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How to tell where your eggs were harvested

Despite eggs having a reputation of having a high cholesterol level, Cart and I eat a fair amount of eggs every other day as it is a good and cheap source of protein.

Something interesting to notice is that in Italy, eggs sold in supermarkets are always printed with information about them :

rinaz.net Eggs in Italy

From the print, customers will able to see detailed information such as where the egg was harvested and the grade given.

rinaz.net Eggs in Italy

Typically the price ranges are according to the size, but an important thing to take note of is also the hen living conditions, as stated on the first number.

rinaz.net Eggs in Italy

  • 0 = Organic eggs
  • 1 = Eggs harvested from free roaming chickens
  • 2 = Eggs collected from ground hens
  • 3 = Eggs collected from caged hens

rinaz.net Eggs in Italy

Prior to this, I didn’t care too much about my eggs as long as it was the cheapest one. But after knowing the codes and knowing how hens are treated in battery cages,  we try to make a conscious effort not to buy grade 2 and below  where ever possible.

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Piazza Andrea Pazienza – A homage to Italian cartoonists

Thanks to Ingress, I’ve discovered a place where there is a mural of cartoons. It looks so charming to me, and the place seems so new that even street view thinks that it’s not passable.

rinaz.net discovers a comic mural in Rome

Piazza dei Fumetti, also known as Piazza Andrea Pazienza, is a square, paying homage to some of Italy’s beloved cartoonists. Inaugurated by the XII Municipio in November 2009, many of these murals I recognize as Cart, has a number of them in his shelf.

rinaz.net discovers a comic mural in Rome

rinaz.net discovers a comic mural in Rome

Going past these murals was impressive to me as they looked quite beautiful and the cheerful colours gave a rather atypical feel compared to the regular Roman neighbourhood scenes.

rinaz.net discovers a comic mural in Rome

rinaz.net discovers a comic mural in Rome

Some of the protagonists I was surprised to see there as I didn’t realise that they were Italian – like Dylan Dog, which I assumed was American.

rinaz.net discovers a comic mural in Rome

One of the cutest character for me personally would be Lupo Alberto. He’s a wolf that lives on a farm and is in love with a hen.  Cart has one edition of this Cartoon and I loved going through the strips and the silly storyline.

There was also La Pimpa, a spotted dog that lives with her master. A cartoon meant for children, the show can be caught on Rai Yoyo. While La Pimpa is meant for kids, the cartoonist also does political cartoons.

rinaz.net discovers a comic mural in Rome

It’s an interesting place and I think I’d like to explore more as the entire neighbourhood seems to have a comic theme surrounding it.

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Got my phone flashed and now I have kitkat

I’ve been using my Galaxy Nexus for close to two years now and it is already starting to be obsolete.

rinaz.net

Already Google has stopped updating its system and apps were starting to stop functioning properly. I kept having issues with twitter – it won’t open at all. The most annoying bit is when trying to play ingress and my location keeps jumping back and forth despite me standing in the same spot.

I was briefly considering on getting a new phone but our friend Lorenzo, who’s an android enthusiast managed to flash a ROM on my phone when he invited us over for dinner.

rinaz.net Samsung Galaxy Nexus Kitkat

I’m not entirely sure what Lorenzo did on my phone but suddenly I now have Kitkat 4.4.

Prior to that, I’ve already backed up my pictures and the nice thing about android phones is that whatever you’ve installed previously is remembered by Google and the apps would instantly load by itself.

Kitkat looks interesting to me so far and navigating through the apps feels faster than usual. There are new functions like SMS messages being merged together in ‘hangout’ as well as ‘Google Now’ which I quite like – it updates its cards depending on your location and the sites that you commonly go to. Lets say that I have my location turned on, depending on where I am, it will recommend me restaurants to try, or let me know how long it will take for me to go home.

rinaz.net Samsung Galaxy Nexus Kitkat

But I’m extremely amused especially with “Ok Google”. This is a feature where you can tell your phone what to do. I’m impressed at how I can set alarms, do searches and open applications without having to touch the screen at all.

