Cart and I were at the dentist’s recently and I can’t help but to notice this :
Isn’t it cute? The illustration plays on the word “dente” which means tooth in Italian. See if you can spot some familiar Italian words. The tooth with the permanent hair was such a riot! 
This is a way overdue post that I’ve been meaning to blog about earlier but I didn’t get a chance till now.
I won a cooking DVD from Putri Berendam, one of Singapore’s top food blogger which I respect. (coincidentally, we were supposed to meet this year, but unfortunately didn’t have the chance) Anyway, she hosted a contest on her blog in mid-2010 and just for fun, I decided to participate.
To my happy surprise, I received an email by her saying that I won a “Tanya Mami Asmah Laili” Cooking DVD! (I was amused when Cart asked, “Who’s Tanya Mami?” As if Tanya was a first name … haha!) Asmah Laili is a well recognized TV personality and celebrity chef in Singapore and Malaysia and has vast experience in cooking.
See, she teaches you how to choose fresh fish!
But because I have little faith in the Italian delivery system, I asked my parents to hold it for me till I return back to Singapore. And because Cart and I were busy meeting friends and relatives during our stay there, it was only when we returned back to Rome when I had time to watch the DVD properly.
Anyway, I really love this DVD. Watching the videos is like watching a hybrid of my mum and aunt teaching me about food. You can tell that she’s really dedicated to her craft by the way she handles her food. And it’s really cute when I spot out some of the slang that she uses, “Masin Kebabai!” or “keras kojol!” or “en den” which is something that Malay aunties tend to say.
Oh! Speaking of Malay aunties, even though this DVD is in Malay, there are subtitles and also dubbings in English, Mandarin and Japanese so everyone can enjoy them!
I think the spelling should be “Penyet”, but that’s my opinion 
Opening the case, there is included, a little cookbook filled with colourful illustration of each of the recipe in the videos, both in English and Malay for a quick reference.
But one thing which I think could have been improved about the content page though is that the content page should be grouped and arranged accordingly to the chapter list on the DVD.
For example, opening the recipe book for the very first time, (which is very beautiful by the way) I was very excited as I saw one of my favourite food, Ayam Penyet in the list. And I thought wow! I want to know how it’s made! I want to watch this part first! And thus, that was the first thing that I wanted to watch first. But where do I find on the DVD?
And fiddling with the DVD chapters itself was a little cumbersome for me, trying to figure out which specific episode contained what I wanted to watch. I had to click on episode 1 and then episode 2 and then episode 3 and then finally it was episode 4 (of course) which contained the video that I wanted to watch 
For simplicity’s sake, I’ll list of food here :
Part 1 : Pasta
Part 2 : Seafood
Part 3 : Festive foods
Part 4 : Mami’s favourites
Going through the entire DVD, there are a couple of items that looks so good, that I would love to give it a try one day like the Ikan Bakar Kampung (Grilled Fish village-style) which looks absolutely mouthwatering and Ayam Tandoori (Tandoori Chicken) which looks wonderfully spicy and of course not to mention my beloved Ayam Penyet (Smashed Chicken)
However, unless you’re living in Asia, some of the ingredients could be a little hard to find like abalone sauce, fresh pandan (aka pinescrew) leaves and candlenuts. So I guess for people living overseas, we’d just have to be clever and substitute or omit them.
Nevertheless, I tried one of her recipe which looked pretty easy to make with easily acessible ingredients – Nasi Kunyit Tomato – Yellow Rice with Tomato.
Looks gorgeous, no? I made it for easter earlier this year and it’s pretty straight-forward to make and tastes yummy too 
Oh! One thing that you’d have to remember is that the recipes that she demonstrates are adjusted to her own taste and thus, her techniques might not be conventional. Her pasta segment for example, will probably make an Italian mama blush because she adds spices and chili way more than any Italian would.
