Visiting the museums in Rome
During the week, museums was free to enter due to Rome’s birthday. I didn’t know about this till I was surfing through a couple of links through Italytutto. I looked at my calender and saw that we only had a few days left! But better later than never!
Tthe first museum that we stepped to was the ‘Museo nazionale delle arti e tradizioni popolari’ – translated, it means Museum of folk arts and traditions.
One of the first things that I saw was a huge display called the Giglio di nola. One of these are easily more than 5 times the height of an average human and was extremely heavy. For the rest of the year, it will be kept in the church but once a year there is this tradition to carry and parade it.
But it was a symbol of devotion and honour to carry these. Men who carried them were considered an equivalent of rock stars.
Another version of this is the Ceri di gubbio. It’s smaller sized but it’s heavy anyway and they race across the square to be the first person to reach the church.
I’d love to see this in real life. It must have been an experience 🙂
We then stepped into another room where we saw potteries and clothes worn by ancient Italians. This one for example, was worn by a married woman.
I really liked this outfit. I’m not sure if you could see it in the picture, but the design looked beautiful and I really liked the jewellery.
There was a room where we saw different types of traditional outfits according to the regions in Italy. Regions up north looked more Nordic while the regions down in the south looked more Mediterranean.
This was what traditional Rome outfit looked like.
Cart said that the biggest way to recognize it was through the square buckle on the shoe. It was a very recognizable trait.
There was another room where we entered where there were a lot of traditional toys like these ones. The marionettes below were called ‘I Pupi siciliani’. I think this devil puppet looks pretty cool with his three fingers up like that.
Cart said that these puppets were Mediterranean inspired. Personally I thought that they looked quite Indian instead.
I think that being quite close together, Southern Italians and Indians share a number of similar traditions. For example, the L’infiorata. It’s a same tradition of using coloured grains to make a pattern of the floor while there is similar Indian tradition too during Deepavali.
We walked to another segment where there was a diorama where Italians traditionally used to live in. This was one of them. The people took advantage of the materials from their region to make their own unique houses.
This was probably the biggest nativity scene that I’ve ever seen.
I liked seeing the buildings in them. It was like a really huge doll-house. Cart tells me that it was a reflection of how the people used to live in the times. Not sure if it is clear in the picture, but you could spot the baby Jesus even from far on account of the flying angels above it.
This display below was interesting to me.
Traditional street food sellers. It’s quite fascinating to me how similar the tools are like with the street-food utensils of the Singapore past. Like the first item on the left totally looked like a satay burner complete with the fan.
Later on we then passed by a room where there was a Korean display on how to make their intricate boxes with decorative patterns made of shells. It just seem so out of place in an Italian museum, but it was interesting to see anyway.
We scoured through 3 floors full of exhibit and at the end of the day, we were quite tired. But it was so interesting going through the exhibits.
Day Two, Sunday
The next day, Cart and I headed to the Museo Dell’Alto Medioevo after visiting Parco Laghetto Eur.
This is a museum that showcased medieval things. I was keen to see what was inside there. The unfortunate thing is that when we reached there, it was closed for the day!
In any case, we then headed to the museum which was right next to it. Thankfully, the Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico was open.
At the moment, the exhibits were divided by different continents.
The first that we headed to was Africa and we saw different types of masks, weapons, outfits and such. One of the unforgettable ones was an African mask which was about 15 stories high. According to Cart, the higher it was, the easier it was for them to reach to heaven.
I took this picture above because I found the story interesting that there was a Muslim influence in Africa. This was one of the artefacts and Cart was translating to me that the long piece of wood at the back, which had verses written on it, and it was used to dip in water and the water was used for healing.
This was how a Somalian woman looked like on her wedding night. It just struck me because Somalia is one of poorest countries in the world. But the woman in the picture looked decadent. So much has happened between then and now.