Cart tried to install the same for his Galaxy S4 but it doesn’t seem to work as well.

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What Italians do during labour day

On the first of May in Rome, there will be two things that the locals here typically do :

1. Eat Fava beans with Pecorino cheese

If you are in Italy somewhere in the middle of April till early May, you’ll see Fava pods being sold in abundance in the markets.

rinaz.net Fava beans being sold in Rome

Somewhere along the time, it has started to be a tradition to eat Fava beans on labour day in Rome. To eat it, you’ll have to tear the pod open and squeeze the beans out.

rinaz.net Fava beans with pecorino cheese

It’s a slightly sweet tasting vegetable. It may take a while for some to get accustomed to as it has a grass like taste.  But it does taste much palatable when paired with the creamy and nutty pecorino cheese.

2. Watch the concert at Piazza San Giovanni.

On a regular day, Piazza San Giovanni in Laterano is not as crowded compared to its counterpart.

rinaz.net San Giovanni in Laterano

On labour day however, it would be very difficult to even walk here as each year this area will be used for a big concert. This year alone was reported to be a million spectators in attendance.

Cart and I didn’t attend the concert and instead watched it at the comfort of our sofa on TV. There were a lot of interesting acts like KuTso which we found enjoyable.

There was even Piero Pelu’ who was one of the judges from The Voice of Italia. His performance along with Litfiba was electrifying and eclectic. In between songs he reminded spectators to not forget about those who were not fortunate enough to have jobs.

Among those, it is also typical for those in Rome to go for a picnic with friends if it’s a good day out. You’ll see parks full of life and bustling of activity then.

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How to make a delicious plate of gnocchi with asparagus

Whenever you are in a market in Rome during Spring, you’ll see a lot of perennial produce for sale, such as artichokes, strawberries, fava beans, peas and leeks.

One of my favourite things to eat during Spring would have to be Gnocchi con Asparagi.  I fell in love with this dish ever since we were in a trattoria in Genzano some years back.

rinaz.net How to make Gnocchi con Asparagi

It is delicious, quick and easy to make and I’ll show you how in today’s blog post. You will need :

  • Butter
  • A handful of medium sized asparagus
  • A bunch of cherry tomatoes
  • Gnocchi

rinaz.net How to make Gnocchi con Asparagi

Here in Rome, asparagus costs about 3 – 4 euro a kilo. While it might sound expensive, we don’t normally need that much,  just about a handful will suffice.

To make Gnocchi con Asparagi, first heat up a pot of water and add in salt. This will be used for the gnocchi.

Next, give the vegetables a quick rinse and dry. Cut the asparagus into two, throwing away the white part. Then continue to slice the green part into small pieces.

rinaz.net How to make Gnocchi con Asparagi

Separate the head aside as it needs less time to be cooked.

rinaz.net How to make Gnocchi con Asparagi

Now slice the cherry tomatoes into two and add a bit of salt to them. Leave them aside as the tomatoes will be used towards the end of the cooking process.

rinaz.net How to make Gnocchi con Asparagi

In a heated plan, melt a knob of butter and add in the green part of the asparagus when the pan feels substantially hot enough.  Once the asparagus looks half cooked, add in the head and then lower the fire.

rinaz.net How to make Gnocchi con Asparagi

Once the water is boiling, throw the gnocchi into the pot. You can tell that it’s cooked when it starts to float on top.

rinaz.net How to make Gnocchi con Asparagi

Add the cooked gnocchi to the asparagus and mix them together in the pan. You can add a bit of starchy water from the pot. This creates a beautiful emulsion to your gnocchi. Turn off the stove at this point.

rinaz.net How to make Gnocchi con Asparagi

And finally add in your tomatoes to cook slightly in the residual heat. Mix well.

rinaz.net How to make Gnocchi con Asparagi

The final step is to shave some parmigiano cheese on top of your dish and soon you’ll have a delightful dish ready to be eaten.

rinaz.net How to make Gnocchi con Asparagi

Gnocchi con asparagi is creamy, earthy and decadent despite using just a few ingredients. You’ll love the richness of the cheese contrasting with the sharpness of the asparagus. I love eating this, and I hope that you give it a try 🙂

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A sign pole with its own knitted vest

Cart and I were in Trastevere over the weekend. There were more people roaming around than usual, but that was expected due to the popes’s canonization.

