Lo ammesso. Non ho avuto molto bene l'impressione di Milano. The first time I was there, it was in the middle of Ferragosto in 2005 and la citta era morta. Mortissima. I knew nobody and nobody took interest in me, save for 1) a stranger who came up and said 'sei filippina?' 2) a gipsy boy who grabbed my hand at the Piazza Duomo and proceeded to demand 2euros after the pigeons flapped and pecked hungrily at poor unsuspecting me and 3) a snob who was also dining alone al ristorante and boasting to me about his riches. Basta gia. (Click on archive August 2005 if you're curioso)To make things worse, Santa Maria delle Grazie, which housed Leonardo Da Vinci's famosa 'L'Ultima Cena', was full during the one day I was there. Madonna! I cursed and swore and ate a gelato instead. This time round, I wasn't so keen on The Last Supper (after hearing Anna Maria's review) but rather I was more concerned about my next colazione (brekkie), pranzo (lunch) e cena (dinner) *giggle* - after all, I couldn't remember a memorable meal a Milano.
Things look set to change with Elena and Alberto's advice at hand. It's amazing how we remain friends after that brief chance encounter at the pebbled beach at Salina in Sicilia. They were on honeymoon then and now there's Paolo, their little almost-one year old bellino rascal. Every odd month, Ele wouldd send me photos of them and how he has grown (pic of them in Nice)! It was great to see them finalmente after our 2 years of email correspondences! 
We arrived at Milano after 18 hours of travelling on the plane and awake in the bar cabin of the Eurostar treno (freakin 42E!) from Roma. Sweet Alberto came to pick up our bags while Elena brought us to Milano centro for a tour. We had a late lunch at the somewhat poshy Peck's italian bar (everyone in biz suits except us) - vitello tonno per me, pork cutlet with patate for Ferne and beef carpaccio for Ele; washed down with macchiato and cioccolato squares (55E). There's a small Peck outlet at Takashimaya S'pore but it's nothing quite like its wondrous salumeria here!
Imagine 3 floors of gastronomic bliss! They had everything from all over Italia, including all kinds of cheeses (mozzarellaaaa!), proscuitto (whole freakin legs and legs of it), verdura, frutta (only seasonal best), freshly made pane and pasta, biscotti, marmalade, caffe, tea e dolci. There was an entire basement devoted to wines from all over Italia - I couldn't stop oohing and ahhing. I'm in heaven! 
On my behalf, Ele asked the manager for permission to take photos (for my personal use, we assured him) and I shot 6 instead of the 3 as promised. Hahaha. We couldn't resist a mini cioccolato tart among the gleaming display of cakes and other sweets, and admired another nearby shop window full of toasty fresh bread. Not far from it was a grocer's stand, stacked with my favourite ficchi (I had to buy some green figs) and freshly-plucked chestnuts still in their furry green shells. I had only seen them in pictures but not upclose. 
We then toured the inside of the Duomo (no time for the rooftop), followed by the poshy Galleria where I stepped on the coglioni of the bull on the mosaiced floor (for good luck I think). No time for La Scala teatro, we trodded past the famous 7-star albergo 'Grande Milan' where Giuseppe Verdi had stayed post-performances alla Scala Teatro and ogled at the designer shops along Via Napoletana. At 5pm we hurried to catch the crowded rush-hour treno to the quiet town of Meda (20mins away) where she lived in a gorgeous 3-storey house. I couldn't believe I was here and Ele was sitting opposite me, chatting happily away with Ferne. 
At their casa, the first face that greeted us was Paolo, the little minx with that gappy toothy grin, chubby cheeks and twinkly eyes. He was cuter in person and wasn't afraid of us, 2 Asian strangers. While Alberto started assembling cena, Ele gave us a tour of their bella casa. Even if it was incomplete upstairs, our stanza in the lovely spacious attic was so inviting. F pointed out all the designer stuff - Alessi, Flos, Cassini, ecc - because she had shopped around for her own appartamento in S'pore. 
We cleaned up for dinner, starting with bravo Alberto's risotto alla milanese - a classic local specialty with saffron, salsiccia (sausage meat) and lots of formaggio. Buonissimo. In between he stuffed us with salame and sips of Morellino, a very pleasing light red vino from Toscana. We both tasted it and nodded in approval. "Buon, non 'e pesante," I said to him it's good, not heavy. Alberto doesn't speak much inglese (although he understand) so I had to be diligente with my italiano. Ferne admitted she wasn't a huge fan of risotto but she - like me - finished every grain on our plate. It was nicely al dente and flavourful.
Next we had silky thin slivers of fatty pancetta with insalata and the cutest cherry pomodori di Calabria. Heavenly. At this point, the wine, fatigue and jet lag started to kick in and we were trying to leep our eyes awake. Desserts were a fare exchange - we surpised them with our mooncakes (still intact from the flight!) and fragrant organic Japanese green tea while they made us a very impressive molten cioccolato cake dusted with sugar and paired with raspberry marmalade. We thought he made it from scratch but later found out it was an instant mix (could have fooled us)! 
It was a fabulous welcome dinner, very carefully planned by them (grazie carissimi!), which made us feel so at home. Luckily they were quite delighted with our gifts - a blue scarf with farfalle for Ele, incense for Alberto, a long table runner for the casa, a Nemo fish lantern for Paolo and the Chinese paper lanterns which would be perfette for Paolo's 1st birthday garden party this sabato. Too bad we'd miss it. Anyway when our heads touched the pillow, we were out in a blink. All was quiet and peaceful.
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