Xmas In Italia

Finalmente, I got on the plane on Emirates and began my 20-hr journey to Roma on early sabato morning. I had just started packing on Friday night - trying on assorted winter-like combos of what I could find in my wardrobe - and managed to stuff the xmas gifts in the luggage too (which weighed just 13.9kg). At 12.45pm, the plane touched down at Roma and I ran to catch the Fiumincino espresso where I chatted with a jewish businessman from Israel while staring out at the familiar vista. The only tell-tale signs of winter were the bare trees against the clear blue sky, and everyone all wrapped up in furry coats and boots.

The cold crisp wintry air was actually refreshing and jolted me up from my jetlagged slumber. I spotted L easily at the platform, his blue eyes beaming underneath his cap and his kiss like a breath of fresh mint on my face. We found the Best B&B (Vatican) easily and it looks exactly like its advertised foto - modern n minimalistic, plus the superb colazione lived up to expectations. The next morning after sleeping for 14 hours, we seeked out la bocca della verita (mouth of truth) where I stuck my icy hand in and tried to think of a honest question but the stupido staff kept saying 'ooonly 1 foto!' and interrupted my thoughts.

We hurried back to Napoli where Raef came to pick us up in time for Mel's Sunday lunch. Ah back again at Pozzuoli. This time in winter... and it's freaking cold lor. One doesn't seem to do much in winter except eat, sleep, watch tv. No wonder I felt like a bear, gaining extra fats during this hibernation festa period. Luckily everyone seemed pleased with my gifts, specialmente Nonna with her deep plush purple chinese silk and chinese frog buttons (perfetto for her 80th birthday dress), Raef with his oilment and muscle medicated patches, and Mel with the silver bag and sequinned blue shirt.

She paid for a lovely blue knitted dress which I picked out at the open market at Bagnoli. I so loved the seasonal produce, from the bright orange clementine mandarins, whole stalks of gorgeous artichokes and leafy bunches of kale to streetside roasted chestnuts and festive sweets. I couldn't find any ideal boots there so L and I made a trip to bustling Napoli where everyone is fighting for last minute xmas bargains.

Of particular interest, Via San Gregorio Armeno is the famosa strada of nativity artisan workshops responsible for the intricate nativity scenes and terra cotta figures (Obama anyone?) to dress up the festive home decor. After a quick grab of pizza fritta (deepfried folded stuffed pizza, very fattening), we located a Chinese shop selling all kinds of winter boots and both picked out the same pair of brown sporty boots (15e). Yay, sono quasi italiana ora, keekee.

Apart from pure vanity, one reason why I got the boots was the Xmas eve wet fish market at Pozzuoli where everyone heads to buy some fresh catch and soak up the festivity despite the freezing cold. It is one of my few favourite places in Italy where tenacles, fins and shells of many kinds rub me the right way. I love my polpo (octopus) - big and small, when it's boiled, chopped up and dressed with parsley, salt, olive oil and lemon juice.

Mel, cugina Linda and zia Luisa stocked up on a shipload of pesce and seafood for the Xmas Eve, Xmas day AND Boxing day family feasts (si, 3 days in a row and we only got out by escaping to Sicily!) - where everyone come together and stuffed their faces on traditional favourites such as pasta al forno, lenticche con zampone, frittura baccala, poven-roasted fishes and copious amount of vino. They could see I was fawning over the fresh artichokes and made a bunch battered in crumbs and crispy fried, specialmente per me. So sweet. Certo, ho finito tutto.

Every Xmas eve morning, Mel also makes pizza dough from scratch and filled it with a light mixture of spinach and raisins. This pie-like treat is considered a 'light lunch' - the calm before the storm. Tip: some walking before dinner also helps.

I also liked the spaghetti con aragoste (lobsters) - although L said the sauce could be better. He's a real sticker with food but that's one of the many qualities that I love about him. We could discuss and debate about how to cook various ingredients. Sometimes he would describe careful steps of preparing a certain dish for me - peppered with lots of amore - and it's very sexy. OOOOh.

On Xmas Day, we played the traditonal festive game of Tombola (akin to Bingo), ideal for the young and old. Except they don't play very high stakes, so not very fun for Chinese people. Ha. I enjoyed more cugina Linda's yet soul-satisfying brodo di spinach, oily fatty pork and sausages. The pork meat was culled from the recently-slaughtered pigs on Massimo's farm and tasted very good. I had 3 helpings and gave the thumbs up to them.

