My First Xmas

Well, this is my first Xmas here, I still enjoy the same although it did not snow. I was so very excited triggered by the atmosphere here which is so much different from Singapore..

Few weeks back, we have been rushing up and down getting presents, the xmas tree, candies, chocolates and last the xmas decorations for both the house & the tree.

Our frends have gone to Paris for the weekend, we did not join as we have our own programs. On Xmas eve, Mr L brought me to a famous Japanese rest Toro, you will love the same I do if you have a love for Jap food.

We join my in-laws and their frends to church for the mass and then headed home at almost 2am to open our presents we made for each other :)

Every year its a tradition that we go to Robert's house for long lunch on both Xmas & St. Stephen day.

Here, I share with you guys some shots of my xmas experience here on Dec 25:-

We get ready the gifts we got for my in laws, the kids - Elisa & Nicole, Matteo, Robert as his birthday falls on Dec 28..

I have cooked some food to bring along to the pot luck lunch..I decided to cook some Asian food since they love it so much..and they are gone off the plates in 5 mins..

Teriyaki Chicken

Spring Rolls

Below are pics of our lunch at Rob's house, and look at the looong table which sits around 16 people...

Table full of food & wines...

Of coz, lets not forget the small table meant for the kids - Matteo, Nicole, Elisa (From left)

After the long lunch, now its time for the kids (including us :p) to open the presents: -

Matteo looking at his Lego present

Elisa, we got her all Hello Kitty gifts, she has a floating HK soap, a watch, a soap dispenser. See below..

Look at her very happy face, ahhhhh so nice is all that comes out from her mouth...

She is such a sweet lady I came to know and she keep insisting she wanna take a pic with us...

How I enjoy my Xmas here, how about your Dec 25?

Our Home Sweet Home

Eversince we moved into our house in Aug, we have been very busy going in & out of Ikea, home furnishing stores in order to finish setting up our house before Xmas's arrival.

Today, we have finally complete it and enjoying every sip of it in view of the big efforts we both put into..

I know we have promised lots of people pics of our home and I guess they are getting very very impatient..as good thing always come last, right? :p

Let's begin :-

Our main door with a newly bought carpet

Next up is our living room..














This TV cabinet takes up 30% of the room space and wonder if you notice that 47" TV right in the center?? Tht's Mr L's new "wife"

Our dining table caters mainly for guests..

At the entrance, we have this consol table which Mr L has chosen from Ikea ..

This is our guest room. We have chosen white for both the sofa bed and the library shelf..you know we actually spent 3-4 hours in setting each of them up..but its all worth...

Behind those curtains is the balcony where we hang our laundry and enjoy the sun during the summer.

Mmm..this is our cozy bedroom, and the painting right behind us was a wedding gift from frends...
Big big mirror on the wall, am I the prettiest of all ? :)

Just beside our bedroom is the..

Toilet. The word small is just perfect to desrcibe our toilet :)

Here's our kitchen.. White again :) Here I can say 98% of people have a TV in their kitchen which I can never understand why... :) Mr L told me that I can watch it when I am cooking, like as if I can handle that..

Here's our big american fridge, which very few people here own one..everyone who come to our house are so envious of it..they were pretty shock and said the food inside feeds 4 and not for 2 !! :)

Finally here's my working station and eating station for Mr L..well he do offer some help at times :p

We are really so proud of ourselves in having this capability to set like a warm, cozy home all by ourselves..

Who's the next guest after my parents ? :)

The Dead-Tired Week before Xmas

It has been a busy week for us as Mr L is out of office distributing the Xmas gifts to his main clients since Mon and will only end tomorrow and me working my ass off in office, so overloaded with shipments, everyone is booking due to Xmas is coming next week :(

We reach home almost at 8.30pm everyday and still have yet to eat and shower..so we has rushed our dinner these days with pizzas, or simply some pasta. We simply have so little time for each other as we are both dead tired by then.

Also, finalizing the Xmas tree since we always have different ideas, wrapping up the gifts and some little deco to our house..

