Il Ponte dell'Immacolata

Next will be a short work week and we're all looking forward to it.

Monday, Dec. 7, is St Ambrogio Day, celebrating Milan's patron saint - Saint Ambrogio, of course.

Tuesday, Dec. 8, is the Feast of Immaculate Conception, a national holiday.

And that's about all I know about that. Which isn't much. But what I do know is that I don't have to go to work. La la la!

At first we thought of making use of the glorious 4 day weekend and going off on a trip somewhere. It's only a few hours drive to the Italian Riviera, or what about visitng the Christmas markets in Switzerland or Austria?

But the reality is that we have lots of chores to take care off around the house. Like cleaning. And organizing. And going shopping to complete the living room, chairs for the dining room, etc, etc... And for S, there is the alarm system to finish putting up, the lighting fixture to install... And that tree we got last night at Ikea? We still need to rescue it from the garage where we left it, and then it needs decorating.

And so this long weekend/ponte (bridge, as Italians love to call their long weekends) we will be in the neighborhood.

Oh, and the Fiera Artigiana makes its annual appearance starting this weekend. I first visited it during my first visit to Milan back in 2005 (wow, has it really been 4 years already?) and it's always fun. Lots and lots of booths in halls divided by the different regions in Italy, and then there's also the 'Mondo' (world) region. It's always fun to wander around looking at different crafts and products, sample delicacies, and not forgetting a stop at the Sicilia area for my favorite arancinis. Word of advice, try to visit in the morning or on weekdays to avoid the crazy crowds.

Let me leave you with a picture from our island getaway just a few weeks ago. These two were my friends' 4-year-old kids - they were so cute playing together hand-in-hand the whole time. The beach, sand, and the waves... it's the opposite of the weather here but doesn't that just conjure up the beautiful image of holiday?

Have a great weekend everyone!

What's Up Doc?

So today I made it to the doctor's office for the first time here.

The nice thing was that it was exactly 2 minutes drive from our home. And the visit was free. I didn't spend a dime.

S accompanied me since this was my first time. We rang the door bell, was buzzed inside, and found ourselves in an empty waiting room. After a couple minutes, the doctor opens the door to his visiting room and beckons us inside. He entered my details into a computer and asked a couple questions such as any major illness, medications, allergies, etc. No receptionist, nurse or any other staff that I could see.

We tell him about my persistent cough and then I hear him say, "spogliarsi", which literally means undress. I was a little taken aback. What? Here? Right now? And what exactly do I have to take off? Yeah, it was a rather awkward and embarrassing moment. I was used to the privacy curtain, gown, etc... I mean, I was still sitting on the chair in front of his desk. And anyway, don't they usually just stick the stethoscope under your shirt and that's that?

Anyway, long story short, I'm there with my top off, while S and the doc start chatting about the differences between the American and Italian medical systems. I cleared my throat a couple times. Hello, it's starting to get a little chilly over here. :-o

He does his stethoscope thing, looks down my throat, some more chit chat and finally then I'm out the door with a printed prescription for antibiotics from the doc. It was ok but I can't say I like visiting the doctor. Hopefully my cough will go away real quick!

PJ: Unique Seafood

We had just arrived in KL the day before and had dinner plans with two of my best friends, YF and WP. They had agreed to be our MCs for our wedding dinner (you're the best, girls!!) so we were supposed to go over the proceedings. But first, FOOD.

We hop into YF's car and she announces SEAFOOD tonight! We are thrilled! :-0 Next thing we know, we're staring at a whole wall of tanks filled with an assortment of live shrimp, fish, crabs, shellfish...


It doesn't get any fresher than this!


The guys go over to inspect dinner...


YF expertly does the ordering and soon we were digging in. Butter prawns!


Crab done two ways: salted yolk and chili, really yummy and meaty.



Then the surprise dish of the evening - snails!


Yeah, we were a little horrified but YF assured us they were yummy.


Here's WP and J playing with their food - the insides of the snails.


Actually they tasted pretty decent once you ignored the fact they were snails. We had so much food - also veggies, fried noodles and fried rice, and it was all very good. The waitress actually had to tell YF 'enough' when she was ordering.

And there was a lot of laughing. Not sure what was in the food but we were really rolling with infectious laughter that night. We didn't even have any wine, just chinese tea. The other tables were looking at us funny but heck, we were having so much fun! And somehow WP and YF managed to get the bill too (bad girls!). Oh, and we did spend about 5 whole minutes in the 'working' part of the dinner, where YF pulled out prewritten scripts from past MC-ing duties.

When can we do this again? ;-o