So today is our the last morning in Greve in Chianti, and we fondly said goodbye to our lovely home of the past 3 days and headed off to another roadtrip! I was sad to leave this beautiful place though. It has been tranquil and relaxing and soothing to the heart and mind.

And of course, I cannot get over how pretty the sights are, with the abundance of wild spring flowers on the rolling hills.

It was too bad that we couldn’t stop on the road, as it was too narrow for cars to takeover so it was a dangerous risk. But I would have really liked to have a picture of us lying in the yellow daisies or the red poppies. It would have looked so lovely.

What a wasted chance! But oh well. There wasn’t anything that could have been done any differently (Oh! Unless we went there with scooters instead … heh heh heh)

Eventually, we reached a medieval town called San Gimignano (and this is how to pronounce it). This place is unique for its medieval architecture, as well as its tower houses, making San Gimignano part of a UNESCO world heritage site. Another UNESCO site that I’ve visited is in Villa Adriana, 45 minutes drive away from Rome.

Anyway! When we reached there, there were hardly any parking to be found, which was quite interesting considering that it was 1. A Monday, and thus a working day and 2. You had to pay 2 euro per hour for parking, which is quite pricey.

Cart suggested that we not spend more than 3 hours in the town. Haha!

Here is the entry to the town! Obligatory photo! And look, I have a modella below! The interesting bit was, the sidepath was clear for the longest time, but just as I readied my camera to take a shot, this lady below walked past by, and at the exact moment, turned around and posed like this! Like a model! With one leg out, perfect!

Okay lady, because of this, you get a spot in my blog. Hehehe

Even though it was around lunch time, there were quite a number of people roaming around in the gothic like buildings.

Here is Hema towards the entry of the town.

And here I am on the other side.

Walking through the path, it was easy to visualise how life was back in the medieval period. Here is a link of a medieval fair that I went to back in 2010 and if you are in Italy and have the chance to visit one, do go! I think it’s an interesting thing to experience.

(It’s strange looking at a video of myself 2 years ago though, I look … different)

We walked past a number of shops, and here is the entry of one of the Torture Museum there.

Hema and I were just talking about visiting one when we researched about places to visit and thought that it would be interesting to go to one. But when we finally reached there, I could not find the strength to even see the displays near the entrance, especially reading the explanations next to it. It was just too much for me.

Heck, I didn’t even have the heart to take a picture of the torture devices – and these two are the more PG rated ones.

For example, there was a metal device with spikes that is chained to your neck and you can’t turn your neck or even talk properly or you risk having your throat punctured. It just made me very very sad

So no. Not for me.

So we continued walking! And this shop – selling salami (of course) and wine and the likes caught my eye.

Look at the boars welcoming customers to the shop! Nope! It’s just Chuck Testa!

And here is where I realised something. Tuscany … sounds a lot like TUSK-any. As in Tusks from a boar. So are wild boars a mascot for Toscana? Like the wolf for Roma? Cart doesn’t seem to agree, but hmm.

I see a lot of wild boar logos in the souvenir shops anyway – on cups, on t-shirts and the likes. And they are so cute. And I couldn’t resist getting myself a pair of t-shirt (it was the last piece!) with this wild boar riding a scooter. Cute isn’t it?

Vroom vroom vroom! My mum is going to kill me. Hahaha!

Oh speaking of last piece, I thought that I could try to get a discount for 10 euro instead of 12 but I must have approached it wrongly. Visualise this conversation in Italian :

Clerk : Would you like to get this t-shirt?

Me : Yes please! 10 euro right? (Hint hint)

Cart : No it’s 12 euro.

Me : (Smile fading) 10 euro please?

Cart : No! Look. It says right over there. 12 euro.

Sigh. As soon as we left the shop, Cart and I had a passionate discussion about what had happened. It wasn’t that I’m so hard pressed for the 2 euro, haggling is a game and I failed the game .. FAILED! In the end, I agreed that I should have been more direct, and say, “Because this is the last piece, can I please have it for this price?”

To change the mood, I’m putting up these nice pictures of me on Sam the scooter, which has absolutely nothing to do with this post :

We walked past this interesting shop selling aprons and caps and whatnots where you could embroider your name on it. Not sure if you could read it as it’s quite tiny, but I see my name there : Marina, a great lover in the kitchen.

And here, Cart – king of the grill!

We continued walking, and at length we reached the Piazza Della Cisterna. This area was interesting as it was sloping up rather than being flat.

There were towers at every corner of the square, and they used to be houses rather than for being outposts.

