I had a good easter

Apart from Christmas, Easter is quite a big deal in Italy. A week leading to it, there will be Domenica Palme, leading to the feet washing ritual by the pope, followed by a Via Crucis.

rinaz.net Easter Pasqua

Friday would be the start of a week long vacation for school kids and by this time, you’d feel a festive air around you – people scurrying around to find the right kind of chocolate eggs, usually the size of footballs.

rinaz.net Easter Pasqua

On Easter itself, I spent the evening with my extended family.

Cart and I decided to give our niece and nephew a set of Peppa Pig easter egg and I’m absolutely tickled to see how much they adored their soft toys and the little figurines inside much more than the chocolate itself.

rinaz.net Easter Pasqua

It was a lovely evening. Lots of good food, lots of laughs. Here are some of the food that we had :

rinaz.net Easter Pasqua

Parmigiana di Melanzane. I love eating this, but it’s quite a hassle to make.

rinaz.net Easter Pasqua

Zucchini ripiene. I’m probably going to try making this by myself. If it turns out well, I’ll try to make a video blog 🙂

Suffice to say that I was completely stuffed. I planned to jog to burn the extra calories off today, but I’m feeling quite disconcerted from the lack of sleep.

Nevertheless, happy holidays to all and hope that you’re having a nice and relaxing day with your loved ones 🙂

rinaz.net Easter Pasqua

If you like my cartoon, feel free to click on the image for a bigger version.

Spring is almost here?

It’s been quite warm in Rome for about a week now, to the extent that you could start to wear lighter coats and even short sleeves.

Even trees are starting to bloom and you’d see daisies growing abundantly. It’s quite unusual considering it’s February and it’s still Winter. It didn’t seem that long ago when Rome was badly hit with floods.

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Nevertheless, it’s such a beautiful sight seeing all the new growth. I guess I’ll just enjoy this moment 🙂

An American girl in Italy

While watching Ballaro last evening, I saw an interesting illustration used as background image :

rinaz.net Ballaro American Girl Walking In Italy

As soon as I saw that, I excitedly told Cartcart, “Hey! I know that picture! That’s a homage to a famous photo. Here, let me show you!

rinaz.net Ballaro American Girl Walking In Italy

An American girl in Italy is a photo taken by photographer, Ruth Orkin in the year 1951. This photo is one of her most memorable one as the subject, a lone woman walks down the streets of Florence with men leering and staring at her – one of them even grabbing his jewels.

That would have been a harrowing experience for any woman walking alone, but the odd thing, when interviewed, Ninalee Craig, the woman in the picture insists that, “It’s not a symbol of harassment. It’s a symbol of a woman having an absolutely wonderful time!

My uncle passed away recently. It was so sudden that it was a terrible shock to me. I always remember him as a kind and friendly person. Each time when us relatives would visit his house, he’d be busy cooking something and insist that we have a meal together and we’ll update each other about what’s going on with our lives.

It sucks so much to know the passing of someone that we love and I can only imagine what my cousins and aunt are going through right now. And frankly, this is one of my biggest fears I have living so far away from my family.

Rain rain go away …

For almost the entirety of last week, there was continuous rain, and some parts of Rome was badly hit with flood to the point that some subway stations are closed due to the ponding .

rinaz.net Flooding in Rome

It was quite scary seeing the level of water rise at the Isola Tiberina and Ponte Milvio. Even the Colosseo wasn’t spared either.

Luckily for Cart and I, the flood didn’t hit us as bad as how it was about two years ago. Nevertheless, it was so demoralizing seeing all the rain and going out of the house felt eerie, especially after dusk but all the street-lights were not working.

Apart from the lights emanating from cars, the road was completely dark. It was as if a zombie apocalypse was going on. I had to drive slower than usual as some of the puddles on the road were so deep that my tyres were almost submerged while I was driving.

I just cross my fingers that the flooding situation goes better soon.

The cartoons of ballaro

At around 9 pm every Tuesday,  Cart would usually be in front of the telly watching Ballarò. This is a popular tv programme which showcases politics and current events.

Ballaro Lorenzo Terranera

As a non Italian, it can get tough to follow, especially during the open talk session where the invited speakers debates with other guests, usually in a fast and furious manner. Like how it is in this video clip.

Ballaro Lorenzo Terranera

Nevertheless from this show, I’ve learnt a number of interesting occurrences, like how how increasingly Italian pensioners retire in Belgium because of the lower cost of living and how medical tourism is booming in Poland.

Ballaro Lorenzo Terranera

But the thing that I love most about it though, is the illustrations. Ballarò has an opening theme with an adorable round mascot.

I was transfixed since the first sight. I love the choice of colours, the shapes and the clean lines, especially when it’s accompanied with such cheerful music. It’s a little ironic, considering the serious topics which makes the bulk of the show.

Ballaro Lorenzo Terranera

The name of the artist for these illustrations is Lorenzo Terranera and looking through his artwork, I find him amazingly talented and witty, the way he is able to capture real life topics, make it cute and still retain the irony of the situation.

Ballaro Lorenzo Terranera

Since watching the show, I kept telling Cart how much I would really love to meet the illustrator and let them know at the amount of delight their work has brought me.

Ballaro Lorenzo Terranera

The last time that Lorenzo Terranera held a gallery exhibition was two years ago though. I wonder if he’ll do another one in the near future.