: : 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.