Wasn't sure which pasta goes better with the cream so I took a shot at using small penne. The amount of cream it carried was ok except that the taste of the cream overpowered the taste of the slightly spicy tuna. I guess I shouldn't have used the cream by itself. Gotta mix it with something that will blend with the tuna. Hmm..gonna google for some inspiraton. Maybe something like the dressing for tuna salad.
The Christmas scene here is very different from I what used to see. The decorations are a lot simpler. Just some decorative lights on the street and on the christmas trees. Nothing fancy. As Christmas is considered a religous celebration, it is usually not associated with presents. Santa Claus is not that famous here either. The more famous character is called La Befana. La Befana is an old crone who on the eve of Jan 6th, fills the socks of children in Italy with candy if they are good or a lump of coal if they are bad. She is usually portrayed as an old lady riding a broomstick through the air wearing a black shawl and is covered in soot because she enters the children's houses through the chimney. She is often smiling and carries a bag or hamper filled with candy, gifts, or both.
When I was working in KL, this is one of the dish that I usually order when I dine at Wong Kok Char Chan Teng. I have no idea why it is called French-style though. They use ketchup instead of black sauce. I made my own version without onions and it's pretty good for 1st attempt. Now I just need to remember the portion of light soy sauce to ketchup that I used.
Haven't been sleeping well for almost a week now. Difficult to fall asleep at night even when it's already past midnight. And woke up before 7 the next morning. When I woke up, I knew I was dreaming of something weird. A good night's sleep for me is when I don't remember anything during my sleep. I did try to sleep longer during the weekend but I didn't get extra sleep, just ended up being lazy in bed.
I normally would have difficulties getting out of bed on Monday mornings but this Monday, I got up before my alarm rang and I went to school. When I opened the door to the lecture room, I saw another lecture was going on and I remembered that my class is after this one. Only then I realised that my lecture starts at 10:30 not 9! This afternoon, my friend was asking me if I'll be attending the lecture in the evening. I said yes and when I checked the time, I thought I was already late for that lecture since I need some time to get to school from home. Then I thought, I normally have some time after lunch before that lecture. So I confirmed with my friend and it turned out that the lecture is an hour later. Phew!
Checking out Jay's latest album, On the Run. I quite like it. Started to listen to his older songs again too. :) Found this site with neat pinyin lyrics. Hehe.
哪里有彩虹告诉我 Tell me where there are rainbows 能不能把我的愿望还给我 Can you give me back my wish? 为什么天这么安静 Why is the sky so tranquil? 所有的云都跑到我这里 All the clouds have come to where I am
有没有口罩一个给我 Have you got a mouth mask you can give me? 释怀说了太多就成真不了 I let go and said too much, then those things can’t be realized 也许时间是一种解药 Perhaps time is a kind of cure 也是我现在正服下的毒药 It is also the poison I am taking right now
看不见你的笑我怎么睡得着 If I can’t see your smile, how can I get to sleep 你的声音这么近我却抱不到 Your voice is so near yet I can’t hold you 没有地球 太阳还是会绕 The sun will still spin without the earth 没有理由 我也能自己走 I can still walk by myself without a reason
你要离开 我知道很简单 You need to leave I know it’s very simple 你说依赖 是我们的阻碍 You said that reliance was our obstacle 就算放开 但能不能别没收我的爱 Even if you let go, but can you not confiscate my love? 当作我最后才明白 Just pretend that I only understood at the end
(Rap) 看不见你的笑 要我怎么睡的着 If I can’t see your smile How can I get to sleep 你的声音这么近我却抱不到 Your voice is so near yet I can’t hold you 没有地球太阳还是会绕会绕 The sun will still spin without the earth 没有理由我也能自己走掉 I can still walk by myself without a reason 释怀说了太多就成真不了 I let go and say too much, then those things can’t be realized 也许时间是一种解药解药 也是我现在正服下的毒药 Perhaps time is a kind of cure it is also the poison I am taking right now
Made porridge with Surimi (crab sticks) and carrot bits today. I usually cook porridge when I have chicken bones. Been cooking a few variety of porridge and running out of ideas. Oh I miss porridge with century egg!
During a conversation, I said "My blog is at fruttigummi.blogspot.com". Later when my friend went online to look at my blog, he found other blogs with similar names. He typed fruitygummy.blogspot.com which I supposed is the proper English spelling. He told me he found another blog. So I checked it out and it seems to me that the blogger could be a Malaysian teenage girl. What do you think?