We rested here a while, while Hema made a quick trip to the ladies room.

And that was where I saw this well. I was sure that it would be empty, with concrete capped on top of it, so jokingly I told Cart, I’m going to throw a coin in there and make a wish!

Oh my goodness! Who knew that it wasn’t completely blocked. And who would have known that there were already other people who had the same idea and threw in their coins!

So much coins! And random locks (Which doesn’t really make sense here as there wasn’t any river nearby where you could throw the key away)

I’m not sure if you notice it in the picture below, but there is a coin with the words “Taiwan good” scribbled on it. Most of the coins I saw were euro coins though.

We then continued to Piazza Duomo – the heart of the town where the Collegiate Church of San Gimignano is.

This is the Palazzo comunale – which is sort of like a town hall.

I really liked looking at the buildings. It looks so majestic and just standing there, you feel like you are standing in a part of history.

We walked in the courtyard nearby …

And we saw this lady playing the harp. It was so relaxing to listen to.

We decided to go to the church to see the fresco and artwork inside. If you are there, I’d advice you to take the double pass to the church and the museum, rather than paying for it separately.

I find the artwork interesting to see, with the use of colours and the ‘flat’ style which was unique during that period.

Unfortunately, you cannot take any pictures inside the church – there are old fresco dating from the 14th century depicting scenes from the testament. I liked looking at the artwork, so it’s a shame about the no photo policy, which I reckon is to protect them (a lot of tourists keep using flash) but I guess that you could check out wikipedia if you’d like to see some of these fresco.

We then headed to the museum next to it. There wasn’t any signs prohibiting visitors from taking pictures, so of course, I got trigger happy. Hahaha!

Woah! Check this out!

There’s a crystal staff here! Cart was joking that a high level magician used these powerful robe and staff set and you could cast lightning bolts with them.

We had a bit more time, so Cart and I contemplated on climbing one of the towers (Hema was exhausted at this point of time) but as soon as we were done climbing the first storey, we just couldn’t make it anymore. It wasn’t like a regular apartment steps, climbing up one floor was like walking up a a two storey apartment and there were at least 5 stories for this particular tower!

There were also other places of interests like the archeological museum, the modern and contemporary art museum, the bird museum as well as the wine museum. But we were all already quite tired.

So the three of us slowly walked back to the car and stopped by to take some pictures. There were some points where you could admire scenes like these :

This is such a beautiful view. The people who live here are so lucky to be able to wake up to this pristine view every day.

And here I am with my dear friend

And that was our trip to San Gimignano! Next and final post up about Tuscany : Our trip to a natural spa!

This is early April

The middle of April

And now

Spring is so interesting. I love looking at the colours of the leaves as it bursts out after it’s dormancy. It’s like a Rogaine commercial.

Last Sunday, I participated in a Soup Competition at La Citta Dell’Utopia. It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do ever since I first visited the place roughly two years ago, but I seemed to always had prior engagements until now. So this time round, I pounced at the opportunity!

By the way, La Citta Dell’Utopia is sort of community center, run by volunteers. And in my opinion, a good way to meet like minded people and pick up new skills like language, yoga, recycling, art and whatnots. I frequently go to another one called Insensinverso.

Anyway, I know I said preveiously that I wanted to make Soto Ayam, but considering that not a lot of Italians can take the spicyness that I am used to (moreoever, to find the right ingredients takes a quite a bit of money. I am cheapo frugal and don’t like to spend too much money on people I don’t know)

So a week before, I asked on facebook on what kind of Asian style soup that I could make. I got a lot of nice answers and I was really considering to make Jaz’s ABC soup. However, I found out that sweetcorn, one of the main ingredient wasn’t in season so I decided to make Chicken Soup instead. Sorry everyone! Please don’t think that I’ve taken you guys for granted.

And the day before was such a busy day, we were running around to get halal chicken and the rest of the ingredients, searching forever for parking just to make an appointment at the dentist and then rushing over to meet Alessandra and friends for the chocolate festival.

And then it was time to go home. As tired as I was, I went to prepare the soup straight away as I knew that it will take a much longer time than usual as it was a much larger batch compared to what I was used to. I think I went to bed at after midnight and I still have halfway to go before it’s finished.

But in the end, my beautiful soup! I was contemplating to not go and eat this all by myself, cause I liked it a lot! Hahaha!!!

By then, it was already past noon and Cart and I spent some time translating the recipe to Italian. Can you believe that it took half an hour! Phew!

