Mezzo Anno

The end of Marzo marked the turn of half a year since my 'self-discovery'. I didn't know if I was doing myself a favour by counting the months and making life worse as my heart bled with greater longing. What was looking up in my life and my greatest joy is mio italiano corso all'instituto. Si, adesso comincio il corso dell'elemantario 2 e il mio italiano e' migliorato ma ancora scrivo meglio di parlo la lingua. Devo parlare piu spesso ma e' difficile trovare qualcuno.

Questa settimana, vado a Bangkok per vancanza con la mia amica per festeggiare il suo compleanno(about time, perche my bum's been itching from travel lust). I know there had been reported political protests in the Thai capital leading up to the 2 April snap poll, but we had booked the flight way in advance - so we'll just take the chance. Anyway I have always been mistaken for a Thai (it's the Pan-Asian look marked by a perennial tan, big mouth and great smile!), so no problem blending in. Sawadeeeee-ka!

March also marked the birthdays of many close friends - Gary, Ferne, Andy, Jamie, Daniella - plus Alessandro and Elena in Italia. She was surprised to receive my letter and birthday card 2 weeks ago (sent 3 weeks ago before that!) while Aless would be celebrating his big 40th birthday with a house party. He said spring time had arrived and I could imagine how crisp the weather. His best friend Alberto smsed me whom Aless was trying to convince to visit me in August, so we'll see!

Chile Buddy

Fate worked in mysterious ways and last week, by some freak twist, it helped me to gain a new friend from Chile! Jessica Paola Benavides Arroyo (which means means "daughter of good") had replied to my email with a tentative 'Hi, how did you get my email?' and I replied 'Ciao, er, you're not Eka?' Apparently all this while, our emails have not reached my classmate Eka in our Italian class as the email address was wrong. So this poor girl in Chile was probably wondering what the hell was going on! In her own words, she admitted 'I was quite angry because my mail was always full of those messages but now I´m so happy.' Happy to know this 'ragazza' all the way from Singapore!

Jessica is 27, works at the bank as a cashier and lives with her 9 year-old son Benjamin, 20 year-old brother Victor, mum Ana and dad Hernan on a little Island Calbuco in southern Chile. She had studied at the British Institute of Culture in Santiago for two years so could speak very good English - which was a relief as my Spanish was limited to 'lo siente' (I'm sorry), la cuenta' (the bill), 'estupendo!' (wonderful!) and my favourite - 'donde estas la servicios?' (where is the toilet?).

Over the past few days, we exchanged info and pictures about our countries and she got me excited about the idea of backpcking in South America. There are three active volcanoes in southern Chile where she was staying - Calbuco, Villarica and Lonquimay - similar to the Aeolian islands off Sicily. Just over Saturday at Curanto, they had a cookout by stuffing a mixture of seafood and meats with hot rocks inside a hole in the ground. That reminded me of the time when we were young and my dad - ever the skilful fisherman - cooked the freshly-caught crabs by slathering them in red mud and left them to bake in a woodfire by the beach. To this day, we are still dining daily on his fresh catch! Anyway I think it was such a hoot that Jessica and I are email pals now - thousand of miles away from each other but linked by a mere mistake!

Mangiare tanto

This week, I suddenly felt a huge pang of homesickness for Italia. It didn't help that Alessandro miraculously replied to my email saying he has not received my Christmas card (merda! turned out he gave me an incomplete address) and has also text me to say he and his friends often spoke fondly of me. The skeptic in me (who also read 'He's Not That Into You') replied saying if he really wants to be with me, he can very well fly down here asap! Don't say only mah, fly here lah if you really want. Corright?

Marco and Anita, fresh from a five-week vacation in India, also emailed to say they've received my article on Barbialla Nuova and asked when I will be back to visit them. I almost sobbed out of frustration, saying soon, I hope. It'd be tricky this year as I have commited to a three-week June holiday spending some precious time with my old pal Brian and the 'gang'. But I'm setting my sights on a three-month 'borsa di studio' (scholarship) to polish la lingua italiana further at either Siena or Perugia next year, and have already 'warned' my business partners who think I'll probably stay in Italia for good this time!

For now, I could only devour updates from mates such as Lorenzo who sent me some pictures of Ciro and the estate which was covered in a thick icy blanket of snow. Oh my, I think I'd freeze my t*ts off if I were to live there! Lori will be going home to Sardinia for the splendid carnivals of Mamoiada (Mammuthones) and Oristano (Sartiglia) from 20 February to 1 March, where there is a horse competition and a procession of old masks. Benissima!

Elena had also been such a sweetheart by helping me find some information on 'appartamenti affitti' for my colleague's brother, who's going to spend 6 glorious months studying in Milano. Barely into their first honeymoon year, she and her husband Alberto are expecting a baby in Settembre! Congratulazioni, bella!