I've always thought gummi bear is spelt with an 'i' and not 'y'. I just found out that gummi is german spelling. Hehe. I did not purposely make up the different spelling. I just changed fruity to frutti to match gummi.
The inspiration for the name is from gummi bears. I like to eat them a lot and I found out that they were invented in Bonn, Germany, where I started this journey. Also, when I was leaving Malaysia, my colleague gave me a packet of gummi bears to munch on the flight. And when I arrived in Germany, I received a few packets of gummi Ampelmännchen as a welcome gift from my German friend. They both don't even know I'm a big fan of gummi bears. What a coincidence eh!
When I received yet another wedding invitation yesterday, it struck me that the wedding season has begun. This time, it'll probably last through the next year since 2008 is supposedly a good year for marriage. Since I'm away from home, I could only send well wishes to the couples. There are some friends who I have not seen for many years and it would be really nice to be able to meet them again. Hopefully not all of them will get married in the next year or so. Then, I'll be able to attend their wedding. Hehehe. As for myself, I think made some progress in answering the question of "When are you getting married?" I have unconsciously changed my answer from "I don't know" to "Not anytime soon". I was rather surprised myself when I heard what I said. I guess that's quite a big step for me.
Even though I have written about it some time back, I have totally forgotten about it. Was browing some movie sites and found out that the movie is out! I'm so exicted. I found this link to the movie online but my internet connection tonight is too slow for streaming video. :( Hopefully the link will still be up tomorrow.
How cold is 17C? At first, it doesn't seem very cold since that's the temperature I set to my AC in Malaysia. I guess in Malaysia, it doesn't feel as cold since it's warm outside. But having cold weather outside and 17C inside, it feels cold after a while. I think the temperature in my apartment has been hovering around 17C for about a week now. Everyone I know in the building has been complaining about the cold. The heater doesn't work well. There's a notice indicating the hours that the heat will come on but the heat doesn't come on according to the hours. Sometimes, the heat that comes out is so mild that you can't even warm your hands. It's really uncomfortable to study when the desk and chair is cold. Or even to read in bed. The hands will feel cold after a while. The worst time is in the morning when I have to get out of my warm bed.
The ice stadium is almost an hour away from Trento by bus. It's located up in the mountains and we get beautiful view of the area from the bus. The stadium has 2 rinks. One indoor and another outdoor. The outdoor rink has the same design as a track and field with track being the ice instead of ground. It's used for speed skating. First time I've seen such a rink. It costs 4€ for admission and another 2.50€ for skate rental. The place is only open from 14:00 to 16:30 so I think it's rather pricey. The temperature was sunny around 0 degrees so it was nice for outdoor skating. We tried the outdoor rink for an hour before going inside. At first, I could only move very very slowly. Luckily I can still balance on the ice and can move a little. There is only one other guy who can skate in our group. As usual, all the girls who cant skate were holding on to the barriers while the guys were moving and falling all over. Hehe. After a few rounds, I got the feel of movement back and I could move more easily.
The best feeling was when we stepped into the indoor rink. The ice was so good! Somehow, I started being able to move freely, naturally. About 30 minutes later, I could go backwards. Although I could only do about 70% of what I could do before, it felt really good to be able to skate again after such a long time. There weren't much people in the rink so we could do whatever we want. We skated until the guy comes out with the zamboni. There was no announcement or anthing. People just move out of the rink when they saw the zamboni coming out. Well, it was a much enjoyable day.
On the way home, the bus took another route back to town and we saw another indoor ice rink and it was still open. Gonna find out if there's public transport to this rink. Hehe. When we got back to town, a few of us went to a cafe to grab something warm to drink. I ordered hot chocolate with whipped cream and it wasn't exactly a drink. The hot chocolate is jello-like and very chocolaty. Have to eat it with spoon. It does taste nice when mixed with the cream and small biscuit like those on ice cream. First time I had hot chocolate in a cafe in Italy so wasn't sure if this is the standard way of making it. The ones from vending machines are drinkable though
Now that the exam is over, I don't feel like studying or working on projects. So, what do I do? Since I've been watching lots of movies online, now there's not much to choose from. I also go around petting people's fluff friends on facebook. I don't feel like starting to read a book since I won't be able to finish it by the next week when the next exam comes. Still, it's too early to be studying for that exam now. I still daydream a lot but I just realised that I rarely do it at night. Is that why it's called daydream? We're getting a lot lesser daylight now. It's already dark at 5pm.