But I can understand why she cooks it that way – because Asians like it like that. So the dishes are adjusted for the local palette. It’s kind of like the humble pancake. Americans like it stacked and thick while French like it thin and crepe-y. It’s not wrong, it’s just how the local people prefer it. It’s not like she claims that it’s the 100% original, trusted, generation passed down recipe
By the way, did you notice one odd thing about the DVD? Did you notice that the video is a 4:3 resolution? Which is strange because, at that resolution, it would be more apt for VCDs instead. But nevertheless, it’s not such a big deal when you start to watch Mami working her magic in the kitchen as well as as the beautiful Labrador Park 
I’m not paid to endorse this (but if anyone wants to pay me, do feel free ) but I highly recommend this DVD not only for people living in Singapore and Malaysia, but also others living overseas as it really bring a bit of home where-ever you are. I might sound biased, but there’s a point when it’s comforting and nice to hear a familiar language once in a while.
Moreover because at this point of time, the price of each DVD is reduced to $15 SGD ($12.4 USD) which is a really good price for all these knowledge, no? Also each $10 sold from each DVD will be donated directly to the Japan Quake and Tsunami relief efforts (but how on earth does the company make a profit this way though?)
Anyway, here is a 1 minute preview of the begining of her video
And to end this post, I’m going to put up an absolutely non related picture.
This is Nasi Lemak. Another thing that I like to eat and I made it yesterday and I’m very proud of it and so I’m showing off. Kthnxbai! 
Sidenote : According to the website, this DVD can be found in good records and book store and also available online at this site :
About a month ago, I went to a kiko cosmetics shop to get some of their nail polishes. As far as I know, the polishes here are the cheapest in Italy, with a bottle costing at a minumum of 2.50 euro.
Anyway, my eyes were attracted to the 30 days extension mascara. I don’t know why I decided to get it in the end since I normally wear glasses and mascaras (all mascaras) tend to streak my lenses.
I think I paid about 8 euro for this (though I feel a little cheated though that now the price has dropped down to 3.90 euro!!!) And now that I’ve been using this for 30 days, I’ll do a quick review.
The mascara claims to increase the length by 169% with constant use with the help of their K2 pro-growth complex (what’s that?) and has tested on 20 women for 30 days to prove this claim.
I’m not going to claim that I’m an expert on the ingredients. But it’s a good habit to read what the formula is made of, just in case you might find out that you could be allergic to an ingredient like silica or beeswax.
The mascara comes in a 8ml stick which is more than enough to last for about 30 days use. As far as I know, there is only one choice of colour – black.
Opening the mascara, you’d get a regular type of wand. And I don’t know if it’s just the particular stick of mascara that I bought, but the formula was so dry! Hence, it tends to be a little bit clumpy. It was as if painting the walls with semi wet paint.
The mascara is not water-proof by the way. And so it is easily washed away with regular soap. So, try not to cry when you’re using this, or you’d end up with racoon eyes!
Anyway, I have been using the mascara faithfully for about 4 hours a day. Here is what it looks like on day one.
And here is what it looks like after 30 days.
By the way, a good trick that I’ve learnt on how to put on mascara is to brush it down. Wait for it to dry a little and then brush it up like how you normally do, so you don’t stain the eyelids later on.
And … I see my lashes longer! But it’s very subtle though. I’m not sure if any of my close friends would ever tell the difference. Nevertheless, that’s pretty nifty! 
If you asked me if I would buy it again, I’m not too sure, considering the dry formula that I got (but I could have been unlucky) and also as I’m mainly a glasses user, hence streaking accidents happen easily for me. And it’s such a commitment to be using it constantly during the day.
Maybe the night treatment booster could be a better choice for me instead. Since it works the same way, and now that the price has gone down to 3.90 euro.
Should I?
What a surprisingly busy day it was yesterday.
In the morning, we were rushing off to the mosque, which turned out to be a very stressful event as we needed to be there in time for the mass prayers but there were many traffic bottlenecks and police blockages around the way and it took us more than an hour to reach there. It wasn’t so bad the past years.
After the sermon, we then rushed off to the mercato (wet market) to get some fresh vegetables. Cart wanted to make some Parmigiana di Melanzana, Pasta con Rughetta e Pomodorini, Fried bell peppers and Fried Zucchini.
And then we rushed off to the butcher (I was worried that it won’t be opened for the holiday) to get some meat for making polpette and then the supermercato to get snacky stuff like pretzels and crodino. And in the end, we had to lug about 100kg of groceries up the 2nd floor (3rd floor in Singaporean standards) up the stairs and fairly immediately after that, started cooking to host some friends afterwards.