Next we entered the America section where we saw plentiful of old relics, some were Aztec and Mayan. Its a savage culture, where human sacrifices are expected of them. I remember a pottery where a sacrificial scene was depicted. The man wielding the sword looked even happy to do so.
This one is kind of eye brow raising because its a musical instrument made of REAL HUMAN BONE! I wonder if anyone have the stomach to play that in real life now, being aware of what it was made of.
This instrument looks adorable, with surprised face and all. But Cart explained that if you see this, you should run away as fast as you can because it is a club. And it will hit you to death!
The next segment that we headed to was the Ocean Pacific and it was interesting to see them making use of the items around them for their use.
The hat was made of a puffer fish. And the sword next to it is was made out of a sawfish. I found it impressive.
The last area that we went to was the prehistoric segment where we walked up a lot of steps and when we finally arrived, we saw displays to see how society evolved from the first primates and throughout the different ages, bronze age, iron age.
By this time, I was feeling quite tired after walking around so much that we sit down to rest our feet in front of a display of human evolution.
After walking so much, my legs were so tired and I could hardly walk any more. The museum was actually a lot larger than I thought, judging from the outside! Nevertheless, we did enjoy ourselves and I’m looking forward to attend the next ones.
To end, I will put up a picture that doesn’t really go in the blog post.
This man was showing us how to make a large container out of clay, just like how it was in the ancient times.
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Attending my first barcamp in Rome
A couple of my friends were twittering about attending the Barcamp in Kuala Lumpur and that made me curious enough to make a search if there were one being hosted in Rome.
A barcamp is a meet of a group of people where they talk about and share various types of ideas, be it about technology or even about sociology.
Having already attended similar events such as Interesthink, Nexus and Unconference while I was back in Singapore, I was quite pleased to see that we were in time to attend to the one hosted in Rome.
I tried to register for the event as best as my limited knowledge of Italian would let me, and on the day itself, Cart and I got up bright and early and headed to this place called, Antù.
When we reached, it was rather confusing as the address stated Via Giuseppe Libetta, 15 but that turned out to be a housing area.
Luckily for us, there was a student walking out of the house and she very kindly helped to bring us to the right place. Turns out, that it was at 15C not 15!
In any case, we entered a very interesting factory like building and I thought that it was quite a choice place for seminars, seeing how industrial it looked like with the choice of furnishings. I looked at the list of people who will share their information.
By the way, this was a form that you use to sign up for an hour of internet connection in the building. I found it interesting as compared to Singapore, internet access is easily obtained sometimes even without having to sign up for it.
In any case, after waiting for a while, the first speaker was ready to speak.
I was in a bit of a tangle. Obviously it was in Italian and though I could understand bits and pieces, it was like a jigsaw puzzle to me. Sometimes I could see the picture, and sometimes I was clearly lost. I had to stop Cart every now and then to ask him what was going on.
The first speaker was speaking about how he used technology to aid him in his passion, cycling. He created a site to meet like minded people like him and also created an application that gives advice to cyclists on which route was suitable to cycle on – if there were holes or construction works and likes.
The second speaker from Ninux and he shared about the possibilities of sharing a network. The more the people sharing, the better as it increases the probability of not having to having to pay a subscription fee in the long run. I couldn’t catch everything, so I must have missed some informational details but Cart was very fascinated by this one.
And soonafter it was a break for lunch. The next talk begins at 2pm so Cart and I explored the area to hunt for a place to eat and we found Pastarito. Cart used to bring me here when we were first dating but the branch that we used to go to was closed. So I’ve always kept my eyes opened to see if there were another one.
I was amused to see the picture of the new menu.
But as much as we wanted to spend time at Pastarito, we did not have much time as the clock was ticking and Cart didn’t want to miss listening to the next speakers. I had to gulp down my hot pizza as fast as I humanly could.
Unfortunately when we reached back to antù, the doors were closed shut! Initially thinking that the talk has already started, we banged the door, hoping that someone inside could hear us and let us in. The proprietor opened. Turns out that there was a low participants and the second part of the barcamp was cancelled. 
