The printer recently had an error message and even after reading websites on how to fix it, and used quite an amount of kitchen roll, trying to clean it, it still didn’t work. I even went to the extent of buying new cartridges. It costs almost 40 euro and I was cheesed off to see the error message not going away. So I guess the printer was finally gone.
The funny thing is that, even if the ink function doesn’t work, why can’t the scanner function work too? That doesn’t make sense.
Still. Five years was a decent run. I wouldn’t even want to attempt to bring it in for servicing, because it’s notorious that the costs to fix it is more than the printer itself.
And thus, during the weekend, we headed to the various electronic stores in Rome – Trony, UniEuro, Mediaworld, Saturn. Cart is a very patient man to visit all these places while I just wanted to get it over with. Nevertheless, I saw this printer which was interesting :
While it looks expensive at first, this particular printer uses an ink tank instead of cartridges. You can fill up the tank yourself when it runs dry. This makes sense to me as using the inks will be cheaper in the long run.
Then we looked at the laser-jet printer section, as Cart preferred one of those, as they had a reputation of lasting for a very long time. We wanted one with wifi, a scanner and maybe one with a SD card so that it could print or scan, to and fro the card. Which is a useful function.
Unfortunately for us, being the sale season and all the printer with the function that we wanted was sold out. I panicked because I use the printer often and needed it for my work – printing worksheets and craft ideas.
So in the end, I got this for myself. It had all the functions that I needed and it was only 50 euro. I’m not fussy. I’m just a little peeved that it costs just 10 euro more than the cartridge that I bought a couple a days earlier. I could have used the money for nice food.
The thing about laser-jets is that it’s more dependable. Cart really wanted one, but I’m justifying that the printer we just got should last about 2 or 3 years before it breaks, and by then technology will be better, we just might get the laser-jet printer that we want.
I’ve been eating a vegan based diet for about a week now. Surprised? Don’t worry, it’s nothing too radical. I’m not going to start being all self righteous and preach about environmentalism and animal cruelty.
I’ve been interested in eating vegan for its health benefits and now that I’ve eaten (almost) everything that I’ve been craving for in Singapore, it’s now a good time to start. So far it hasn’t been that hard as Cart is vegetarian so I’m quite versed in vegetarian cooking and food places. Only this time round, I had to cut out a bit more – like eggs, milk and honey.
The first couple of days was a bit awkward, especially during breakfast – Even though I did do a meal plan for the week, I like the taste of butter on my toast and honey with my morning tea. Lunch used to be easier as I’d naturally make pasta al pomodoro with parmigiano, or cream pasta with mushrooms and peas.
But after the second day of having pasta al arrabbiata in a row, I thought, enough is enough and Cart and I headed to a vegan store in Nuovo Mercato Testaccio where I discovered a lot of cool things there quite by accident, among which, Rainbow Chard and Purple Cauliflower.
This is Vegan Cheese :
If you were curious, these cheese are made up of plant fat such as coconut oil and starches. To compare this to real Parmigiano and Cheddar is like comparing skim milk to full fat milk. It doesn’t taste the same, but I’ve never expected it to. Nevertheless, it has been a decent enough substitute.
(But at 7 euro for a block… I wouldn’t want to get them too often)
I made Sheperd’s Pie with the cheese and soymilk, and I’m pleasantly surprised that it still tastes yummy.
This is soy strips :
At 4.50 euro, I thought that it was kind of expensive for such a small bag, but I found out later that a handful is more than enough for two as it expands when you soak it. So this bag should last a while and so far, I made spezzatino con patate with it. I liked it so much that I couldn’t help but to take seconds and thirds. I’m thinking up of other ideas on what to cook with this 😀
This is Agave Syrup :
I’m on the fence about this. It’s not that I hate it, but it tastes much more delicate compared to regular honey and it makes just the tiniest bit sweeter in my English breakfast tea.
Eating out hasn’t been too much of a hassle – an easy choice would be an ortolana pizza with no mozzarella or pizza ai funghi. Tonight we’re going to an Asian Restaurant, so I guess I’ll get myself some fried veggie noodles with no egg inside. I’m not such a fussy eater.
On the other hand, I’d like to share a story of what happened to me a couple of days ago. I was craving for some chocolate croissant, and there was a vegan cafe which was less than a kilometre from where we live. We had a good dinner there and the owners gave us some croissants to go when we left – it was the yummiest, dairy free croissant that I’ve ever had. I was looking forward to having them, so imagine my surprise when we found that the place was closed! The place was still pretty new, as far I knew. I was sad to see it go.
So Cart and I headed to another bar nearby and I was momentarily dumbfounded when I had to choose something for breakfast – they didn’t have soy milk, and I’m not fond of coffee so in the end, I simply had tea.
So … has there been any changes during this week? Did I get vegan powers?
Not really. I still feel like myself, meaning, I don’t feel like I’ve transcended. But I do I feel hungrier. And every two hours or so, I feel the need to munch on something which I guess kind of defeats the purpose as I don’t see any weight loss so far. Nevertheless I’m easing myself to exercise regularly – circuit training, aqua-gym and maybe jogging a couple a times a week.