We were walking along Via della Lungara when I spotted this :

rinaz.net Knitted sign pole in Trastevere, Rome Italy

rinaz.net Knitted sign pole in Trastevere, Rome Italy

A sign pole with its own knitted vest isn’t something that’s commonly seen. I wonder what was the motivation of the one who was responsible for this.

Is this part of a political statement? Could it be involved with a Yarn Bombing?

rinaz.net Knitted sign pole in Trastevere, Rome Italy

rinaz.net Knitted sign pole in Trastevere, Rome Italy

Nevertheless it looks so cheerful and gave the pole a little festive and unique look. I do appreciate the artistic value of installations like this and this compared to many of the ugly graffiti that we see around.

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Why WordPress is better than Blogger

I attended the WordPress di Roma meetup recently. Even though I felt a little overwhelmed as it was conducted in Italian, I still found it enriching and educational. Which is the main inspiration for this post.

rinaz.net Attends WordPress Roma Aprile 2014

When I started blogging, I used to use Blogger/blogspot as it was the standard to use in the early 2000s. I changed to WordPress some years later and it’s been about seven years since the switch, and I haven’t looked back since.

Blogger does have its own strengths like :

  • You can get a lot of hits using Blogger.

Interestingly, I still get a lot of hits in my old blog even though I’ve abandoned it for many years now. Just imagine how it would be like if I was still active and posted content on it.

  • You can run advertisements with Blogger.

As Blogger is owned by Google, you could easily install Google Adsense on it and maybe earn some passive income. You’re also able to do sponsored advertisments and advertorials which you’re not able to do on WordPress, unless it is self hosted.

But despite that, there are many reasons why I prefer to use WordPress :

WordPress lets you put posts in Categories

This was the main reason which made me switch to WordPress. As a person with diverse interests, I thought that categorising my posts was a useful function which made it easier for readers to arrow in the topics which interests them.

rinaz.net WordPress is better than Blogger Blogspot

Various plugins for your different needs

There are so many plugins that you could use to help improve your blog and just makes your blogging life easier. All you need to do is to search the database the keyword that you’re looking for and chances are, you’ll find what you’re looking for.

Among some of the plugins that I’m currently using are – Akismet which protects your blog from spam, the Broken Link Checker,  and Jetpack which was probably love for me at first installation.

Virtually unlimited Wordpress Themes

While it is possible for you to tweak your blog’s appearance in Blogger, for a non coder like me, I’m always pleased to see the virtually unlimited amount of themes, most of them being free for use.

rinaz.net WordPress is better than Blogger Blogspot

Blogpost has a limited amount of templates, while WordPress, with its large community, has a collective of thousands of looks that you can use.

More control in WordPress

It was a bit of a learning curve switching over from Blogger to WordPress. As I’m using self hosting, I had to learn how to use cPanel, .Css and others. Some I still don’t understand till now.

Nevertheless, I appreciated the fact that I have full control over my blog – I can install whichever plugin I like, and insert the CSS codes if I wanted to. While you can’t do the same in the free version of WordPress, budgethosting, the host that I’m using costs an affordable $45 SGD per year.

WordPress is for serious bloggers

Blogspot has the unfortunate reputation for users who are new at blogging. Which is not necessarily a bad thing as while there were earlier blog services, Blogger was where I truly learnt the ropes of blogging.

However, once you’ve gotten used to it, and want to advance to something more customizable, it’s advisable to use WordPress for its rich features.