Nevertheless, I was glad that we managed to catch the first part and I felt a sense of pride that Cart, who has never attended a barcamp before, found it very enlightening. I really hope to attend another one in the future and I sincerely hope that the organizers didn’t feel too disheartened. There wasn’t a lot of people attending, but I’m sure in due time, there will be bigger culture of sharing.
I’d be very happy to help out too 
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Attending the Earth day concert at Circo Massimo
Cart noticed a construction going on at Circo Massimo and was told that there will be a concert later in the evening. Doing a quick search online, Cart found out that it was hosted by National Geographic on account of earth day.
Unfortunately, by the time that Cart finished his work and when we’d had our dinner, we reached Circo Massimo at about 9 pm. The concert started at 6 pm. so we missed out on a couple of acts.
And it was raining!
But that did not dampen the spirits of the spectators who were there, because by the time we reached Circo Massimo, it was full of people. You could feel the festive spirit all around. And the first thing that came to my mind was how much it reminded me of WOMAD.
Cart and I joined the large conglomeration, and we chilled out to the music.
The first act that we saw was a singer musician called Pino Daniele. Apart from the acts from X factor Italia, I’m not too aware of the different Italian musicians but there were a few of the songs the he performed that I could recognize being played on the radio. Like Quando and Il sole dentro di me.
I looked around me and there were loads of people singing along. It was apparent that he’s a celebrated artist. But to be honest, I found his voice unremarkable, but his songwriting sounds good. And the accompanying musicians were fantastic, like the drummer, Omar Hakim. Not only does he banged the drums really well, he was charming too, flashing his pearly whites every few seconds.
After about an hour, they ended their act and then started a commercial with the wide screen showing the viewers how you could take care of the environment and how the organizers planted enough trees to compensate the carbon footprints for the night’s concert. It was then when I saw the hottest looking garbage collector in my life.
She’s so pretty, she could even work as a fashion model or be part of a calendar.
The words on the yellow t-shirt looks interesting. It said “Non succede. Ma se succede” It means, “It won’t happen. But if it happens …”.
Soonafter, the next act started. It was Morcheeba. Morcheeba is a UK band, which I’m not too familliar unfortunately, but I do like the lead singer, Skye Edward‘s voice. She sounds really creamy, silky, smooth.
The song, Rome wasn’t built in a day was probably one of the more well known one here. I was a little amused to see when she spoke in English, but loud response as when she said “grazie”.
And her dress! She told us that she made it herself which was impressive to me.
Cart and I didn’t stay too long after that even though there was still another performance by a DJ afterwards as it was close to approaching midnight. Moreover Cart had to go to work in the morning while I was already feeling lethargic.
Nevertheless, we enjoyed ourselves in spite of the rain. I hope to go to another one again
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Happy birthday, Rome!
21st April is the Rome’s birthday!
2763 years ago, Romulus founded the city of Rome. That is after he killed his brother Remus, whom he grew up with, being taken cared of by a she wolf (not shakira). Sometimes I see these images in posters whenever I’m on the road, and as much as its part of history, its a little bit disturbing to me 
Anyway! What better way to celebrate a birthday than with cake? Chocolate cake! Krysss, I hope you’re listening!
First you heat the oven to 180 degrees. And then mix 1 1/2 cup flour, 2 tablespoon cocoa powder, a bit of salt, 1 cup of sugar and 2 teaspoon of vanilla.
If you look closely, you could even see Elvis Presley in your batter.
But as much as I’m all shook up with the king, its time to add 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup vegetable oil and 2 eggs and mix them all well till you have a lovely chocolaty batter like this 😀
Now it time to line the cake tin with baking paper and transfer the cake batter in. Let it bake for about 35 minutes till the cake is done. You could tell that its cooked by poking a toothpick in and it comes out clean.
If its not, just pop it into the oven a few minutes longer.