Yesterday, we both have a craving for Pasta al Proscuitto cotto & Funghi (with cream & cheese of coz)...I remembered Mr L singing his praise for this dish when I first try cooking it...so I did again yesterday, it was so awesome (maybe we are damn hungry i guess, anything goes... ! :)

Here is the recipe to all who loves pasta and (to my agent frend Adeline in Taiwan), you can try it out :-

Pasta al Proscuitto cotto e funghi

Ingredients at a glance

Ingredients Serve 2:

Pasta - 100 g of Fusili (can be replaced with any type)

4 pcs of White button mushroom (can increase as u wish)

6 slices of Proscuitto cotto ham (you can replace with bacon)

1 tbsp of cooking cream

30ml of milk

2 cloves of garlic (Chopped)

Fresh chopped parsley

2 tbsp of Olive Oil

1 slice of Cheddar cheese

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 tsp of salt to boil pasta

2 tbsp of white wine

Method:

1) Boil a pot of water. When boiling, add salt & pasta and cook till al dente.

2) When the pasta is halfway cooking. Heat up the olive oil in a pan.

3) Add garlic and stir for 3 mins (but do not brown it)

4) Add in mushroom and stir till water runs dry

5) Add in the ham and stir a while. Do not overcook.

6) Add the white wine and stir till it evaporates.

7) Put in the parsley and season with salt & pepper.

8) Now, we can add in the milk and cream, let it boil for a while.

9) When about to serve, add in the cheddar cheese and let it melt

10) Add in the pasta into the sauce and stir.

11) Serve hot

Hint: Pasta is best eaten hot. Hence, always ensure the sauce and pasta are done at almost the same time.

Still hot in the pan...yum yum...

Tonight, we are having something quick again...hamburgers & french fries ::::)))

Feel so Good .. !

It took me 4 months to make this decision to get a new image as I love my long hair very much.

A lot of friends are surprise when I told them I wanna get my hair cut...

Definitely it feels so much lighter and less hassles in blow drying my hair everynight after shower. It becomes even more difficult as winter approaching.

What you will see after I finished blowing my hair is a bathroom floor full of my hairs and nothing else and its really a chore...

When I tell my hubby I wanna cut my hair...he was like.... '' Thank god...u finally decided to do that after 4 mths ??? '' He like my long hair but he says hair does grow u koe, u will have ur long hair again by next Spring ...

So here are the before & after pics...

Before: Taken in Sep 2008 @ Porto Antico


Taaa daaa !! The after...how do I look?? It took me huge huge courage to get some fringe..Pic taken in our guest room..














By the way, I promised as well some pics from the weekend market pic we went on Sunday called Mercatino al Brignole...we did not manage to take any pics as it was too dark and crowded and the pics turn out sucks... so here are some from Flickr.com...the below pics will tell :)



Tell me how is it possible to walk through this crowd...we are both saying 'scusarmi..scusarmi' all the time..means excuse me, excuse me..













This stall sells the most beautiful Xmas deco stuff we can find throughout the market, all those little little and very detailed decoz...







This stall is the most crowded stall of all..u name it, they have it..btw we bought our wreath here after we found nothing interesting @ Ikea ...




At the end of it, we got so hugry and cold, just wanna get out of the crowd. Also, we are pretty late for the football match & pizza session at Marco's house (Mr L's cousin)..

Cannot Wait For Xmas to Arrive....

Time seems to fly so slow especially when we are all so eager waiting for X'mas to arrive. This will be my first winter Christmas, it will be even better if there is snow...

Finally this weekend, we shall start our X'mas shopping since Dec 08 is a national religous holiday here..

I can tell you I am so excited that tomorrow we will be going to Ikea, there will be a super huge crowd there and Mr L will be more worried than excited as his wife will make him broke...

Call me a 'mountain tortoise' all you want, but if you are here you will be like me, so many choices right in front of your eyes and you cant help not to put them into your trolley :)

Will take this holiday to set up the X'mas tree, getting X'mas gifts for everyone and also cut my hair...

Yes...I am cutting my hair for sure now, as it's too long (almost touching my butt) and blow drying every night is a mess..further I can have a new image..so why not?

On Monday, there is a X'mas market nearby our house and Mr L say its a must to go as there are chocolates fun fairs, candies, biscuits & cookies made just meant for the season and its a waste not to go and take a look (even better to buy) !! :p

Stay tune for the next blog as I will update with pictures...

P/s: Beng Keong, I know you are very excited already, so start saving $$ so you can come to Italy and visit jie jie & Uncle L...

Love u all...muuuaaaacckkkkk!!!