3 nights at Inzago, Italy

This was like my shortest, nope, the Bangalore trip was the shortest but for Europe, just 3 nights? Yes, can be the shortest overseas trip ever. Definitely not for holiday, it was a working trip with half a day of sight seeing and shopping squeezed in. My last trip to Milan was 2006 and of course the traffic was just as bad on the motorways and the roads out of the motorways are also as small as ever..but one thing is very familiar…TOLLS!

Upon reaching I was expecting some Italian hunk holding up my supplier’s name welcoming me but sorry he was not only an uncle, but a very short uncle with a big belly! He was driving very politely, so unlike the normal Italians who speed and curse on the road! We couldn’t communicate at all as he knows no English. It was a  silent and boring 1 hour drive.

My driver for 3 days..

Upon reaching the factory, I was indeed impressed as it was really big! The Marketing Manager came down to greet me and he was as handsome as ever despite being an uncle oso..hahahahhaa…I was served with some water and we started work immediately. I did catch some sleep on the flight so it was alright that we started work.

Lunch was good ol Italian pasta…yumz and of course a bonus was with a handsome guy eating with me…wakakakaka..I was being stared at as it’s quite rare to have someone Asian looking around that neighbourhood.

It’s so yummy…the cherry tomatoes tasted sooo good, so sweet…no wonder my kids spit out the ones we get from the supermarkets here…

After lunch it was back to work till about 5pm. The same guy who picked me up sent me to the hotel. It was a family run hotel beside a river, very peaceful surroundings, quite a pretty little room and very impressive bathroom! I was really tired & sleepy by then so I quickly had a quick shower and then whipped out my Korean Cup Noodles and went out to get some hot water. After the noodles, I was in la-la land…eventhough it was about 6.45 pm. Since I slept so early, I woke up early too! As usual, all channels are in Italian, even American sitcoms/movies are are translated to Italian! Rats! Just chilled in the room listening to my iPod and waited till breakfast.

Front of the hotel (I thought it’s more like a motel..)

River in front of the hotel, where the ducks quacked away waking me up…

…to be continued..

Cooking/baking…

It’s  been a long time, this post has been in my draft like forever but I didn’t have enough time loading the photos…so here’ some updates on my cooking scenes…

A rare occasion, where the kids are helping out. We were peeling soya bean skin…

My latest craze now..baking bread…I must say…it’s pretty easy and I don’t think I will be buying bread anymore…

Lazy bento….wakakakakaka..not much imagination here…

mega messy one..suppose to have the sun n clouds n suddenly there’s a bear riding on top of a car!

I think I like it covered up liddis better…

My 1st attempt to make chicken nuggets as I was travelling and worried the maid couldn’t handle the food for Kieran’s lunch. Kept them frozen and all the maid had to do was just fry it on low fire to serve..

Looks ok but it has not much taste according to the kids… but with sause I guess it was ok..

Kylie turned 4 today

Happy birthday my dearest Princess! May God bless you richly and keep you safe & healthy always!

There’s no celebration, but I baked a Princess cake for her and brought it to the school. Took me the whole morning as the fondant kinda didn’t work out too well. Somehow, just couldn’t get the texture to roll out as a big piece of skirt so I ended up rolling up snakes, making it like rope skirt!! It was so tiring…I’m almost collapsing now as I’m typing this…

Don’t ask me about the mess on the skirt…don’t know what I did! Yucks! And I was too lazy to mix another colour for the alphabets..so can you see Kylie’s name on the skirt??

Nevertheless, eventho I thot the cake looked hideous but the kids and the teachers were so impressed!

The girl was very happy, her friends sang her the Happy Birthday song…

Long Weekend-cont’d Penang

Notice the operating hrs sign? From 10.30 am to Habis ok!

After finishing (slurpss) the Funny Mountain tau foo fah, we left for Penang. Traffic was smooth all the way, since it’s the 2nd day of the weekend. First stop was lunch at this seaside place Alice recommended, forgot the name! Alice and family waited along the way for us and off we went together. The meal was really good, the fist was fresh. However, the restaurant doesn’t look too good, especially the fact that they are old, they have dogs all over the place! Emm..not very hygienic la..However, we were free from diarhea this time. Hallelujah!!!

