any Italian events ever. I even missed the Rome blogfest that was held last year. Hopefully this year would be better :-) Anyway, we headed back to Arab Street to have dinner at El Sheik with a couple of my wonderful blogger friends : Nicole, Xinyun, CC, Lycan, Foxtwo. It was a lovely dinner. *coughs* Much better than Cafe Le Caire *coughs* Too bad that they don’t do their mixed appetizers anymore though. I don’t remember what we talked about, but I remember that it was really nice hanging out with them. Xinyun and Nicole even handed me gifts and it made me so emotional that I really teared up after that. I thought of uploading the unboxing video but I look so unglamorous at the end. Anyway who’d want to watch it? :-P So I’ll put this picture of us sexeh ladies instead Later on, we adjourned to this place called Coffee Culture, I think. Passing through Arab Street at night is an experience. Smelling the sweet smoke emanating from Shisha’s. And soon after, we reached the coffee place. And that’s when CC asked the most interesting question. I was most amused. Anyway, I had a really nice coffee with ice cream on top. Italians would probably shun at such a thing as this, but I really liked it. It was yummeh! :-D And then, CC went to the display shelf and took out a deck of cards. And interestingly, the first card that he pulled out was this : Boomz! How coincidental was that?! — The next day, Cart, Spai and I got ready to head to Royal Copenhagen Tea House for a little bloggers gathering. What was supposed to be a chichi experience turned out very different though. Things didnt seem to start well. The first thing that Spai noticed was a scary looking lady with tattoes and too tight revealing clothes drinking tea. To me, my visions of having a queenly, upperclass, royal tea faded as soon as we entered the dining area. It was SO noisy! Like hawker center! In fact, I’ve seen crowded hawker centers which was more quieter than this. Alamak! How could I role play being royalty like this? Maybe coming here on a Sunday on the December holidays wasn’t a good idea. The only saving grace was that the food was pretty good. I liked everything that I had, especially the scones. It was pretty delightful. Maybe the next time that we head back to Singapore, maybe we could go and have high tea at Fosters instead :-) Anyway, it was nice meeting my friends again – there was Daphne, Furry, Jean, Alice, Brokenshardz, Hendri and Aaron. Here are a couple of shots of us : Furry Photos and Hello Kitty Spai and Aaron Alice and Jean Tstar looking at her scone And here is Cart being action shy. Later on we said our goodbyes and headed to Coffee club. I just couldn’t take the incessant noise at Royal Copenhagen. Its probably the last time that I head there. My queenly dreams are shattered :\ And here is Brokenshardz, Hendri and Aaron talking about sociology. It was interesting and yet horrifying to hear of people being in danger and yet no one is moved enough to do anything. I had a similar incident, but thankfully, it wasnt as serious. — The next day, my best friends Juli and Hema asked us out for dinner at Juli’s favourite Indonesian restaurant in Lucky Plaza. Ooh. The food was so good that I forgot to take pictures of my friends! :-P Man, it was so good that I’m having mild palpitations just looking at this picture. And the waitress was so kind and friendly too. Once she found out that Cart was vegetarian, she took special care not to mix the food together and even offered to separate the meat products from being added in the gravy. And Cart could try Indonesian food! 100 points for being so nice. I got my best ladies a couple of Pupa cosmetics and till this day, I feel like kicking myself for not taking a video as they were pulling out the presents. Cos all through the while, they started to argue at who had the cutest present. LOL! And we adjourned to Orchard’s new mall, the ION where of course us ladies headed straight to the magical land of Sephora. Cart’s already lost my by the time we stepped in as we ooohed and aaahed at all the branded cosmetics. Hema was looking at the Benefit cosmetics, Juli was looking at Bare Escentuals and I was hypnotised at the brushes that Sephora had. So many! I was trying to be frugal since I still have quite a bit of mekap that I’ve yet to finish. But I couldn’t help but get a couple of items. Ladies and gentlemen, I am now a Mac Whore. Will try to do a bideo of these babies soon :-) Sidenote : Speaking of whores … I just made a fan page! Yes I am now carrying my own basket so go on and join