Eventually we brought the big pot to La Citta and I met up with my friends at Insensinverso and we registered as a team. That’s Francesco registering for us.

I have to say that La Citta looks quite pretty now that it’s been restored. For the past two years, the top floor has been under renovation and now it’s used as a hostel and the entire building has been given a fresh coat of paint. The picture doesn’t do it justice. This place has to be seen in real life to see how charming it is.

They say that Garibaldi stayed in this building in some time in his life.

(You probably can’t read it in the picture above, but the team used a phrase from an annoyingly catchy song)

We had a bit of time to go before the soup event started, so Cart and I went to have a bit of lunch, then we lounged around, then we started to set up our tables and do some designs, and I popped over to see how the other tables were set up.

(By the way, Cart and I discovered a place nearby that sells super yummy fried pizza. It’s probably unhealthy, but they are so good …)

And here is my friend Giulia practising with her poi balls during her break. She looks so graceful.

Anyway, when the event started proper at 4pm, suddenly there was a whole swarm of people swooping in demanding to try the soups.

Oh gosh! It was so overwhelming!

It was hard to think straight, that I couldn’t have a proper chat with Anna, one of my friends who dropped by to give her support. All we managed to say to each other was, “Hi! How are you? Want to try some soup? Got to go, sorry!” Eek! Awkward! Haha!

Of course, we tried to cozy up with the judges so that we could get good scores! This was one of them by the way, look at how amused he looked due to the team’s antics! Hahaha!

(Hey, who’s that Cart talking to, looking so happy back there?)

I ladled up my last bit of soup in less than an hour and after that, I felt so exhausted that all I wanted to do was to just sit down. There was a lot of lively-live music going on, but “Non ce lo faccio” I really couldn’t make it and we waited for the results to be announced.

We didn’t win in the end. Shucks! I felt a little unsatisfied because of all the time that I spent and I am confident that it was tasty. Nevertheless I had a good experience anyway. If I were to do it again, I’d do a bit of changes though.

One of them being saving some soup for my team, I don’t think any one of them had a taste!

(I swear it wasn’t me that stuck the fork there in anger! My poor stickman!)

In any case, I’m glad that I finally participated in something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time. And now, that’s one thing to cross off my bucket list

I’ve been taking a picture out of the window every month to track the differences visually month by month. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, but I keep forgetting to. So this year, I hope to complete all twelve months so that I could share it with you.

There isn’t much difference at the moment, but in a few weeks to come, you’ll be sure to see the trees suddenly grow leaves again. Personally, I find the change of seasons quite beautiful. Even winter, because everything looks so clear and clean.

January :

February :

March :

April :

On a hindsight, perhaps I should have chosen a better location. Our windows are covered with a bug-screen which is why there’s a strange grill pattern on each picture! Haha!

I’ll update again in a few months time

Initially I thought that I’d do a sort of April fool joke. You know, like rinaz.net being acquired by another company and I’m being paid loads of money for the domain. But there are a lot of smart people out there, moreover, this domain is such a part of me, it’s so I change my mind.

If you believed that I would … April fool! I guess

Nevertheless, it’ll be nice to have some extra money. Ah 46K. The things I would do with 46 thousand drool-ars. First thing I’d do is to get a new scooter to replace stupid Sam.

Anyway, yesterday was Easter and it’s a big holiday in Italy. We’d normally spend the day at Cart’s parents and joined with my sister in law and her kids, we’d eat and eat and eat.

And here are what we ate :

This is a crepe with tomato sauce and parmigiano.

L’insalata russa.

Cappeletti in chicken broth. The dumplings are stuffed with meat though, so I didn’t eat that.

Nor did I eat this meat roll. Looks good though.

And instead, I had baked fish! Nom nom! The name of this fish is called dentice and I keep imagining that it had big teeth.

And here is the pastry that Cart made the evening beforehand. It is called Torta pasqualina and Cart was inspired to make it because of it’s namesake. It was interesting to me, because of the eggs inside. Initially looking at the recipe, I thought that boiled eggs were used. But it’s not.

Here is how it looks like before it’s covered with pastry and cooked. Cart made little holes in the ricotta cheese and bieta mix, for the eggs to rest in.

And this is how it looks like when it’s done and cut open! Yum!

After our lunch, it was time to open our chocolates with the little surprises inside. Everyone got a chocolate egg.

Here is a quick video on how to open them!

By the way, it seems that PowerDirector is starting to be bonkers for me. My last two videos are squashed, and I don’t think it’s coincidental anymore.