Leave it to cool and now its time to make the frosting! Its very very easy.
Just take 2/3 cup of cream and about 260 grams of dark chocolate and melt them in a pan, on a gentle fire and stir gently. Don’t worry if they look runny at first, because the batch will stiffen not too long later.
And just like that, now you have frosting!
If the cake is cool enough to handle, its time to spread the frosting all over. And don’t worry if its looks a little messy now because it’ll be fine in the end 🙂
Leave it in the fridge for the frosting to solidify more and when you cant wait any longer, cut a slice for yourself.
Whee!
There! Cake! And with ice cream, its my favourite combination 
Sidenote : Is it just me, or there is an increase in food related posts lately? 
Made in Italy? Are you sure?
Cart and I were in Monte Verde last Saturday, visiting our friend Lynn when I chanced upon a new clothes shop. It was the opening day, seeing the wreaths of flowers outside of the shop.
Being curious, I dragged Cart in with me into the shop to have a look see. There were a couple of people in there already, looking at the clothes and squealing out, “Che carina! How cute!”
I looked around, checking out the clothes. Because the style of the clothes and the make, looked so much like items made in China. And for the price sold, I would rather buy it from Singapore or straight from Shanghai or Hong Kong itself.
Examining closer at the label of one of the outfits, I was very surprised at what I saw.
In my opinion, Italians have their own sense of style. I see that they mostly wear solid colours, their outfits were simple but classic and usually decorated with bold accessories like boots or belts and accessories. With the exception of perhaps the style of Roberto Cavalli, but everyone knows that he is an eccentric.
Italians have always prided themselves as having beautiful, well crafted and quality items that would justify the higher costs compared to their counterparts.
I don’t want to pay money for something which claims to be something it is not.
Coincidentally not too long ago, I was watching this program on ‘Current._’ about an expose on luxury Italian brand names. These labels actually had uncompleted items, such as sleeves and parts of bags and shoes being made and imported from China. These items are then completed in Italy, like adding a bow to the shoes, and assembling the bag and clothes together and European laws deemed it was fit to have the Made in Italy label.
To top it off, there are several luxury brands, where to save money, used illegal immigrants, pay them low wages without benefits, to make these goods, all in the name of making profits.
That seems so wrong to me and makes me wary about labels.
Roman expressions for beginners
Some years back, I was demonstrating my IT class kids on how to add sounds to their Macromedia Flash files.
We had so much fun that I thought that I’d just update it with a couple of Italian expressions that could be good to know. Some are Roman slang though and could be a little rude
Yes, I teach all the bad things, I know
Sidenote :
- If you’re in the mood to bother someone, download the English version here and the Italian version here
- You can also watch it in action in this short clip
- To learn proper Italian, I recommend this website instead 😀
How to make Italian style meatballs in Tomato Sauce
I love eating burgers. When I was back in Singapore, I’d usually sink my teeth in one about once a week. Its probably not very healthy, but its such an instant gratification for me.
However, since moving to Italy, I haven’t touched a burger here, being that its close to impossible to find a halal fast food restaurant. But finding a halal butchery wasn’t that difficult in Rome. Thus all I had to do was to make them myself when the craving comes.
The irony is that while Cart and I were in Dubai airport waiting for our transit flight, I was excited to see one of my favourite fast food restaurant. I ordered a burger and almost perversely unwrapped the waxed paper.
Unfortunately, eating it, it was unsatisfying to me. I guess after a year of abstaining, my taste buds changed and I could actually taste the overly processed meat. I guess subconsciously, that’s the reason why I did not even consume one burger while back in Singapore.
In any case, I was making a batch of burgers not too long ago, when Cart was looking at me in astonishment. He shook his head, cringed and asked me, “Why don’t you make polpette instead? Its one of the foods that made me think long and hard before I became a vegetarian. Its so much better than burgers”
I looked back at him. But I like burgers! Fine! I’ll try to make them with my next batch of meat.