my fan page :-P Hello Singapore! Part 3 The next weeks just passed by in a blur. There were so much to do! Thankfully, my brother took good care of my scooter so Cart and I could zip around without having to wait for public transportation. Although, my baby scooter looks a lot different compared to the last time I saw it. This : As compared to this : White isn’t my first choice on a vehicle :-P Most of the days were spent mostly by catching up with friends and relatives and to tackle a couple of bureaucratic issues. Like my Italian Visa expiring. We headed to the Italian Embassy to ask for advice. And this is what I found. Ehm. They only work 2 hours a day? Anyway, a quick check with the lady inside the counter assured us that since I’ve already gotten my Permesso di soggiorno, there is no need for me to apply for another visa. Thus, even if I change to a new passport (since mine would be expiring in May) it’ll be a non issue. Since the Italian embassy was located in United Square, we decided to walk around the shopping center where we stumbled upon Pastamania – An Italian Fast Food franchise. I was stunned. But I guess Cart wanted to experiment. I guess its the same for me. Back in Rome, I’m tempted to visit Asian restaurants to see how they match up to the restaurants in Singapore. (So far, it has been an interesting experience) And in retrospect, Cart found his experience in Pastamania to be an interesting experience too. It wasn’t bad. But Cart is very particular about his pasta being Al Dente. For me, I think that the Spinach Tortellini that I had then was a lot different compared to just a couple of years ago … What telah happen?! Anyways, coincidentally, Jerrick buzzed me, asking if we were free to meet. And we had lunch together followed by a nice tea and cakes later on. It was really lovely to meet Jerrick again. We chatted and caught up with each other since the last time that we met in November and March. And I was amazed. Because we meet up more in the year than me meeting my family or best friends :-P — Later in the middle of the week, we met up with fellow blogger, Wishbone. It was really nice talking to her. I think the last time that we met was at the Samsung event and I remember we taking pictures together for the challenge. It was lovely at how easy it was talking to each other. And Wishbone helped to spree a couple of outfits for me. Whee! Its a lot more beautiful in real life than in pictures. Although I still stand on my opinion that blogshops clothes are meant more for petite sized women than *coughs* voluptuous *coughs* women like me. For dress that was supposed to be free sized, I could wear it, but it could hardly cover my bum, so its worn as a top instead :\ By the way, Cart spotted this at Coffee Bean, where Wishbone and us chatted. Panettone is a seasonal treat that gets popular during the Christmas season. The one at Coffee Bean wasn’t my favourite though. It was just much too dry. One taste and I didn’t want any more. Good thing was that their cheesecake was as yummy as ever :-) Oooh … and speaking of food, I thought that it would be nice to have a family meal out together. My parents prefer hawker centre fare so we headed to Ayer Rajah Hawker Center for some noms. Its been a while since we took the SBS. And I looked at TV Mobile set which fast approaching its demise. Its too bad I suppose since it was entertaining to watch during those long and boring bus journeys. But if it was possible to have cheaper bus tickets if there were no TV Mobile sets in the busses, I’d rather go without them. Speaking of which, Cart and I were contemplating on changing our ezlink card since Singapore is using a new type of card since October. But I wasn’t sure if it was still valid for us to convert our old card to the new ones anyway? Anyway, when we reached the food center, all of us whacked pretty much everything. My parents had Indian rojak. Cart had his Vegetarian Nasi Goreng, and I had my Ayam Penyet. And we still had room later for a kebab made by a Moroccan dude. Too bad that I didn’t get to eat all my heart’s desire. There were so many local food that I wanted to eat. Like Sop Tulang! Ehm. Maybe in December 2010. Hello Singapore! Part 2 The next day, I was up relatively early on a Saturday morning. Cart was still sleeping. I was still feeling woozy but excited to start the day, I got up. My mum was already getting ready to go for her morning walks at the park near the house and I took the chance to join her. An old shot I took of the park back on its opening day One of my biggest