We started cooking from 4pm and only finished everything at about 9pm. Even the simplest Italian food becomes tiring to make when you times it by 10 people. Just think if I made proper Malay food
Phew! I’m so exhausted. I think I’ll just slack around today 
In the meanwhile, can you spot something interesting here?
Usually around this time, when I was living with my parent’s, we would be busy preparing for Hari Raya, the end of our month long fast. And the house would be in a chaotic state – we’d be hanging the curtains, baking cakes, tidying up the house, prepping for lunch and dinner for the humongous amount of relatives that will be arriving later.
My big fat greek wedding pales in comparison to the amount of MY relatives
I’ve always hated all this fuss. All these chores are extremely tiring and to be honest, quite unecessary. Nevertheless, I enjoy being surrounded by relatives and friends, despite how eccentric many of them are … you know, there will always be an uncle who loves to blast his karaoke set, an aunt who would chatter non stop, the emo cousin and such.
For fun, I’ll put a picture of me and my non emo cousins and aunt back in 2004
And so, I was thinking of baking some cookies during the weekend, and planned to make Nasi Lemak for the guests to eat when they arrive later. After all, if they can’t take the heat of curry or even ayam masak merah, I should be fine with Nasi Lemak right? It’s the mildest (and relatively easy to make) Malay food that I can think of.
And then I found out that all of my Muslim friends aren’t in Rome, and even my family in laws won’t be able to make it since it’s not a public holiday in Rome and they had to go work.
And while trying to gather the ingredients, I started to get emo and mind started to go into a monologue :
“Why bother with the cooking? No one is coming over anyway? There is no one to cook for”
And I suddenly felt so lonely and started to feel depressed.
After skyping my family and friends, I feel better now though.
Sidenote : Just wanted to clarify why I prefer inviting Muslim friends over for the first day is because we’ve all went through the gruelling 30 day fasting together. Of course everyone else are welcome too. We’ve invited a couple of friends over already :-)
This post is a continuation of : A beautiful day boating in Capri
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It was our last day in Capri and as always, we woke up to another beautiful morning. I was already feeling a little sad at the thought of leaving this beautiful place, but there was still quite an adventure in store for us for the day.
After having our breakfast and on our way out, there was a huge basket of freshly plucked tomatoes in the vegetable garden in our villa. Wow, look at how ripe they are! I was very tempted to take some and eat it like that. However the caretaker was looking at me funny and I had to bashfully back away
To get to our destination, the center of Anacapri, we had to walk back towards the Greece looking area. Unlike yesterday, this time round there were many shops which are already opened. Like this shoe shop here. There’s a pair of shoe here for less than 10 euro!
I didn’t get any because I have too many shoes
Cart and I also stumbled upon a little alimentari that looked a lot like a mama shop. It’s been over 20 years, but it reminds me of my grandparent’s shop somewhat when they still lived in Tekong before the government took over it.
And that’s Cart buying a bottle of water. It’s always useful to have a bottle of water with you
And there were plentiful of other shops opened. Like food shops :
I noticed this sign … CRT now doesn’t mean Cathode Ray Tube anymore. And instead it’s Cappucino, Real English, Tea.
If you are in Capri, you’ll see a lot of these shops around – Here you can make your own customised sandals! Just choose the type of strap you want and tell your shoe size and the cobbler will make your sandal right in front of you!
And this is so old school. It’s been a while since I’ve seen anyone shaving (or be shaved) with these type of knives. It takes a really steady hand to be able to do that!
And there were also ceramic shops. It was so interesting to see all the colourful and cheeful items all made from ceramics. I suppose the owner thought I was interesting too, seeing how he’s staring straight at me
As Mount Vesuvius (I’d love to visit one day) is quite near, you could also find these decorated volcanic rocks easily. These can also made into beautiful jewellery. They are black because of the rapid cooling of the lava.
Oh, I forgot to mention about this in the previous post, but we also walked past a mini museum which we visited last night. This was done by a talented lady, Tiziana Ferraro. I really liked her artwork – it was colourful and cheerful!