Next stop was delivering some chemicals to my customer (Amah always bring some work in her breakaways..try to make back some $$ la..). Good thing customer was around and wrote me the cheque! Phew!

Tried to get some apam along the way (Jalan Burma, right in front of some shops next to a school) but that guy (with misai, don’t go to the wrong one, cos we went to the wrong one and ended up with food poisoning!) was booked with 100+ pieces and I couldn’t wait that long..the other crispy apam guy (this one is in Pulau Tikus, opposite the police station, stall outside a coffee shop) was just opening his stall, no luck there either..

Off we went to the hotel and it was raining along the way. It was still drizzling when we arrived and guess what? There was no covered lobby to drop off the passengers and luggage and the parking in front of the doorway were all occupied! Then we saw an empty lot with the “NO PARKING” sign but we of course ignored the sign since we needed to load the luggage and kids. I noticed there was a hotel staff holding a broom (but he was not sweeping) and he kept staring at us the whole time, from the time we parked, and loading the luggage and the kids. Then as I walked towards the door, he stopped me and told me that we were not allowed to park there. That was when I blew it and scolded him.

Me-I am aware that we cannot park here but we have not finished unloading the luggage and things. Where is the bell service? Can’t you help us get some help here? If we have some help here, the process can be sped up and we will be out of this NO PARKING area!

Cleaner-I don’t know where the bell boy is…

I was too tired to continue scolding him so I just walked off..

Then as I was waiting in the lobby, that stupid guy suddenly came up to me..

Guy-Sorry miss, I was just trying to tell you nicely that you can’t park your car there..I respect you, you must respect me also la..

Me-(WTF!!) Hello! I already told you we know that we are not able to park there. We are educated people, but I was angry with the fact that you just stood there staring at us while we struggled to get the umbrella and shaded the kids one by one and we had to carry the luggage, piece by piece and you didn’t do anything! It may not be your job but the least that you could do was run in to get help for us. Didn’t you realise we are the guests of this freaking hotel?

How dare he confront me like this? Who the f*%& does he think he is? The hotel was not exactly cheap! Ok by now you may want to know what shitty hotel this is, it’s the Holiday Shack Inn. Some of you may know, that this stupid place is divided by the road, one section is on the beach and the other is on the other side of the road. As we booked so late, we only managed to get this shack hotel and it was definitely not my first choice! I really have not come across a hotel of this standard which didn’t have the shaded drop off area! Too much, the architect that designed this place should be shot! Or maybe it was the owner who wanted to save some bucks here.

The receptionist was very apologetic but it was not his fault! Then the stupid guy didn’t stop there, suddenly there was this guy from Security with the walkie talkie who came up to Apah.

Security-What’s the problem here?

Wahhhh this time, Apah blew his fuse. For those who knows Apah, he’s one of the most patient type of guys around but this time, this ticked him bad, so bad….

Apah-What security procedure did we violate by parking there for a few minutes for loading our luggage ourselves? Tell me! (Volume = loud & stern and eyes almost popped out)

This time the receptionist pun walked out of this booth and tried to calm Apah and me down. I mean, we were guests who paid good money (money paid upfront upon booking on the internet) for a relaxing holiday and was that the way the hotel supposed to treat us?

Apah-Who is your Manager on duty? I want to see him/her now? (he thundered…)

Apah walked over the reception where the Duty Manager’s name was placed.

Receptionist-I’m soooo sorry, he’s not around

Apah-What do you mean by not around? Isn’t he the Duty manager who is supposed to be ON DUTY NOW?? Who is the person next in line, I want to see him/her now! I mean NOW!
The receptionist quickly gave us the room keys and sent us up the room but Apah refused to go up till he met with the Duty Manager and spoke his mind on this matter. Good thing the room was good, we had a good view and it was spacious. They gave us the extra bed at no cost but I reckon they could have done better than that.

Ok back to happier moments….EATING time…

Dinner was at Bee Hooi Pulau Tikus but the standard of the “Or Chien” (fried Oyster with egg) has deteriorated…not too good. Char Kuey Teow was just as good. Then we had to wait for the Asam Laksa stall to open cos they open later than the other stalls…so action….weyo? Their laksa damn good lor…Then Alice & Sue came to join us but Sue couldn’t sit down with us as her prince found the coffee shop too hot & noisy for his liking. So they ended up waiting at the Baskin Robbins next door waiting for us to finish our food.