fear of returning back to Singapore was that I would lose my immunity to the Singapore heat. It was a beautiful morning. But already, I could feel a slight discomfort at the morning rays piercing through my skin. Oh freaking heck. What has happened to me? I pushed on for the next 30 minutes or so and then felt a huge feeling of respite when its time to get back. My mum was already being busy in the kitchen and she proceeded to stuff me with freshly made epok-epok. Of course, not having eaten mum’s home cooked food, I had a really big appetite. Cart and I nommed about 3 large epok-epok each at one go. Still rather lethargic, we took it slow and easy at home. Cart gave my family some seasonal Italian sweets like the Panettone, Pandoro and Torrone. While I gave the ladies of the house a couple of mekap stuff. Like this cute puposka doll that I bought from Pupa. Naturally, I got a couple of items for myself. Mum looked extremely excited at opening the doll, seeing the colours. I guess all women have this trait. I should have taken an unboxing video :-P Later on, we set up the Wii set that we brought with us. I got one last year from Sim Lim Square to play in Italy thinking it was a universal device. Despite the assurance from the salesman saying that all Wii games are compatible regardless of region, the wii wouldn’t detect the PAL format that Italy uses. So, might as well donate it to the family. (Speaking of Sim Lim Square, something happened that was the last straw. I’ll blog about it in later posts) And we played Raving Rabbits! It was such a silly game. Later in the afternoon, my mum, who is currently active volunteering for the neighbourhood zone, invited me over to some belated Hari Raya Karaoke meet at the community center. Why not? I thought to myself and I went over. Spot something interesting here And I met up with a number of my mum’s friends. It was interesting seeing aunties again, us talking in Malay, and watching them have fun karaokeing with hari raya songs. There was a potluck so I stuffed myself with a lot of home cooked food. And then the inevitable question was thrown at me. “Any good news?” “When are you going to have a baby?” “Are you pregnant yet?” Boring aku In anycase, later on, my siblings decided on having a day out and we went to Jurong Point! Oh my, such a change since the last time I’ve been there. While the new wing was already completed in December 2008, there were not that many shops that were opened. In contrast, this time, there were SO many people and was so crowded that I was surprised. When did Jurong Point become the place to go to? Was it always like this or was it because of the holiday season? Anyway we started to look around, spotting out interesting things and just having fun and being silly. Like what Spai is doing here :-P Because had just a bit of time before the mall closes for the night, we headed to Prime NTUC and went a little nuts at buying a couple of food stuff (slowly buying items to be brought back to Italy) and we had a late supper later on and we chatted about everything under the sun moon The next day, there was a family reunion at my maternal grandmother’s place. I was still feeling rather woozy. And I found Cart and myself falling in and out of sleep despite all the relatives talking to us (my mum has 10 married siblings with kids) and the wonderful home cooked buffet spread (poor Cart had to be content with only a few food since he is vegetarian though) And then it started again “Any good news?” “When are you going to have a baby?” “Are you pregnant yet?” HAIYAH! Hello Singapore! Part 1 We were set to leave on the 17th December. On the day itself, I’ve already mostly packed my luggage but for a few things like mekap and toiletries. But I also did not want to come back to a messy house, so I zoomed through with the housework, the laundry, the swiffering, the washing up and all the whatnots. And for a strange coincidence, my Italian class, which was usually on Wednesday, was postponed to Thursday. And not wanting to miss any lessons, I rushed to class and then rushed back home again in time for my father in law to pick us up to send us to the airport. Woah stress. But we had time to send a couple of postcards, which was originally meant for Hari Raya. I suppose thats its either a ultra belated or a super early postcard :-P I was already feeling excited. Yay! We’re going back to Singapore! I’ll see my family and friends! The food! The sun! Shopping! All through the flight, I was awake taking advantage of the entertainment thingmajig on the