I asked if she had a website or anywhere to show off her portfolio, unfortunately she didn’t have one. Ah well 
And this is a toilet. It costs 50 cents to release yourself here
What’s interesting about it, you ask? This is probably the cleanest toilet that I’ve ever seen in my life. There’s only one lady looking after the stations and once you’re done with your business, she’d immediately clean up.
She’s a little fierce though, not letting anyone get through when she’s not done cleaning, like Gandalf when blocking a Balroc, “Thou shall not pass!”
And here is a random kitten
The first place that we visited was the Villa San Michele. This is an interesting place, originally built by the Swedish physican, Dr Axel Munthe, reconstructed to make it look like as when he was living there.
It costs 6 euro to enter. (Gosh, my nails look so chipped by this point of time)
And here are the opening times depending on the month you are there. Just to be sure, get there around 9am
When you first enter the area, you’ll be first greeted by this skeleton mosaic – The skeleton is holding a food basket and a caraffe on the other hand to represent that we should enjoy life before we die. Something that Dr Munthe was already aware of.
We walked through each of the rooms, looking at the different relics and works of art. From the dining room …
The kitchen … (It was interesting to read that Dr Munthe had two house assistants who were very loyal to him. He didn’t pay them, but he gave them everything they asked for)
The Atrium …
The bedroom …
Here is Claudio and Beatrice laughing at a private joke. I’m adding this picture just because it looks like a cool shot
Oh, and this one too!
This is where Dr Munthe entertains his guests … Looks like my aunt’s room somewhat with the ornate and heavy furniture
He entertained all sorts of people here, even kings and queens. But they all got to eat very simple and rustic food as Dr Munthe doesn’t believe in feeding the body overly rich food. He doesn’t even recommend meat for those over a certain age!
By the way, while living here, Dr Munthe wrote “The story of San Michele” mainly about the experiences that revolved around his life. This book has been a bestseller since published and translated in over 40 languages.
I’d like to read it. Wonder if there are any libraries in Rome that I can go to, to read it in English
After touring the house, it was time to explore the courtyard. Oh my gosh, it was such a dream here. Like I was on the set of the “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” but only better!
It wasn’t the statues that did it.
(The sign says “laughing girl” but she looks more creepy than anything)
(This is a statue of Hermes (er-mez). Say, by the way, did anyone watch Percy Jackson and the Olympians?)
It wasn’t so much the architecture …
It was seeing the magnificent and glorious view from there. Oh gosh, it’s so peaceful and so beautiful. My heart (figuratively) just broke at the immense beauty 
Le sigh!
And there is a curious Sphinx statue at the end of the courtyard, looking out at the sea.
If like them, I had the chance to look at the blue sea all day, I wouldn’t mind it at all!
Seriously this place is like a dream. With the lush greenery and the beatiful garden here, it made me feel like wearing a toga and go dancing barefooted on the grass.
Oh. You can’t do that here. How about sitting down here, and be fed grapes and drink (hypothetical) honeyed wine?
Drat you can’t do that here either -_-
(Wait wait … You just can’t eat a BURGER anything else, you can consume right?! )
Anyhow, not wasting such a beautiful scenery, I took the chance to do a quick camwhore!
And had to suck it up and pretend to be glamourous, despite that the weather was really warm then. Poor Cartcart!
It was understandable why Dr Munthe would fall in love with this place. I do too!
In fact, when Axel Munthe died, he had a ticket to Capri in his pocket. Isn’t that the saddest thing? Like, unrequited love 
Being random, here is an interesting sign I saw at the toilet here.
Yes. I’m proud to say that I am somewhat civilized.
After leaving the Villa San Michele, the second place that we visited was the Monte Solaro. This is the highest peak in Capri, 589m above sea level and I think that this is another must place to visit.
To get up there, you could hike up there or take a seggiovia. Seggiovia means chairlift by the way.
And there are two type of tickets here. Two way which is 10 euro, while the one way is 7 euro. Although to be honest, I’m not sure how often they check your tickets, so you could get away with going with the cheaper one
When you enter the area, the way you ride the chairlift, is to stand on the green square and as soon as the seat arrives, quickly sit down and let the attendant close the safety clamp on you … and off you go!