Dolci (desserts) was another thing - fresh seasonal melone, roasted chestnuts, chocolate-coated spiced natale nougat, whole panettone, crumbly doughnut-like pasteria, and struffoli - tiny fried pieces of soft, porous egg pastry, formed into balls coated with honey and sprinkled with bright and colorful candied sugar and candied fruit peel. Warning: do not consume at one sitting or suffer from 10 thousand calories! (See the foto: what's the common link among the 4? They are all sooooo sweet! That's Alessia - Anna's 5-month old baby girl. She was conceived right after the wedding which I attended last year. Mamma mia!)

Lights camera act

We fired our intern last Friday. It was inevitable. We were tossing with the decision for the past 2 weeks, even at our annual potluck ALOFQ Xmas party. Talking about him always makes our blood boil but we thought hell, we could try to put up with him for 1 and half months more till end Jan'09. Anyway his lecturer's call was the last straw on the camel's back. He asked if all was ok, so we met him and found out that K has been complaining non-stop to him, the other lecturer and his friends about us. We could tell he was miserable but expected him to be more mature about it.

Even his lecturers said he has to learn to deal with the stress and empathise more with us than him. We decided with the lecturer's blessing that it was better for K to move on to another company where he might eventually like or not (and realise it's not us, but him). On Friday we broke the news to him and he seemed ok (maybe relieved?), just mummering 'Sorry I let you all down.' We said it's not personal but hope he'd see this as a positive lesson. Life moves on.

Xmas seems to be creeping up real fast - I've had my share of turkey, pork knuckle and the works at 2 Xmas parties already. And the real countdown started over the weekend to seeing L again on 20 Dicembre this sabato. Roma is flooding over from the torrents of rain and northern italia is buried under tons of snow. But we are looking forward to a wintry snug Natale and ushering the New Year with some prosecco and fireworks. Ironically, we are not sure how it'd unfold for us but we're clinging onto every hope that we could be together. C'e speranza.

I'm happy for V, who is getting hitcked to P from down under. Just today she was shrieking and I was doing the 'V-is-getting-married!-dance' in the office, as she clicked on the online ROM application and booked the date 16 March. That's the day they first met online and a year later, they are taking the vows. It's funny how things turned out. Marriage is scary but it is the logical decision once you've found that someone special to spend your life with; who's your soulmate and best friend, whom you want to travel the world, laugh and cry over everything and nothing.

Intern woes

Pop the prosecco - it's 1 Dicembre! Cool bananas cos in 3 weeks I will be on that plane back to Motherland! I've gotten most of the Xmas gifts for L's famiglia - including a durian bar from Davao for L, who's craving my spicy tom yums and curries too. Aspetta un po' caro! He said winter has finally arrived and the temperature has dropped to 2-3 degs at night and 15 degs+ in the day. Luckily my sis is lending me her glam winter jacket with a warm rabbit-fur lined collar (ok i know not v politically correct but I do eat rabbit). I've been trying to eat better these days too ever since I've started our cats on a trial raw meat diet (grazie Jan!). If I can bother with their health, what about mine?!

With all the recent health scare, I have thought twice about all the food that goes into my body. After all, we are what we eat right? My new food guide rule no.1 is to eat more vegetables and fruits (esp organic ones), and will try to stick to 3 vegetarian days in a week. I don't think I will ever give up fish and seafood, but will slowly wean myself off red meat for a start (meat production is a factor that's also contributing to the declining global climate - becos more resources such as animal feed go into it).

I also try to buy more environmentally-friendly natural products ('Yes To Carrots' is a good label, avail at Watsons) and recycle wastes including open envelopes/used mags/papers/plastic bottles/ etc. Personally I also have been carrying my own shopping bag for more than 1 year now and in the office we have been using our own lunch boxes to tah-bao food for more than 2 years now! Perseverance, my child! :)

However our new intern K needs a little lesson in this - he has been bringing in daily sandwiches packed by mommy in those plastic triangular boxes. And everytime he finishes them, he throws them away. N literally asks him to skip the boxes but I still see them on his desk. He's a tough nut to crack. Also since I've come back, I've heard nothing but complaints about him from the girls that he's an unmotivated blur sotong. I tried the 'soft approach' - being the funny, easygoing, approachable boss - but it didn't work as he continues to show a lack of initiative and enthuasiam.

One day the dam broke, V lost her cool and we lashed out at him which made him cry. I actually said 'You should learn to use your brains!' He's a little better now but we have no great expectations from him. Already we've secured a new intern from my alumni Comm Studies at NTU for next year - she seems hopeful; in fact an over-achiever who has a black belt in karate (national athlete leh, don't pray pray), who started her own online portal for the youths, partakes in theatre and charity, and has learnt Korean! Truth be said, girls make better interns because most guys can't multi-task well and are less mature at that age. It's true!