Emirates flight. There was even a USB port on it. Next time I should bring my cable so I could charge my handphone on it :P In any case, we reached Dubai airport some hours later where by a stroke of coincidence, we had to spend 8 hours there. Initially it was quite interesting to see all the different high end shops. A little confusing though at the same time because of the different monetary exchange. I look tired and ugly so I’ll censor my face out But soon, I was so bored out of my mind that I did a live blog post :-P At length, it was time to board the connecting flight where it did a stopover at Colombo and after which, Singapore. It was the first time for me, having so many stops. But I guess it wasn’t too bad as we could stretch our legs more as opposed to a direct and long 10 hour flight. Breakfast in Emirates And not too long after, we reached Singapore! Woohoo! Since I’m holding a Singaporean passport, I cleared the customs in less than 3 minutes while poor Cart had to queue and wait for about 20 minutes. Too bad that there were only two shops on the arrival side to occupy my time. I tried to log on to wireless@Sg but it was pretty useless for me, since I’ve forgotten my password. But at length, Cart cleared the customs and we picked our luggage from the carousel and we entered the arrival hall. For a while, I didn’t see any familiar faces. It was only later when my little sister noticed me and waved hello followed by my cousin, and up walked my mum! I gave them a big hug! How I’ve missed everyone :-) We took the 7 seater maxi cab to my parent’s house. Throughout the journey, I looked out of the window. There were so many changes that it surprised me tremendously. So many changes in only one year? Ok I don’t have any pictures of the changes, so I’ll put this picture instead Speaking of changes, my sister kept pointing out that I spoke with an Italian slang. Ish budak bertuah ni. Mana ada?! My Italian language is still in the “Cannot Make It” category At last, we reached my parent’s house where for the longest time, it felt really strange for me. A strange, unfamiliar feeling even though I spent so many years there. It took a while to readjust myself there. And while it probably sounds bad, my bedroom seemed smaller somewhat. Or maybe I’ve grown bigger or that there were more stuff in there than usual :-P And Cart and I did like what we did during our first matrimonial night. We both fell asleep fainted due to our severe fatigue p.s. Oh! Speaking of matrimonial … coincidentally, it was our first year wedding anniversary! Back in Rome After a whirlwind 3 weeks of mostly stuffing my face with food as well as meeting friends and family, I’m back in Rome again. Already missing Singapore. I’ll try to blog soon. A week passed by Am in Singapore for about a week now. It was a rather simple affair when we exited the customs with my family greeting an exhausted Cart and I at the airport. Regardless, I was looking here and there on our journey to my parent’s house. There were so many changes! Empty areas had a buildings on them and some places with buildings which I remembered, were demolished. All in one year? When we reached my parent’s house, I was shocked that the house felt so unfamiliar. Strange because I spent years and had so many memories here before moving to Rome with Cart. The first thing that I ate would be the rojak that my mum prepared. It felt really great having to eat hot and spicy food again, as opposed to the mild food that I have been consuming. And then Cart and I fainted on the bed from our extreme jetlag. But anyway after being here for a couple of days, the “unfamilliar” feeling was gone and everything seems normal again. Suddenly it felt as if Rome never happened. Going about doing daily activities feels very natural to me. Finally I can understand what the people around me are saying and interact with them properly. Spent the last few days catching up with friends and family. Its nice to be able to speak face to face in Malay again. Although I’m a little bit worried that my Malay is getting a little bit jumbled up with Italian and English at the same time. And of course enjoying the food that is not so easy to get in Rome. And where best to enjoy them but in hawker centers! Today itself, I gourged on Ayam Penyet, Indian Rojak, Mee Siam … I’m looking at a couple of the items that used to belong to me. Like the scooter. Its been a long while since I’ve ride on my baby Vespa. I miss the feeling of zipping down the road with the wind in my face. I dont even mind getting sunburnt