As for me, I prefer not to break them though. I donno. It seems like such a shame to break open such a beautifully packed chocolate egg and bunnies. I’d be like murdering it! So I’ll just pose with it (since no one is taking pictures of me) and eat it … in December.

Do you like my nails by the way?

After that, I was so stuffed that the only thing I wanted to do was to stone out on the couch and watch Tomb Raider. My goodness. Technology has advanced so much since the first Tomb Raider came out in 1997. Lara was blocky and so pixellated.

But I spent hours playing that game. I had lots of fun and it was exciting. Now Tomb Raider looks so realistic. It’s like watching a movie and looks so lush and realistic, I don’t know if I have the guts to play it for real. (This one is rated M by the way)

Anyway, the funny thing about having such a big meal, rather than feeling full, I feel HUNGRIER some hours later and now my itchy mouth wants to eat more.

Not good. Not good. Not good.

Oooh! Check out what we got in the mail recently …

Why it’s our devilishly handsome model looking all sexeh! Luckily for him, he looks less creepy than in the previous booklet. Nevertheless, I still get that “Hey baby!” vibe.

The gold satin sheets isn’t helping the situation either. Poor man! Someone in the publications team is probably trolling him! Hahaha!

With about a week to go before Easter and if you are anywhere near any of the numerous churches in Rome, you could see that they are bustling with activity. The one near my home for example, had a sort of group singing going on.

I’m not sure if you could see it in the picture below (thanks to the tree blocking my way so I couldn’t take a better shot … haha) but all the people below are carrying an olive branch.

These olive branches are blessed by the priest and will be brought home, I suppose for bringing blessings. Cart was telling me the story of the week before Jesus died, he’d be riding a donkey and there was a crowd of people waving palm leaves.

Since palm trees didn’t used to be readily available, it has since been exchanged with olive branches instead, as Italy has an abundance of olive trees.

Cart and I were having a walk around the Santi Pietro e Paolo yesterday. We saw tables with loads of olive branches and there was a monk next to it, that was handing them out to visitors.

I’m not Catholic, so I didn’t feel comfortable at taking one directly from the monk.

Interestingly enough, a friend gave me this earlier :

And I looked at her and gasped and in mock horror, I jokingly asked ”Why are you giving me this? This is haram!”

She : HARAM?!?!?!

You should have seen her look of shock and surprise and flabbergast. It was so funny to see.

In the end, I did take the package home. It didn’t any symbolism to me so I don’t see it wrong to carry it. I’m not sure what to do with it though.

There is a saying in Italian – Marzo e’ pazzo. Which literally means, “March is crazy” on account on the weather doesn’t seem to make up her mind.

She could be sunny one moment, and then rainy all of a sudden. You’d feel a comfortable temperature one moment … and then a chilly gust of wind pops out of nowhere. She can be such a troll.

It’s been raining a lot in Rome since the beginning of March.

Which can be annoying when you want to go out especially when you’d have to hit the roads.

You can’t use the scooter as it’s much more dangerous for a two wheeler to be under wet conditions but when you take the car, you’d be slowed down in traffic significantly and after that, you’d still need to search for parking …which is such a nightmare that it’s much better to just stay at home.

(If you’re wondering why I didn’t add public transportation, honestly, who likes waiting 30 minutes in the rain and then be poked by other people with wet umbrellas, that is if the mezzi don’t have their monthly strike)

Nevertheless, now that we are about to reach Spring, flowers have started to bloom on trees and little daisies have sprung out of the ground and they are so pretty to see.

Seems kind of philosophical somehow. Despite all the rubbish that we go through, there is always something to look forward to.

During the weekend, along with our friend Fabrizio, Cart and I walked around Monteverde Vecchio. While it’s not really a touristy area, like Quartiere Coppede, this is an interesting place to look around because of their posh looking villas.

For example in the far distance, I was fascinated with this rather Gothic looking church.

Not sure if you could see the Latin on the grey stone below, but it says Nil Mortalibus Ardui Est – which means Nothing is impossible for humankind.

And we also stumbled on this unusual little street. You walk past multiple buildings and then suddenly, this little vicolo. It it something that I’ve never come across with, in a Roman residential area.

And then … I spotted THIS!

Cart and I have always talked about the viability of having a Hizza Put joint in Italy competing with the level of quality of pizza here. Heck, even McDougals is shutting down one by one in Rome. So seeing this advertisement, made me dumbfounded.

Ok, true. It’s not the real thing, but still … this is not right …