It can get a little nerve wrecking. Especially for me who’s taking it for the first time. I mean take a look at the height between the chair and the ground. You’ve only a metal wire to keep you up. It’s a little scary! It’s as scary as taking a cable car in Sentosa.
But what’s that on the pole?!
No rocking. Ehm. I wouldn’t dream of it.
Cart, Beatrice and Giovanni behind me looked extremely comfortable though. Cart especially looked as cool as a cat. He’s done this a lot of times since he used to go skiing.
Nevertheless, despite it all, the ride was completely worth it. Because once you’ve reached the top, the view is so so so spectacular!
From this …
To this …
And this …
And to me, this picture below is like the caramel on the creme brulee. LOOK AT IT! Isn’t it so beautiful that it makes you feel emotional?
I feel so blessed to be able to see such beauty. I really felt like crying.
That’s the arch and the stack by the way, seen up close the day we went boating.
I could just stay here forever. But we were on a time schedule, before the ferry leaves and reluctantly, we had to go. Although my heart was screaming no.
ANYWAY! I saw this interesting bottle as we took the chair lift down.
On our trip down, I saw something rather interesting. Not only does the chair lift carry people, it also carries bottle of water! I wonder if each had to pay 7 euro each
Of course, I had to do a bit of camwhoring too since I doubt there will be such a chance for me so soon. HAHA! Gosh, me and my paperbag and my handbag … I’m so auntie!
And we walked back towards our villa for the last time. Just for being random again … Woah, check this out while on our way there … A half bear, half baby!
After packing up, we said goodbye to our beautiful villa and reluctantly left and headed towards Marina Grande, the main port.
And I enviously looked upon the other people who were frolicking around.
We stopped for a bit of a bite, while waiting for the ferry.
And soon after, we boarded our ferry to go back to the main port Napoli.
And then took the tram to head back to the Napoli Centrale train station
(By the way, I spotted out a very interesting young lady on the tram who looked just like a Malay Minah with her shaved eyebrows and dyed hair but I dare not take a picture of her … would be rude I think. Also, I can’t understand anything she said. The dialect was just too thick)
And back on the train again for our 2 and a half hour train ride …
And then finally back home in Rome!
Le sigh. After 4 days having such a wonderful time, in the most gorgeous place, it’s so unkind to be back! I really felt like this lady in this commercial and needed a few days to get my feet back on the ground.
Anyway, that’s it! That’s the last of the instalments. I hope you enjoyed my blog posts. If you like, come and read the entire series here :-)
Sometimes the face can feel clogged up regardless how much you cleanse and tone it. So, it’s good to exfoliate your skin every now and then. And while there are many scrubs out there, I’m a bit of a cheapo. So I use my trusty bicarbonate of soda.
Woah! Where did that chemical formula come from?
I found out about this technique while using Lucy Minerals and it made sense. Bicarbonate of soda is cheap and easily acessible – you could get them for under 2 dollars from any supermarkets in the world. And while it’s main purpose is for cooking, the particles are rounded and fine in texture, making it both effective and gentle on the skin.
For scrubs, put about half a teaspoon in your palm. You can adjust more or less according to how you feel the next time.
And together in your palm, squeeze in your favourite facial cleanser.
Add some drops of water and mix them together. You should already feel the lovely little beads as you mix them together. Think of how wonderful it’ll be like on your skin!
And gently massage it over your face avoiding the delicate areas around the eyes. But if some managed to get into your eyes, flush them with water of course.
Be gentle. Though it’s tempting, never tug your skin as you can aggravate your skin instead of making it cleaner! Continue to massage for a couple of minutes and visualise all the dead skin falling off and new skin peeking in!
And after a few minutes, rinse the exfoliant and dead skin away with cold water.
And now that you’re done, admire your smooth, touchably soft skin. I’m serious, do give it a try. It’ll feel and stay fresh and soft that way for at least half an hour. I was really impressed by this the first time I did a baking soda scrub.
Some of you might end up with your face slightly red, like you came back from exercising. Don’t worry about this. If you were gentle with your skin, this is normal and it will resume to normal in a few minutes.
And now finish off with your favourite toner and moisturizer. This scrub is gentle enough that you can do this for a couple of times a week.
Try it out and see how it goes for you!