for it (and I did!) Which reminds me that one of the fears that I had before coming here was not being accustomed to the heat. Some nights were uncomfortable. But so far, it hasn’t been too bad. I’m in what used to be my room at the moment, looking at the things that I didn’t have time to pack and left temporarily. And I reminisce and feel nostalgia. Its a good thing that this time I’d have a couple of weeks to pack them back for Rome as opposed to the hectic one day packing last year. But yet, it makes me sad though because all this “normality” doesn’t last and eventually I’d have to go back. One week has passed by. Only two more weeks to go. Bah This is the Stuck-in-Dubai-come-chat-with-me Post Just reached Dubai airport and I feel groggy and looking totally unglamorous. But Cart and I will be in Singapore soon! I’m so looking forward to seeing my friends and family, eating good food and shopping! And I’m definitely most looking forward to meet you! Please don’t feel shy :-) But before that, we’d be waiting at our stopover in Dubai Airport for about 8 hours before our next flight to Singapore. Oh my! We’ve got quite a bit time to kill, thank goodness there is free internet here. So I hope that you come and keep us company and chat with us via the comment box below :-) Live updates 11.00pm Dubai Time : Just landed in Dubai. 12:00 Dubai Time : Just finished eating this Steakhouse Burger from Burger King. I don’t like it so much. 1.00am Dubai Time : Cart and I are bored. 2.15am Dubai Time : Cart is napping on the bench while I’m keeping watch. Internet here is wonky. I cant load plurk or twitter well. Why isnt anyone chatting with me on the comment box? 2.45am Dubai Time : If I didnt have to keep watch over the stuff, I would totally do like what these guys are doing 3.00am Dubai Time : Finally trying out the Starbucks Toffee Nut Frap. Its not bad. 3.10am Dubai Time : Whoops, battery running low. I better find a charging station. 4.16am Dubai Time : Feel stoned. Getting lesser people and is quieter now. Everyone looks so docile. 5.05am Dubai Time : Fell asleep on the Starbucks table. Lappy is about 70% charged now. Totally dishevelled. I look like a pontianak in ugg boots. Woah! Arabic Google! 6.15am Dubai time : The place seems more lively now. Suddenly there are more people streaming in. Wanted to pray but the prayer room doesn’t seem to have any prayer outfits provided. Check out these very skilled women! The lady on the PA system has such a nice and comforting voice. Wahyu, wahyu, Isnain, Tsalasa. 6.20am : Alright time to head to the boarding gates. Thank you for your hospitality Dubai, see you soon, dear Singapore! Rinaz can cook! Stuff in Italy isn’t exactly cheap. This was what I saw in a window some while ago. 146 euro? Thats almost 300 singapore dollars. And this is what a Big Mac costs in Italy. Thats about $12 SGD. Yikes! Now that I’m unemployed a domestic goddess at the moment, I dont really have the liberty of spending money like I did before. Its beneficial to be a little more frugal. And one of the best way to save money is to buy and cook our own food. Over in Italy, there is a wet market where you can get your fresh produce from. My mum in law took me to one near her home during my first few weeks here. Just like in Singapore, there is a bustling of activities here from the customers to the sellers. You could buy all sort of things at the wet market - vegetables, meat, cheese, bread, even flowers, shoes and carpets! I was very excited to see such vibrancy here. Cart and I went the wet market at Piazza San Giovanni di Dio a while ago. I loved seeing all the colours there. I just wished that I wasnt so self concious to take more pictures of the sellers. Regardless, in the end, we could get two whole bagfuls of vegetables for about 10 euro. And with that, it completely stuffed the refrigerator and lasted us for a good two weeks. And oh boy, have I been having fun! Prior to this, I haven’t really been too interested in cooking since I’ve been happy to eat anything that my mum cooked. But now that I’ve been given the liberty to a kitchen for my own, I’ve actually been enjoying preparing food. This is Vegetable Curry. I made this! I was worried that Cart wouldn’t like it as I’ve never made curry before. But in the end, he enjoyed it so much that he took seconds. I was surprised! Geri loves Cream Pasta. Now I can make it for her when she comes to Rome :) Nowadays I feel a little more confident of my cooking skills which is interesting as I wasn’t that inclined to be in the kitchen. Whoever