: : Italiano : :

Today is a rush day, rushing from one appointment to another. So, I ended up reaching Italiano’s late for a lunch appointment with Jackson and Chris. Still, it was worth going there.

We all ordered the set lunch which comes with a soft drink and a bowl of tomato soup. There were some tiny white flakes floating around which I think must have either come from the cream, milk or egg.

Jackson ordered a pizza margharita which came with a thin, dry but crunchy bread base. He said it was spicy but I was pouring the Tabasco sauce like mad.

Chris and I had this. Tasted a bit too rich for us because of the cream that was added into the sauce. I added some parmesan cheese as well to the dish so it came out really nice. After reading Alberto’s posting about bolognese, realised that it’s suppose to be creamy anyway! Here is the link to the authentic recipe he was referring to.

Now, this was good! Wasn’t too sweet or rich but just nice. Yummy! Better than the ones at Beccari’s.

Chris and I also had a big cup of tea which turned out to be some sort of herbal tea with peppermint inside!

Address details :

Italiano’s Pizza and Pasta

Wisma Ho Ho Lim,

No. 288, Grd Flr, Sublot 1,

Abell Road,

93100 Kuching,

Sarawak.

Tel/Fax : 082 – 411 886

Closed on Mondays

The restaurant is situated in the block where Eu Yan Sang and AirAsia’s ticketing office it. Finding parking space is a bit of a chore but not impossible. I’m keen to go back there and try other dishes as well!

: : A bit more on CNY celebrations : :

Phui : Better that we get someone to do liondance at our office! Bring better luck!

Phui : …

Now what is Chinese New Year (CNY) without the famous liondance? All little children look forward to the colourful costumes and spectacular kung fu movements and twitching eyelids as it moves up and down. Some children will cry but most will stand in awe of this dance. They would pester their parents to arrange for the liondance troup to come to the house and perform. Depending on how much one is willing to pay for the performance, one can get a longer performance. Modern day children will now pester their parents to get them VCDs showing liondance performances, especially movies of the annual lion dance competition held annually, usually at Genting. This year, I don’t know where it is being held.

Growing up in Miri, I used to see lorries carrying the troupe with the drums, gong, cymbals and costumes, travelling everywhere where there are required. They will also go to the houses of ministers as well as the rich timber tycoons and businessmen.

The stunts would include opening a mandarin orange, opening a banner and jumping up and down from a platform or a bench. It takes two people to do the dance : one is the head and the other is the butt end of the body. There is also another person who wears this huge mask of a bald headed grinning men who is out to tease the lions.

Of recent years, schoolchildren are also performing liondances as a way to collect donations. Previously, the liondances were performed by Wushu Associations and Chinese Clan associations.

There are shops selling miniature lionheads that are the favourite of children. They will bring them out and try to perform with the bigger lion performers on the day itself, much to the amusement of elders. These are usually very cheap whereas the actual liondance costumes will range in thousands of ringgits. If I remember correctly, there is a famous costumemaker either in Malacca or Ipoh. Can’t remember as it was a few years ago when I saw that particular documentary on TV.

If you want to find out more about Chinese traditions, during CNY, Renee has put up a lot of postings on it at her shiokalicious site. Have a fun read!

: : More on CNY celebrations : :

At a farewell dinner for a collegue.

Wena : How about we get some CNY banners to put up in the office? To bring us good luck for the new year.

Tay : Errr…ok ok.

At shop.

Pascale : Wah! Got so many to choose from!

Wena : Hmm… let’s go next door!

At another shop.

Tay : Ah! We buy these two. Go together one!

Wena : Ok! We take!

Left : If want to win, must win A LOT!

Right : If want to fight, die fighting lah!

Well, that’s what Tay told me it was. My other collegues at the restaurant had a good laugh about it all. We also chatted about the recent explosion that occured yesterday morning at a housing estate where illegal firecrackers were being stored. According to Pascale, it occured in the morning where it emitted one big BANG! Reading through the article, was wondering what godown meant until I found out it was the direct ‘sound’ translation of the Malay word gudang meaning warehouse.

Firecrackers is now banned in Malaysia where is a good thing as now the entire community can go to sleep easily on CNY eve. Before the ban, firecrackers can be heard from 12 a.m. until early morning, causing a lot of families to have sleepless nights. However, fireworks are still sold legally and my uncle Eric in Miri buys at least 2 boxes every year, to the delight of my young cousins.