More in the next post…

Tupperware

I can’t get enough of Tupperware. I’m a Tupperware freak, every darn thing I have is stored in a Tupperware! I was shopping for my monthly dose this afternoon and there were a few others buying also. I noticed the sum they buy is quite a lot, up to RM800 worth of tupperware, boy, that’s a lot! Wow, looks like I’m not the only freak around! Mind you, there were a few of them ok…but they are dealers who actually buy and sell also la.but STILL! Quite a lot leh!

Anyway, there’s a pretty good deal for this month. There’s a good offer for the freezer containers. I find them so convenient. If you buy the big set of 8 items, you will get 8 pieces of the smaller containers. On top of that, can buy the pair of bigger ones at 30% off the normal price.  FYI, I already have a lot but I still bought la…can’t help it..good deal ma…

For a clearer picture go to this link.

Long Weekend up North

We took off to Ipoh on Friday and the highway was of course a bumper to bumper and we ended up at Bidor Pun Chun Restaurant for lunch. It was packed with hungry people who were travelling up north also, and we waited like more than half an hour for a table. Met a friend and his family there too so we shared the table and he even paid for our lunch!! Now, the wait was somehow worth it!!

The food was of course not good due to overwhelming orders and we waited for another 45 minutes for the food! However, the texture of the noodles was still very good and so far we have not found this type of noodles anywhere else…After lunch we took off to Ipoh and joined in the crowded highway.

I chose the first exit which was the Simpang Pulai exit as I wanted to go to Gunung Rapat to get the famous Heong Peang (Ipoh biscuit) from the factory outlet. Trust me, tastes better than the ones you get in town! (more fresh!) After that was coffee at Sin Yoon Loong at Old Town but even the toast bread is sold out! Left only some butter cakes which was not to my liking of course! (Abuden? Amah’s mia butter cakes taste better than that ok!)

Then we checked in the hotel, as it was a long weekend, and we only made reservations like a week before, we had to settle with one that was not my first choice of course. It was Heritage Hotel, the sheets were grey and the pillows were smelly. Good thing I always bring my own pillow cases for double protection!

Dinner was at Yum Yum on Persiaran Greenhill, near Syuen Hotel. It serves really good Nyonya food. However, we were not quite satisfied and continued our journey to Ipoh Garden for the Ngar Choy (bean sprouts) Chicken Hor Fun but guess what? They sold out at 8.30pm!! What a spoiler!!!!

Morning was breakfast in the hotel, (as if I’m stupid enough to eat there! But it was provided, so I ate fruits la) and the kids suddenly loved cereal and attacked the counter like as if they’ve never had any cereal in their life! Breakfast of course continued at Kong Heng, Ipoh Old Town. We had the famous mouth watering hor fun (rice noodles) that I’ve blogged before and then on to Funny Mountain. It was only 10.15 am so they were only preparing to open for business. We walked over to Foh San to buy takeaway egg tarts/dim sum while waiting…yummy…

Look at that queue! The tau foo fah has not arrived ma..

Business hours – 10.30am till sold out! wakakakakaka..

Next stop..PENANG….

Chapalang..

This is going to be a mixture of events and quite a long winded post..

Kieran

There was once my in-laws proudly told me that Kieran was very enterprising as he was telling them about selling his “masterpieces”. I didn’t take much notice and brushed it aside. Then on Monday I saw one of his “masterpiece” which has this on the bottom, RM3/5..

I couldn’t take the whole of the picture..I find it kinda scary..

Me-What are you going to do with this drawing?

K-Sell to my friend..

Me-Who’s going to buy from you?

K-Joshua la…

Me-Really? I think you buy from him also, am I right?

He’s looking down on the floor with his classic guilty face..

Me-Hello,,answer me! Have YOU bought from him also?? (volumn up) You better answer me or else no dinner!

K-(looked up slowly) and nodded his head..

Me-What? Yes or no?

K-(in a small small voice) yes..

Me-I’m so disappointed in you, how much did you pay for one drawing?

K- RM3

Me-Are you sure?

K-yes…

I went on to lecture him about the importance of money and the money was given to him for emergency purposes, extra food, need to make phone call etc..but definitely not for this purpose. Then I made him kneel on the cold hard floor and pull his ears till my MIL coaxed him to say sorry. It took him quite some time to do that..showing again how stubborn he is! Mind you, he was actually very hungry and we were all eating dinner while he was kneeling!