knew that the girl who didn’t like to cook is actually cooking :P Moreover, I realise that cooking is actually very sexeh. Thanks to my new boyfriend, Gordon Ramsey. But I suppose good things comes with its own problems. I’m 64kg now. Ah crap. Sidenote : Just for fun, take a peek at my old video on how to make arrabbiata. Looking back, I realise how very unfluent I am in Italian. Suddenly I have dry skin In Singapore, there is a 100% humidity with a temperature of about 28 degrees celcius all year round. Its like being in a sauna. While it is actually good for skin, keeping it youthful looking, the downside is that it tends to bring the oil gland factories working at a mad pace, such that its not extra ordinary to be able to fry eggs with the natural grease from the face alone. Thus Facial blotters are something that is very commonly used in Singapore. These are small plastic like films that you dab on your face to soak up oil. Its amazing to see how much the little film extracts oil. Sometimes I wonder if I should have used it on a fried chicken. So when I was in Rome for the first time, I was amazed that I did not need to use a facial blotter. But now, after some weeks here, my skin feels sallow, that ‘radiance’ was gone that even Cart said so! :P It was only when my face started to get a little flaky was when I finally realised that it was actually getting dry! This was my usual facial skincare As I’ve been using skincare for oily skin for since my teenage years, it was something very new to me to finally be buying moisturizer for my face. But buying skincare in another country, where you don’t know the language well, is very daunting. I used to know these as Oil of Ulan, then it changed to Olay and now its Olaz in Italy For example, the first week when I was in Rome and running out of hair conditioner, I was extremely confused. What on earth is “Conditioner” in Italian? All the bottles looked the same. I didnt see any “conditionero”. It was only after a long while that I found out that I needed a bottle of “Balsamo” But eventually, with the limited amount of Italian that I know, I’m actually having fun decoding the packaging. It wasn’t that hard to translate! This one says : New refreshing formula Hydrating day cream 24 hour hydration and protection for fresh skin With lotus extract and vitamins - SPF 8 For normal and combination skin And it got simpler after that, so much so that I feel more confident of getting other nice stuff :) The Rosa body cream is now my favourite! The funny thing is that it doesnt exactly smells like rose, but more like rose and milk. I suppose that its bandung, yeah? And I think that this is a great way of immersing in Italian language at the same time too! Now you know what “No more tears” in Italian is :) And now, I can continue to look Sidenote : Ok, so I’m a little thickskinned. But I’m quite amused by this and the number of hits that followed. I dont feel like cutting my fingernails Nowadays I am a little hesitant when needing to trim my fingernails. This is because I will have only a couple of weeks left before the henna dye on my fingernails will be completely gone. And that will end virtually the only physical mark of my wedding. This is what my hands look like freshly painted on the wedding dinner Its a Malay custom to have the hands and feet decorated with henna for their wedding. This is to symbolise the couple’s upcoming wedding occasion. And these are the palms There are basically two types of henna that you could use, either fresh ones from crushed henna leaves or the one prepackaged from most Indian Shops. When I had my hand and feet to be decorated with henna, it took about 30 minutes to be drawn for each limb and I had to concentrate to keep still the entire duration so that the henna doesn’t smudge. Here is a video I’ve recorded via Ustream of the henna drawing. You might want to skip to the 3rd minute where I stop fiddling with the computer and when the artist actually starts drawing :P Online TV Shows by Ustream But it was the waiting for the henna to dry part. It would usually take at least 2 hours for the henna to dry before you peel it off. The longer the person lets it dry, the more vibrant the colour. And there I was on the couch, with my hands stretched out on the sofa arms, motionless like a dynasty empress. Unable to even change the channel on the tv, and all the while worrying about the wedding preparations that is going on the void deck. I really liked my henna. Days after the wedding, it was fun to show them and do ala magician’s