Oh yeah, here is the zoom-in picture of the Chinese wording for the honey-lemon pomelo that I bought the other day. And yeah, it was pretty dry but sweet. Not as juicy as the normal pomelo. Oh well.

: : Traditional Chinese Engagement Announcement : :

I got Dad’s PosLaju (local post office courier service) parcel today with Jas’ and Donnie’s engagement announcement. So, it’s a long drive tomorrow as the errand gal to pass all these goodies to family members living in Kuching.

The packet of sweets that comes with the engagement notice. There were two smaller packets of candy inside, usually peanut candy. This would be the old traditional way of informing people that one is getting engage. These days, most Chinese couples would send smaller boxes of candy with the candy but my Dad didn’t like the perfumed box that came with it. I agree with him. Then again, I looooooooveee peanut candy so I’m biased.

The announcement card that is packed with the candy providing family details and the day both of them got engaged. Red is considered a colour to bring good luck and gold, properity.

This is the hard peanut candy. It’s basically peanuts coated heavily with sugar. Very sweet! But great with tea or coffee. It is packed into a plastic wrapping and then further wrapped with red wax paper.

This is my favourite, as well as Granny’s. It’s soft peanut candy that is sweetened with so much so sugar so that it doesn’t crumble that fast when removed from the mould. It literally melts in one’s mouth. Ahhhh!

The envelope containing the picture of Jas and Donnie. Mah-mah is Granny. I call her Mah-mah as it is a respectful way of addressing her according to Chinese tradition. Mah-mah in Hokkien means grandmother from the mother’s side.

Lastly, the picture from the envelope : the happy couple!

Congratulations you two!

: : Quick Post : :

So far, next Sunday’s blog get-together (sort of lah…more like me organizing a makan session) in Kuching is still not finalized. Let’s see, choices are :

– new Italian restaurant near AirAsia office in town. Lunch/Dinner? Heard from Joyce that the set menu’s are pretty okay : RM9.90 to RM23.90. Think it’s halal.

– Lunch at Carvery : lunch menu are all RM10-15 per dish except for the lunch specials which ranges from RM15-RM25, depending. Halal.

-Chinese style dining at Mukah Seafood at affordable prices considering that it’s an air-con place. Cheaper than some of the Chinese restaurants in town. Dinner, dunno whether opened for lunch. Non-halal.

Confirm going are Joyce, Jackson and his gf. To be confirmed are Gette and Min Yen and her cousin.

If you would like join us, drop me your contact details either in the comment box or at myremi@yahoo.com.

Nite people!

UPDATES : I got some instructions in the mail from a dear friend from Germany who was ‘outrage’ (haha! in a funny way) that I did not know how to make kartoffelpuffer @ potato pancakes. So, he took the trouble to persuade his wife (twice because he lost the photos from the 1st one) to make them and take pictures as well as write the instructions.

So, how about about a get-together at my place and I make some kartoffelpuffer? Need to take some pictures and see if they turn out alrite. Need to show the German chap (Hello Manfred! that he is a good teacher!

: : TGIF, Subang Jaya : :

On my last night in KL, I had dinner with my friends whom I was staying with. We went off to eat at TGIF Friday’s at Subang Parade. So, as the meals are such large portions, we shared 3 dish amongst 4 of us. Had to run to the TGIF website as I think I misplaced the receipt and forgot some of the dish names.

Haven’t had a good fish and chips in a long time. I love the tartar sauce! It’s difficult to get good tasting tartar sauce these days, I can tell you that. The waiter gave me a funny look when I asked for malt vinegar. Hahaha!

By the time I remembered to take the picture, about 3-4 pieces were already eaten. We were that hungry for food food food.

Oohh! Luv this dish as it comes with many choices and there was enough for the four of ours. See if you can spot the potato skins, fried mozzarella and buffalo wings. Dressings are sour cream & chives, marinara sauce and cheese dressing. Not sure whether the cheese is the bleu cheese dressing as mentioned on their menu online.

Had a good laugh when I saw this poster. Haha! Was wondering why it was there. Then I remembered that in the US, TGIF is a popular family restaurant and also synonymous with American-themed stuff.

After that, it was a rush to KLIA and was dropped there by my pals. Will be seeing them over Chinese New Year to pass them a soft toy I “made” from Build-A-Bear!