WordPress is Social Media friendly

With Jetpack (in WordPress), I could link up with various social media sites and all of them can be updated by one click which makes it extremely convenient. I love that with it, you are also able to share directly on the post with whichever Social Media that you prefer.

rinaz.net WordPress is better than Blogger Blogspot

Blogger’s “gadgets” are very limited. And personally, commenting on many blogspot posts is very annoying to me as it forces me to sign in and does not allow me to link directly to my blog, but instead to my blogger profile.

Wouldn’t you prefer to comment on this :

rinaz.net WordPress is better than Blogger Blogspot

Compared to this?

rinaz.net WordPress is better than Blogger Blogspot

WordPress has regular updates

WordPress updates frequently, which may be annoying to some, but I like it as you’d always see new features and functions in each update. This means that the team are always trying to improve themselves.

Intuitive mobile App in WordPress

While I don’t know how it’s like for Apple products, I really love the android app for WordPress. It’s so intuitive.

While it’s easy to use, it’s extremely comprehensive. I can even change the blog theme directly on my phone itself and I love getting new notifications in real time without having to log on to my computer.

rinaz.net WordPress is better than Blogger Blogspot

In conclusion, there is nothing wrong with Blogger but I’m happy with WordPress. Having made the switch about 7 years ago, I adore WordPress and have never looked back.

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Make your own comics with Bitstrips and Pixton

At this moment I’m looking for a software where I could create and make my comics look more refined in an easier manner. So instead of a comic that looks like this, I prefer it looking more like this :

rinaz.net Showing off my marathon medal

This looks much cleaner and neater in its own strip. I think that you’re able to do this from Photoshop elements, but I think the steps involved are quite tedious. Instead, I’ve been spending my time, researching and trying out the different kind of editors out there.

For now, I’ve stumbled upon Bitstrips and Pixton. They aren’t exactly what I’m looking for as I have my own drawings which I want to use. Nevertheless, I think that they are really fun to play with, so much so that I was completely engrossed playing with them and spent my entire day exploring their different functions.

Pixton

rinaz.net Pixton Comic Maker for fun

Pixton is an award winning website created by a husband and wife team. I like pixon as it’s easy to edit – you just click and drag by directly on the object you want to adjust.

If I wanted to move my avatar’s limbs for example, I  just click on that part of the body and rotate them around. So easy. I also loved that I could adjust the poses and expressions quickly from the templates.

rinaz.net Pixton Comic Maker for fun

There are so many other customization that you could adjust – like the shape of the hands which I appreciated. It’s the little details like these that gives the overall website a professional feel.

One downside is that free users are limited in what they could do – only a maximum of 2 characters and if you wanted to download your own comics, it requires 25 credits each. You could earn 5 credits by logging in daily, or you could get an unlimited subscription plan for about 4 euro a month.

Here is a strip that I did with Pixton. I love the style of the drawing. I think it even looks good in black and white.

rinaz.net Pixton Comic Maker for fun

On hindsight, I should have used this for my actual Cart and Rinaz comic.

Bitstrips

For those who are active on Facebook would be  very familiar with Bitstrip as its app has been very popular as a way to convey status updates.

But bitstrips also come in an online version where you could create full cartoon strips.The interface is clean and I loved the cheeky look when creating my avatar each time I progressed a step further.

rinaz.net Bitstrips Comic maker online

It appears to be completely free, and it seems that you are not limited by the amount of characters that you wish to create here. You are also able to  download your strips when you are done.

While there are preset poses that you could use in bitstrips, unfortunately you can’t click on the limbs and move it around directly, and instead you’re required to adjust using the control panel.

rinaz.net Bitstrips Comic maker online

Nevertheless, it’s still easy to use and I especially liked that you could even adjust the props. All the furniture in the above strip can be rotated and you can also change its shade.

Here is a strip I made using bitstrips :

rinaz.net Bitstrips Comic maker online

I love how cute Bitstrips avatars looks like. And on hindsight, I think I should have made this into a Cart and Rinaz comic too!

Nevertheless, I had so much fun creating and playing around on both the websites and they are both giving me so much ideas on how to improve my own comics. Feeling quite inspired right now. 🙂

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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.