flourishes. Now my nails look like this It feels like I’m losing the wedding radiance Even Cart said so! Me : I’m losing my radiance, the air here is making my skin dry, I’ll probably age faster. Cart : When have you been radiant? Ok, we have our language differences … but still … Sidenote : Ridz sent me a postcard all the way from Singapore! I love it! How thoughtful :) Lock your love and throw away the key Happy belated valentines day to you! Last Saturday was actually the first time that I celebrated San Valentino with Cartcart due to the both of us being in a long distance relationship for the past four years. It was a simple date, just the two of us spending time together in Trastevere and then watching a movie. Rinaz with the poet Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli We watched the curious case of Benjamin Button. Granted that it was in Italian, nevertheless I still enjoyed the movie as well as Cart’s company for the entire day. Il curioso caso di Benjamin Button In any case, if you are in Italy around San Valentino, it would be hard not to notice Baci Chocolates for sale. There are so many of them in different sorts of packaging - some wrapped with flowers, some with bears, some are even in lock shapes. Baci means Kisses in Italian And this reminded me of the day when Cart and I visited Ponte Milvio a few years ago. Ponte Milvio is an interesting place where you could see a plentiful of locks on each lamppost. And if you look carefully, on each lock will be the name of a pair of couple. There is a custom here where you write your name as well as your partner’s name on the lock. Secure the lock on the lamppost and throw the key away in the Tiber River below so that your relationship can never be broken. I’m still a little cynical about the whole thing, but ah, its for the charm of it all. For those who are not too near to Rome, you might want to do it online! Try to spot my lock near the yellow lights. So, how did you spend your Valentine’s day? Sidenote : I think I’m getting used to learning Italian now. Previously I felt like vomitting when I went for class, today I just feel ill Did I tell you that I love my S10? In January last year, I was very impressed with the EEE PC. It was revolutionary - an affordable, portable mini laptop that allows you to do things that you regularly do on a normal laptop. But there were a few snags about it. Though the keyboard was small, I was still able to adjust. It was the tiny 800 by 480 screen resolution, making it uncomfortable - I had to scroll numerous times in many larger sized resolution websites. As much as I love the entire philosophy of Linux, Xandros in the EEE PC gave me issues such as not allowing me to do live streaming on ustream.tv and it was extremely hard for me to install additional software. This was a big deal for me. When I finally am able to install the program, I could not even see some programs as a whole due to the resolution. Nevertheless, EEE PC was very popular and still useful for many people. And since then, it was the start for the churning of more improved netbooks like the HP Mininote, the Acer Aspire, the MSI Wind - It was interesting to note that the specs and the cost rivals each other. It was confusing at which netbook to choose. (By the way, isn’t it annoying to want to have a hands on try at computer shops only to see that its all password protected?) Fortunately for me, I was given a chance to purchase the Lenovo S10 at a discounted price. I was very excited to finally have it in my hands in mid December. Unboxing the Lenovo S10 from rinaz on Vimeo Since then, the S10 has been a very trusty and useful companion. At first glance The S10 is slightly heavier and bigger than the EEE PC. However, amazingly it could still fit in my handbag ensuring portability. On the sides of the S10, it is pretty standard - two usb slots, one SD card reader, a slot for network cable, a PCI express slot, a jack for audio and microphone as well as VGA port to connect to the monitor. Left hand side of the Lenovo S10 Right hand side of the Lenovo S10 Although the keyboard is not as large as a regular laptop, it allows me to touch type comfortably. The only issue that I had is that there are certain oddities when trying to reach certain keys such as the tab key as well as the right shift key. Awesome wallpaper from Smashing Magazine One feature that I think that Lenovo is famous for, is the red trackpad in the middle of the keyboard. However, there is none in the S10, which could be a big issue that many Lenovo fans would not