Kylie

We went back to ApOh’s place for 2 days as she went travelling again. I had to babysit my little nephew so we brought him to the office. He’s so adorable and of course all eyes and attention went to him. Poor Kylie didn’t like it at all and was soooo jealous. The night before ApOh left, ApOh was scolding her maid..

K-Why u scold kakak (maid)? afturds (afterwards) she don’t (will not) cook for you, how?

I was so surprised she said this as I TOO always scold my maid but she has not said this to me, but then again, I cook most of the time so maybe she didn’t see that as a threat to me! hahahahaha…

My nephew, a splitting image of his daddy (my younger bro)!

He was not used to the environment in our office and was probably looking for ApOh, so he was crying all the time, the maid carrying him rocking him up and down also didn’t help! He only fell asleep out of exhaustion!

Bento

I haven’t had much time to prepare bentos for the kids…and here are 2 miserable ones I managed to make one day..

For Kylie, no space for the fruits..so had to put in another container..

The egg was supposed to be in the shape of a star but I didn’t clip on properly so it went out of shape! So I disguised it lor..this one is for Kieran…good thing he didn’t complain about the deco!

I’ve been on a bread baking frenzy..and the first attempt was brioche from a Chef Wan recipe and I was surprised at the amount of butter that was required…but the aroma from the oven was heavenly….

Tasted heavenly too…(fresh from the oven la..but after a while it turns kinda hard..I was told it’s bcos the commercial ones had bread improver and softerner..but they r not exactly healthy ingredients…)

Update on the kids

I would like to thank my friends who has lent me their ears and shoulders to cry on…really appreciate all of u..”muaks..” Because of you guys and of course my Apah and the kids..I feel much better and have the motivation to move on..

Kylie is becoming more and more chatty..here are some of the stuff she said recently that really blown me away!

Scene 1

Apoh walked down the stairs…

K-(in a fierce tone) Why u come down(s)tairs? After baby cry how? Huh? (Apoh is taking care of my baby nephew now)

Scene 2

Kylie was feeding my the other nephenw (only 6 months younger than Kylie, I really couldn’t believe this happened as she needs to be fed herself!)

K-why u eat so slow? U are a boy u know?? Ha? Eat fa(s)ter, ok! (also in a fierce tone!)

Scene 3

She has been singing this song lately, the song her teacher sings with the kids while they queue and walk to the restroom daily (it’s quite a long way to the restroom from her classroom)..

(in the tune of “Are You Sleeping”)
Watermelon 2x papaya 2x, banananananana nananana fruit salad 2x.

However, she can’t pronounce fruit salad, so I couldn’t make out what she was singing and kept asking her to repeat the song till she got so frustrated! At the end I asked the teacher and really had a good laugh!

She still comes to the office in the morning and occasionally “sleeps on the job”..

As for Kieran,

Injury from fall while riding over a bump!

…day in day out will be the same routine..

Me/Apah-Kieran!! WAKE UP!!/Hurry up!/Do your homework!/Stop dreaming!/Go to sleep!

He is still very weak in his Chinese and Bahasa Msia, either borderline pass or fail..*sweats*

He has put on some flesh as his appetite has grown quite good and I think it must be due to his latest interest in badminton and also his cycling.

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More of my Loot..

It has been a long time since I updated..many things been happening, mainly not too good & I’ve been really down..I’m still thinking if I should blog about it..maybe later lerr..but at the meantime, a continuation on my Spore trip..

Doing homework in the airport departure lounge on the way to Spore

His Pokemon toys he brought along…

Testing the bed at my friend’s place…her daughters sacrificed their beds/room for us..

Pooh 2 tier lunch box..kinda flimsy plastic but the deisgn looks good…

more egg moulds & Hello Kitty Rice Mould from Kai Kai)

Silicon moulds from Takashimaya

Jelly moulds from Daiso

Silicon mould from local bakery store somewhere in Simei (near my friend’s place)

Bread prints from Cold Storage

There are many more actually but I’m really too lazy to upload anymore…no mood la…

Didn’t get to use many of my bento tools for this one..

Kylie doing her homework, gets em every Friday!! Cannot believe this, she’s only in nursery!!!