Haven't been cooking much lately since I have another exam next week. I need to munch on something while studying or I'll fall asleep. Since I eat while I study, I've decided to replace dinner with the stuff that I munch during the night. Getting energy source from lots of fat and sugar. I guess I'm also thinking that it's not so bad since I already have one proper meal in mensa during lunch. Plus, a full meal from mensa is very filling so having fruits or yogurt is usually enough for dinner.
(Un)Healthy food ranking from good to worse? Roasted nuts (overdose = too much fat or issit carbs?) Raisins (overdose = too much sugar?) Gummi bears Potato chips
Took a short vacation to Tuscany during the long weekend. Had a great time visiting the sights and enjoying the food especially gelato. The gelato was invented in Florence and we had gelato from one of the best gelateria in Italy. It was soOOOoo heavenly. After having the best gelato in our lives, we accidently found the best pizza in town. We went back to try it the next night and it was great. The crust is really soft and the toppings are juicy. They only make 3 types of pizza so we tried them all; Margherita, Napoletana, Marinara. Although we arrived only 15 minutes after the pizzeria opened, we had to wait for almost an hour to be seated. The place only has 4 tables and it was all occupied and there were 3 more 4-persons group already waiting outside. The Uffizi musuem has some nice collection but I don't think it's worth the 2 hours queue. If we had bought the tickets online in advanced, we probably wouldn't have to wait so long.
Additional travel note to add is to buy the return ticket in advanced.
I've uploaded some photos onto picasaweb instead coz my free flickr account already has more than 200 photos. Anyone wanna sponsor me a flickr pro account? Hehe. I'll buy a better camera and take nice photos :p
I'm just not ready to take any exams only after 6 weeks of classes. It still feels like the start of the semester and I'm just getting used to attending classes again after a long summer break. We had an exam last week and supposedly this week and people around got pretty tense. Although we're also planning for a trip, I don't see any excitement around. The good news came on Sunday that this week's exam is postponed and people suddenly became livelier. I see people smiling again and joy in their hearts. Hehe. And looking forward to the long weekend starting Thu.
Since I came back after the summer, the apartment only has one frying pan left. My flatmates took theirs back when they left. Stuck with a really lousy, sticky pan, I was contemplating whether to buy myself a new one. Then I got news that everyone in the building might be moved to the new apartments on the south side. So I thought there's no point buying one when I'll get getting a new one in the new apartment. Earlier this week, my new flatmate broke the pan while she was washing it. The handle came off and there's a tiny hole in the pan where the handle used to be attached to. The hole makes it impossible to re-attach the handle. Anyway, I finally submitted a fault report after my exam yesterday and this morning, 2 guys showed up with a brand new pan! I can't believe the efficiency of the system. This is Italy after all. I'm going to ask my flatmate if she submitted a report earlier. The new, bigger 28" non-stick pan is great. I can make fried rice again without having all the rice sticking to the pan and I don't need to use as much oil. Way to healthier eating. Hehe.
I made an 'instant' version of pasta with mushrooms after I burnt the soup. When my friend moved away last summer, I was given a box of long crinkled pasta labelled "Reginelle - Pasta di semola di grano duro". The packing was different from the normal pasta boxes so I wasn't sure if it actually taste like normal pasta. This ribbon-like pasta goes well with creamy sauce so I decided to try it with the mushroom soup I just bought. Italian mushroom soup is tons better than Campbells! Adding it to my list of goodies to bring home. Hehe. Anyway, make the soup real thick and creamy such that when you add the cooked pasta in, it has similar texture like a carbonara. Super easy and yummy!
I did have the thought that the soup could get dried up but I reassured myself that I put enough water and it's only going to be about an hour on very low fire. So I went to take a nap looking forward to have a nice bowl of soup for dinner. When I got up and went to check on the pot, it's all dried up and burnt at the bottom. The potatoes though looks like they were roasted. Hehe. Surprisingly, there was no burnt smell permeating the air. Had to throw everything away and make something else for dinner. Luckily, that something else turned out really well. :D
Went for a day trip to Venice last weekend with a bunch of new friends. We walked around a lot and saw the famous landmarks. I think Venice is a city where you really need to take time to walk around, browse the little shops and sit down for coffee and enjoy the view. Although the company was good, we just don't share the same travel style. I'm for shopping for local gifts and trying out the specialty dishes while the rest of them are mostly into taking lots of photos. So, I did not buy anything during this trip. I did kind of look out for cute Italy t-shirts while we were zipping though the streets but nothing caught my eye. As for masks and Murano glass, I'll need plenty of time to check them out. Definately a must on my next trip.