like. That is not a big deal to me, but on the other hand I am not fond of how very loud the left and right click buttons are. The Lenovo S10 next to a X41 ThinkPad Using the S10 At first boot up, I did a quick configuration for Win XP before going to the all familliar desktop and then I was good to go with my daily rituals of gmail, twitter, plurk, facebook and other social networking sites. Speedwise, it was the same as using a regular laptop, however, it slows down when using more graphics intensive websites such as Pet Society or Volvo Ocean Race. EHEHEHE! The webcam that comes on the S10 might not be as fantastic as say, the Logitech Quickcam Fusion, but it is still pretty decent in taking pictures, and most importantly, it is able to do live streaming on ustream.tv when I am in the mood to do a broadcast on a whim. Still, I would have liked a program where I could do silly things like in the image below. Picture stolen from Claudia.sg But what I am very excited about is the bluetooth function in the S10. I could transfer pictures from my Samsung Innov8 straight into the S10 without the need for cables, steal use Cart’s Motorola bluetooth headset - it was just fantastic to multitask, being able to walk around while talking to my mum back in Singapore or listening to youtube videos. Ahem. Yes, this is Hell’s Kitchen that I’m watching Installing programmes in the S10 Me, being myself, I would not be satisfied without a few core programs that I need. So far, I have installed CoreFTP, Chrome, VLC media player, Windows Live Messenger as well as Skype - which functions beautifully. (By the way, you might be interested in 72 freeware application for your PC) I enjoy image editing and although I am more used to Photoshop, I doubt that it would be compatible with the S10 as it is resource intensive, thus I’ve given GIMP a try instead. But I am having issues with GIMP crashing when I try to update the font list, however, I think that its due to it being beta rather than the S10 itself. This is how GIMP looks like on the S10 Last thoughts In the past two months I’ve been using the S10, all that I have to say is that I love my S10! Though it might not be as powerful as a regular desktop or laptop it has been such a lifesaver for me. I would probably not be able to keep in touch with the people back in Singapore, would probably not be able to do social networking, would probably not be blogging this entry even. Do you like my laptop skin by the way? I got it from Sim Lim. I think its quite expensive though. Which is probably a good excuse for me to start blogging more, yes? Hmph. Related links Lenovo S10 Official Website Review from NotebookReview.com P.S Oh, and I heard news from Sylvia that the price for S10 has dropped from $799 to $650! Sidenote : I’m waiting for my main computer, the HP Touchsmart to arrive here from Singapore. I just hope that it arrives in one piece. What is the strangest food that you’ve ever eaten? When I was a very young girl, while the old Geylang Serai was around, my dad would always buy a packet of steamed turtle eggs. For me, it was something very interesting to see. The seller would open a case and I could peer in something that looked like ping pong balls with sliced pandan leaves scattered around it. Turtle eggs for sale in Terenganu, Malaysia But unlike ping pong balls, the shell was soft and it tore off easily. Inside was a perfectly round yolk surrounded by viscous transparent liquid. Unlike chicken egg, turtle eggs was a new experience for me. It was acidic and it smelled rather caustic. I didn’t fancied it. But apparently, it was a delicacy as I noticed plentiful of sellers selling them. However, some years later, I did not see them being sold anymore. I suppose that with turtles being a protected species, there would be a law being implemented to against the trading of eggs. Not that I would be missing them though. Balut is another one And as I watch television, youtube and in casual talks with friends, I discover that there are plentiful of food that makes me cringe. But there is nothing like what Cart described to me. Casu Marzu, a Sardinian delicacy. Pecorino cheese with maggots inside, eating and excreting the cheese to give it the soft texture. What makes it more cringeworthy is that the maggots tend to jump when disturbed, potentially hitting the diner’s eyes. [See post to watch Flash video] What is the most wierdest, grossest food that you’ve ever had? Sidenote : I’m really getting addicted to watching Hell’s Kitchen nowadays. Youtube is truly a time sucker :P