Anyway as a tribute to Italia, I cooked up a feast of my favourite dishes over the weekend to whet my appetito and here are some recipes and pictures for you to salivate over:

Classic Italian Caprese Insalata
Ingredients
1 packet of fresh buffalo mozzarella, sliced
1 large ripe tomato, sliced
1/4 cup of fresh basil leaves
Salt & fresh black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Method
1. Overlap slices of tomato with slices of mozzarella and basil leaves.
2. Sprinkle with fine salt and freshly cracked black pepper, and drizzle with olive oil. Perfetto!
Notes: Don't mess too much with this classic recipe; if you want, add some rocket leaves on the side and a twist of lemon. You can also use cherry tomatoes and chopped mozzarella for a modern presentation.

Spaghetti con granchio, pomodoro e capperi
1 cup fresh cooked crabmeat
1 large fresh peeled tomato, chopped
25g sundried tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon capers di sicilia
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon oregano, dried or fresh
1 fresh red chilli, chopped or 1 teaspoon chill flakes
Salt n black pepper to taste
3 tablespoons olive oil
Spaghetti (cook pasta in boiling salted water for 8 mins or til al dente)

Method
1. Heat olive oil over moderate heat in pan and fry garlic till fragrant.
2. Add fresh tomatoes, sundried tomatoes and capers, and fry for about 5 minutes.
3. Add oregano, chilli, crabmeat, salt and pepper to taste and cook for another 3 minutes.
4. Add the cooked spaghetti to the pan and mix well with the sauce, e mangia adesso!

Italiana in 2006

I couldn't believe it's 2006 already! The past three months had flew by since I came back and I found myself creating new resolutions and ticking one off the list already - redecorating my bedroom in the loveliest lavender shade and hand-painted floral motifs over my week-long Christmas break. With the clutter removed and 'fengshui' in order, I'm ready to embrace the new year!

Dopo natale, sono andata a Bintan, un' isola di Indonesia, per quattro giorni con mie due amiche e abitiamo a 'Mana Mana' resort. Il tempo, la spiaggia e i cibi sono bellissimi! Ora sono molto abbronzata ma mi piace il sole. Sono completo il corso 'beginner' e cominico il corso 'elementary' questo sabato. Yippee! Spero di completare i corsi presto a ritornare in Italia!

Missing miei amici

In the same week, I had dreamt of my friends Lorenzo and Katie. In the first dream, I had visited Italy again and met up with Lori, my dear friend from the 2nd farm. We hugged with joy and he was suddenly lost in a sea of sweating chiselled bodies in a kickboxing match while I cheered him on outside the ring. Marco was nowhere in sight, instead there was Francois, a French friend of mine who was a chef in Singapore! Totally bizarre!

I immediately emailed Lori and told him about it. His hilarious reply was "I hope in your dreams who don’t have take much of spank to me, but don’t worry, this morning in the mirror my face was ok." I couldn't understand what the hell he said! But according to him, it is now cold and raining heavily in Toscana. Enrica (Bologna) and Elena (Milano) also emailed me that it is snowing in the north - I can't imagine how it looks like. Anyway Lori will be working with horses on a farm near Monte Amiata at Maremma, south of Tuscany, which is truly magnificent.

Bella Katie had also written to me when she got back safely to the States. She made it to Croatia with Em, her best friend and returned to Italy in time for the olive harvest in October. Oh how I wished I was there too! She was afraid she'd forget all the Italian language and wondered if she'll fit back in. That made me feel relieved that I was not alone in this (Katie, the bad news is the pain doesn't really go away!). Sweet Ben also emailed me to say he's harvesting grapes in Emilia-Romagna and that he'd be going to Nepal after all. Wow - you go, Ben!

I've just finished my travel story on my white-truffle hunting experience in San Miniato and it felt good to relive the memory again. I can't wait to see it in print and share the article with the folks at the Barbialla Nuova farm.

Staying On Course

This was unbelieveable but I actually stayed away from cigarettes since my last stick at the end of September! Si, sono fermata fumare perche voglio essere bella e giovanni per una moltissima volta! (Yes, I've stopped smoking because I want to be beautiful and young for a very very long time!) On the flip side, the withdrawal had me craving for anything dolce - cioccolato and gelato were the main culprits responsible for my thickening waist. Just yesterday, I flexed my 'gelato tummy' to my best mate in a retail changing room where we were trying on numerous dresses. And let's just say she wasn't impressed and laughed her head off at my jiggly belt-and-underwear 'Wonder Woman' look. Still we managed a few great bargains and I paraded in them for my gatto but he seemed quite nonchalant.