(As a side-note, I’m quite indignant that Singapore City Race cancelled their event without even an update on their facebook page as I’ve trained for it. On the other hand, there was a heatwave when we were in Singapore and I didn’t feel in good form, so I guess it’s a sort of blessing?)
On the other hand, my tummy seems to be less bloated compared to before, which is something that I’m liking and my skin seems to be slightly clearer now that haven’t been consuming any dairy in my diet.
Now that I’ve been eating vegan drama free for a week, I think I’d like to try to continue for at least another week and see how it goes.
As a side-note, something that just occurred to me. There has been a number of people who’ve asked me, mainly about Cart’s eating habits. What’s wrong with eating meat? It’s permitted by God. I don’t really know how to answer it in a diplomatic manner, so I’ll normally answer, he doesn’t like the taste of it. You know, like durians, I like the taste of it, but he doesn’t but I wouldn’t want to force him to eat it.
What I find shocking is how there are people who try to feed Cart food with meat items on purpose, saying that it’s safe for him to eat. I know they mean well, but I don’t think that’s nice…
I’m missing the routine that I had – like walking down to the mini-mart, getting groceries, listening to the sounds of people talking, the bustling of activities in the morning.
I’m definitely missing how easy it was to get food favourites such as Prata, Nasi Lemak and Laksa. My mum making many of my favourites and eating them together with my whole family, was such a simple joy for me. And we’ve visited quite a number of new vegetarian places in Jurong that I’ll try to to write a post about it soon.
Most of all, I’m definitely missing my friends and family – 3 weeks just isn’t enough bonding time and to do everything that I wanted to do. The next time I hope that I could stay for a little longer – maybe a month or two? Then Cart can join me later since he can’t take too long a leave.
In any case, Singapore has changed so much – new buildings when it used to be an empty plot of land, and then there are buildings which are now gone and or cordoned to be demolished.
There are nuances that I see, like on the road for example, no cars stop by the side of the road at all till a taxi driver explained that there are cameras now installed at every junction and I see people queuing up at the bus interchange when just a few years back it’s common to see people cutting the queue.
What happened? Keep in mind that it was only about 2 years ago since we’ve last visited. Part of me feels sad at the rapid changes, especially in Taman Jurong where my childhood stomping ground used to be and not being to recognize what I used to know. But that’s the price you get for improvements, I guess.
Anyway, now that we’re back in Rome I’ll try to get back into my blogging routine – onwards and upwards!
It’s always like that for me. I put something in a place where I think that I’ll find it easily in the future. And then I forget about it and panic. -_-
While we were in Euroma2, I noticed a kiosk where you could charge your phone. The screen will indicate which slot was empty. You create your own pin to open them.
Inside you’ll find various cables for different kinds of phones. You connect them together, close the door and have a meal or continue shopping.
I recounted to Cart at how time ago, while I was living in Singapore at how I was able to go to a random handphone shop and ask them to charge the phone for me for a few cents.
Coming back to the kiosk, I thought that was a good idea, though I’m not sure how many would use it in reality as I think that too many would feel anxious when parted with their phones.
Speaking of phone charging stations, Cart and I stumbled upon this kiosk at the Cipro Metro station – this one was interesting to me as it also distributes water, similar to the one we saw in Aguillara.
It distributes both naturale and frizzate for free though and I look forward to bringing my bottle to fill it up and give it a try.
And on the other side, there is a charging station and you lift up the flap to connect your cable in.
You’d have to stay there the entire duration. But since the area is full of portals, I can just imagine that not many would complain as this would be the perfect place for playing ingress and farming!
I’ve been using my New Balance shoes so much that they were in very bad shape.
I was forced to wear my old runnies which was a bad mistake. It was the most uncomfortable run – it felt clunky and heavy. And during my weekend long run, I had a bad blister and one of my nails turned black. This has never happened to me even when I was doing my marathon last year.
So Cart and I went to the nearest New Balance shop to get a replacement pair. Unfortunately for us, there were no Minimus shoes for sale. We were informed that the range is not sold in Italy any more. I wasn’t surprised though, as minimalist shoes aren’t popular here. They are still being sold in North America though.
The closest thing to a minimalist shoes that I remember are still being sold in Italy are Newtons. We went to a shop nearest to us and after a long deliberation, here are my new Newton Fate shoes!
One try and I like how light they feel. The toe-box is roomy which is important to me so that I can move my toes and not feel cramped. The middle of the toes are raised up, which is the unique point for Newtons. They can feel strange at first wear.
While I’m a size 37, I had to get these one size up as they are more comfortable for me. They cost 120 euro. Which I guess is cheaper than the distance elite which was what I was looking for, but not sold here. Can’t be too choosy I guess.
These pair has a 4.5 heel cushion which is just slightly higher than my Minimus. But I’m pretty sure that wearing these will be much more comfortable than my old runnies.
Anyway, I haven’t given them a real test run as I’ve been horribly sick this week. Training this time round has been quite tough on me. and I really don’t know if I will be in a good form for my run in late December. Kind of scared.