And since I just bought some at the butcher’s last week, here is my attempt at making Polpette Al Sugo, or Meatballs in Tomato Sauce for lunch. Not sure if its the best, but here goes 😛
First, I soaked some day old bread with some milk. Here I’m using stylo bread but any bread will do. Squeeze the excess milk and scrape the white from the crust and put it in a mixing bowl.
After that, I added with the soaked bread, the minced meat, a clove of mashed garlic, some chopped parsley, salt and pepper, parmigiano cheese, an egg and some chopped onions. It was only later through msn that Cart told me that it wasn’t necessary to add in the onions here. But oh well, too late. It’s mixed already! 😛
Mix them up well and then shape and roll them up into balls. Ooh! They look so pretty!
And then leave them aside to relax one corner or put them in the fridge for a few minutes.
Now its time to make the sauce! In a pan of olive oil, fry some chopped onions and basil
When the soffrito looks cooked, add in the tomato sauce and add salt to taste and leave it to simmer a while.
Then in another bowl, wake up the well rested meatballs and roll and cover them with some breadcrumbs and then lightly fry it.
And then add it gently to the tomato sauce and swirl the pan. You have to be careful here and take care not to break your balls 😛
Add a bit of water to loosen it, cover the pan with a lid and leave the meat to cook for about 15 minutes. Swirl the pan every few minutes or so.
And presto!
Now you have Polpette al Sugo!
Its actually very good, so good that I ate like 6 polpette at one sitting … Probably not a good idea for someone who is watching her weight
In any case, its strawberry season here in Italy. And you’d see loads of them being for sale in the wet markets. And they are so sweet!
Its pretty easy to guess what I had for dessert, yes?
Diet? Oh well! I can always exercise these calories away!
Do you get nervous when meeting people?
Donkey years ago, while I was back in school doing my O levels, there was one part of the examinations where you were tested on your ability to speak. You were given a picture, describe it and then later you’ll be given a set of open questions where you are required to talk as fluidly as possible.
I still remember the advice that Ms Gopal, our english and literature teacher dispensed to us, the class of 4E6 :
Class! During your orals, talk as much as you can! Try not to let them prompt you because that means that you don’t have much to say!
And being the art class, as opposed to the pure science students, we were considered, and even expected to be talkative. Many of my classmates would be going about confidently. Talking? It will be easy! All you have to do is just to talk whatever bullshit that you want.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of these talkative people. Instead, I took a back seat and would just rather listen and process the information.
When the day of judgement arrived, I tried to find all the courage that I could.
It didn’t start off well. The man who was invigilating me looked bored. He never smiled and looked stern. Already, I was feeling uncomfortable. I sat down and gave a nervous smile.
Please begin, he said listlessly.
I was freaking out. What am I supposed to say? Oh gosh, I feel so nervous! My mind is blank right now! I could not bear to look at his bored face, so I looked down in desperation.
And I saw that the invigilator had his shoe out and was dangling it around in boredom and that freaked me out even more. Am I so boring?!
When it all ended, I knew that I did extremely bad in my oral examination. A gargantuan feeling of upset was palpitating inside me and I rushed off to the empty guides room and cried my eyes out.
Now, donkey years later, I still get that feeling sometimes when I meet new people. Although of course, being much older, the years has made me grow better defences. Nevertheless, I still feel stunned when I meet people who gives that look. That is where I start to become mechanical.
I guess there are people who can’t help their body languages but I just don’t feel comfortable. I don’t feel like I can express myself well and give my opinion freely without feeling judged.
It makes me miss the chitchat sessions that I have with my good friends. Even if we have differing opinions, and not share the same thoughts, at the end of the day, we are still love each other.
Maybe I am thinking too deeply into this and I’ll just try to take each experience as a learning experience.
In any case, back to when I was a teenager, months after the oral examination, the results were out in the notice board. I looked at it nervously, fearing for all the worst. And I tentatively looked at the grade beside my name.
A+
Huh?