Adamant to lose my extra tyre, I took my set of wheels (bicycle lah) around my regular haunt Pasir Ris park after my pranzo di pasta alla verdura and made it my mission to also capture the beauty in my surroundings. The rainforest canopy was truly bellissimo in the dying light and the sunset blazed a crimson trail across the 7pm evening sky as I rode back sweaty and happy.

Life Goes On...

I never thought I'd say this but I'm a pathetic sentimentalist, made worse by my perfectionist nature. Since my return, I have tasked myself with filling in the blanks on my blog - afraid that I might miss out any trivial encounters or dialogue that kept reeling in my head. I must be going mad.

Forgoing the reopening party at Zouk, the nerd in me slept early so I could be fresh as a daisy for my first beginner Italian class on Saturday - imagine me, on a Saturday! I was so excited that I was embarking on my journey to mastering the language - I couldn't wait for the day when I could actually hold a discourse on sfogliatelle in Italiano! In the morning, I grinned at the bus stop ad featuring the leaning tower of Pisa and took the tagline 'An Open Mind Changes Everything' as a positive sign.

The class was made up of 9 ladies, each learning la lingua for various personal reasons. Being the smart alec who couldn't wait to converse with an Italiano again, I answered the tutor "Perche mi piace tutto dell 'Italia" when she asked us why we took up the course. At home, I'd hone it further by having imaginary conversations with my gatti to their repeated frustrated meows. They probably thought I was going bonkers.

The rest of the weekend was spent perfecting my role as a domestic goddess - gardening, sewing, watching DVDs and cooking, then relishing a big bowl of pasta in bed reading my Cosmopolitan mag while the cat daydreamt. I wondered if he was also fantasising about my faraway homeland too...

Feeling bloated as a whale, I took my bicycle for a ride around the park on Sunday and my mom suggested we see what my dad caught at sea (he's a retired full-time fisherman and a very good one at that!). Somehow watching him reel in the nets reminded me of the fishermen in Sicily and when the sun set, I realised how beautiful it could be in Singapore...

Gnocchi Time

While grappling with my inner turmoil and transformation, I also indulged in a healthy dose of nostalgia over the weekend by whipping up an Italian feast for my closest amici. The fresh gnocchi made with local potatoes turned out to be a delicious success, soaking up the sauce studded with sun-dried pomodoro from Sicily. There were also the bruschettas topped with Marco's inspired recipe of tuna, tomatoes and olives, accompanied by some fresh rocket salad. And we licked up the last bit of decadent cakes from a local Italian cafe and munched on the Tuscan Cantucci biscotti dipped in Vin Santo sweet wine which I lovingly hand-carried back... ahh.

Here's the gnocchi recipe (for 4 persons) which was traded from Iris at Casa Lanzarotti in exchange for the formulas to my agar-agar and chicken rice chilli sauce. For those who are not familiar with gnocchi (pronounced 'niok-kee), it is a pasta made from potatoes or semolina. For more info, you can visit this useful link http://italianfood.about.com/od/gnocchi/

Iris' Glorious Gnocchi
Ingredients
800g potatoes (use hardy local potatoes for best results)
1 egg
1 tablespoon butter (optional but butter makes everything taste better!)
150g plain flour

Method
1. Boil potatoes till cooked (about 20mins), peel and mash them finely while they are warm
2. Add egg and butter to the warm mash, and mix them together with hands (based on my experience, you can add a pinch of salt at this point to make the gnocchi tastier)
3. Add flour slowly in batches and mix it into the dough till it is not too sticky to roll
4. With clean hands dusted with flour, roll a small batch of dough into a thin (thumb-width) length on a floured surface and cut it up into 2cm pieces with a butter knife
5. Be sure to separate the gnocchi and place them on non-grease baking paper. At cooking time, all you have to do is slip the gnocchi into a pot of boiling water (add some salt) and scoop them up when they float to the surface
*Note: It is best to cook the gnocchi fresh but you can also keep them refridgerated or even frozen untill cooking time.

Ready... Action!
- It is molto importante to prepare the sauce before boiling the gnocchi! Like they say, the pasta doesn't wait for you, you have to wait for the pasta!
- There are a lot of sauces which you can try for gnocchi but you can't go wrong with these deliciously simple, foolproof traditional recipes:
(A) Basic tomato sauce - just fry garlic, onions, chopped tomatoes and basil
(B) Throw in minced meat and even bacon to (A) and voila! - a ragu sauce
(C) Sage and butter sauce - just add chopped fresh sage to holt melted butter
(D) Pesto sauce with pinenuts - add toasted pinenuts to pesto sauce
(E) Try a thick rich cheese sauce made from Gorgonzola (only for cheese lovers!)

A Settling Affair

I knew it was going to be hard to get accustomed to my old daily routine but I didn't know it was going to be this difficult. The first week at work was a blur as my head reeled like a 24-hour movie marathon projecting aching memories of the friends and beautiful scenery in Italy which haunted me day and night. My drifting mind kept replaying the scenes torn from my travel journal, the familiar Italian conversations and laughs, the crumbly sweet taste of my favourite sfogliatella, how the light filtered through the clouds shifting across the amazing Sicilian sky and even the cloying sulphuric smell of the bubbling volcanic mud bath at my feet.

Home was the same but I felt different. My bedroom had gotten smaller, or maybe my universe just got bigger. Something was missing and I couldn't put my finger on it. Maybe I had grown used to the thrilling life on the road or addicted to the freshness of each new unpredictable day. Maybe I just needed to open my eyes and seek adventure beyond the daily grind here. Maybe I should get a makeover or implants. I was so desperate for a challenge that the first thing I did was to quit smoking and flicked the last Italian cigaretto stub from my sister's bedroom window, watching it floating in the breeze 13 floors down eventually becoming a tiny speck on the green grass patch.

Just give yourself some more time to settle in, Carl said. But I told her I don't want to settle in. I don't want to 'settle', full-stop. I could feel change creeping up on me, devouring me from inside slowly like a maggot eating away the rot and giving way to a fresh lease of life. It's funny how we all go on living each day but at the same time without realising we also die a little everyday. In the same breath, we also leave a bit of ourselves behind at each passing stage and gain a new perspective of ourselves and our universe... I guess it's life in motion. It's amazing too that I went to look for myself in a strange land and I found my voice in a foreign tongue that I never thought I'd speak.

Grazie Mille

For those who had been following me on my solo quest, I thanked you for your fellowship as I was finally home, snug in the familiar comfort and warmth of my family and friends in Singapore!

What started out as a calling and seemingly impossible dream had became a fantasy realised and words couldn't describe my state of elation and accomplishment. When people asked me how the trip was, I just flashed my toothsome, Mediterranean-tanned grin and pronounced I had the best time of my life.

Being on the road had been so rewarding for me personally and I never felt so empowered, rejuvenated and complete. I was glad I took up this personal test and to my credit, I'd probably passed with flying colours if there was a way to grade it! The solo journey also made me realised a few things that I'd like to share with the intrepid travellers out there and hopefully inspire others to chase their dreams in life.

- If you're unsure or lost, don't be afraid to stop and ask for directions as help is always at hand
- If things don't go accordingly to plan, drink a glass of vino to get over the hiccup and pop a large dose of ecstatic optimism because things will always turn out bene (well)!
- Travel light because there's only so much you can carry on your back for so long
- Catch your 40 winks so that you can relish every waking moment because beauty might just pass you by if you just look but don't see
- There's little point in turning back; why knock on the door of nostalgia when you had the window of opportunity?
- Switch off the TV and shut out the noise; listen to your inner voice and indulge your alter ego because no one knows what's best for you except you (yes that's Carl talking!)
- You might think you're all alone at times but you're just travelling solo; so far from home but never felt so close to your family, friends and the kindred souls sent from above
- The journey is more important than the destination in most cases; never discount pitstops which might become fullstops
- And lastly life is full of surprises and possibilities; nothing's out of reach from Saturnia and Spoleto, to Sicily and space! So sail forth with valour as your armour, joy in your heart and faith as your wings...

To all the kind and generous people who completed my trip and made it truly amazing, grazie mille. To my family and friends, I heard your prayers and blessings which kept me going. You've all opened my heart, fed my soul and healed my spirit!

Last but not least, to Carl who has stood by me all the while, who pushed me on when I was weak and tired, who lent me strength in moments of fears and doubts, who nagged and protected me when I strayed, who reminded me of who I am but urged me to explore and grow, who listened when I whined and sobbed, who rejoiced and teased when I finally spoke my first Italian words, who loved me wholeheartedly so much that in return I have so much to give for life.

Here's a poem dedicated to all the beautiful souls I met in Italy; I wrote it on the long train ride from Sicily to Napoli as the last sunrays lit up the deserted Calabrian coast. Stay tuned as I would be updating my blog with more adventures, recipes and beautiful pictures within the next month!


~Paola Alessandro~
I couldn't take my eyes off her
Her skies were as blue as me
Her waters so luminous and shimmery
That it hurt just to even see
I spoke to her in tentative whispers
And she heard me slowly but surely
For she satiated my curious thoughts
Then answered my longing with a kiss
I breathed in her sweet perfume
A lingering hint of rosemary and jasmine
So comforting I was afraid to exhale
And forget how divine life tasted at that moment
She held my chin and spirit up as I wept
On that last perfect summer afternoon
I didn't want to let go of her, not now
But she just smiled 'it's not forever'
And promised 'ci vediamo dopo' with a wink.

~Carl 29/9/2005 (Copyright)