Being home

I love being home. The best thing is that it hasn’t been ALL.THAT.HOT. Perhaps it’s due to the monsoon season. The days are balmy, and it tends to rain in the evenings. I love it. The family and I spent Christmas back in Batu Pahat at my uncle’s home. Everytime I see an uncle from my dad’s side, I get a little “jolted” by the similarities between them and my late papa. This time around I saw my eldest uncle, and he looked frail, and my thoughts immediately veered to my father. It’s not like it is a bad thing, I get a little glimpse of papa here and there.

 

Of course, being in Malaysia means EATING. Funnily enough, either my tastebuds have changed, or I’ve just been to all the wrong places. Food doesn’t seem as good. With the exception of  THE Best Soto In The World in Batu Pahat, no other food came close. I swear I must have mumbled OMG Sedap, or OMG damn nice or something else along those lines while I was slurping the soto.

 

I’ll let the pictures do the talking

 

 

Indian Rojak at Kedai Makanan Om, Taman Emas, Batu Pahat. YUMS.

 

 

 

 

Indian mee goreng at Kedai Makanan Om, Taman Emas, Batu Pahat. I used to eat at this then stall (now shop) when it was at Gunung Soga, and it tastes about the same as it used to, except, back then you could find pieces of sotong (squid) in it! Of course, with rising prices these days, I’d be lucky to find any seafood in there.

 

 

 

THE BEST soto in the whole wide world. If you tell me that there’s another place that sells better soto than this, then I say you’re wrong. Soto doesn’t get any better than this. The broth is thick and oh-so-flavourful, and the chunks of beef are tender and just about melts in your mouth. This place also sells lontong and laksa Johor, but since it was only me and my sister eating that day, we couldn’t order lots to share. You can also find other drool worthy Johorean delicacies at this stall called Warung Mat Marican that is just by the roundabout. This stall has earned the moniker BP Hilton due to it’s sometimes higher-than-average prices But I don’t mind paying a little more, because I’ve never found another place that sells soto, laksa, lontong or tauhu sumbat this drool worthy!

 

 

 

Chili pan mee from Super Kitchen, Kota Damansara. Quite good.

 

 

 

My brother-in-law’s favourite butter & kaya toast from a nondescript kopitiam in Ayer Hitam, Johor.

 

 

 

The shop was almost closed when we got there, but they still served us. Ah, I wonder if these old-style kopitiams will remain for years to come, or will they all turn into those fashionably modern airconditioned, franchised “kopitiams” that try to replicate kopitiams of yore and are a dime a dozen, springing up like mushrooms all over town?

 

 

 

Ayer (Air) Hitam in Johor, haven for house deco items and wedding related paraphernalia.

 

 

For some strange reason, one can also get soft toys in Ayer Hitam for really cheap!

 

 

That would be me pottering about in a nursery. Ahh, I wish I had a landed property with a nice big garden.

 

 

You see that spiky palm tree in the pot? That’s a cycas plant. Papa used to be crazy over this plant. We had loads of them back home in our family house in Batu Pahat. It fetches quite a high price and is supposedly a good-luck plant.

 

 

I was admiring a heliconia plant. I happen to know quite a number of plant names simply because my dad was in this line when he was still alive. In fact, he used to drill the names of plants into us when we were little, and sometimes, we would rattle them off “Hey pa look! Lots of dracaena/lantana/petunias growing here” *smug face*

 

 

 

The family picking out pots and mama getting all wide eyed and excited at the variety of plants. She has such green fingers, just like my dad. Our apartment balcony is filled with plants, and they are all thriving. I even have kaffir lime and cili padi growing healthily!

 

 

 

I absolutely LOVE this plant, water hyacinth or Bunga Kiambang. Aren’t they the prettiest things you have seen?

 

 

 

 

Ok, I don’t know what this flower is called, but it’s so pretty, and has that retro feel about it.

 

And of course, our national flower, the hibiscus.

 

 

So, as you can see, I’m having a pretty good time back home. There truly is no place like home

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Prawn Mee / Prawn Noodle Recipe

Having been away from home for 2 years now I sometimes really, really crave Malaysian food. I realized that most times, it is the hawker food that I miss most. Prawn mee, curry mee, char kuay teow has got to be at the top of this list. In Johor and Kuala Lumpur where I lived in Malaysia, this dish is known as Prawn Mee. Up north in Penang, it is more commonly known as Penang Hokkien Mee.

Prawn Mee

Prawn Mee

I literally took months, if not a year, to prepare for this dish. You see, the secret in making a bowl of prawn mee that packs a real punch lies in the stock. And of course, it wouldn’t be called prawn mee if it doesn’t use prawns for the stock And thus, I painstakingly collected prawn shells and prawn heads each time I bought prawns, which was not often as they’re quite expensive. I saved the shells and heads in a ziploc bag in the freezer compartment, and they kept well. A few weeks back, the ziploc bag finally reached maximum capacity, and thus it was time for me to start on my prawn mee. It was good timing really, as it is now summer, and the tiny Chinese shop happens to sell kangkung (water convulvulus) that is called for in a bowl of prawn mee.

Sauteeing sambal at the front, boiling shrimp stock at the back

Condiments for prawn mee

I used RasaMalaysia’s recipe and I was quite happy with the outcome.

Stock ingredients

1 ziploc bag of shrimp heads and shells

15 cups of water (reduced to about 12-13 cups of water after hours of boiling and simmering)
2-3 pieces of rock sugar or to taste
700 grammes of pork ribs (blanched)
Salt to taste

Chili Paste

I used the chilli paste that I made here but I added a handful of pounded dried prawns to the oil before sauteeing the chili paste.

Toppings

250 grammes lean pork meat (boiled and sliced thinly)
300 grammes prawns (shelled and deveined)
2 or 3 hard-boiled eggs (shelled and quartered)
Some fried shallot crisps (store-bought or homemade)

Others

500 grammes yellow noodles (scalded) – I used dried kuayteow sticks as I cannot find yellow noodles here
1 pack of rice vermicelli (scalded)
Some kangkung or water convolvulus (scalded)
Some bean sprouts (scalded)

Method

1.Heat up the wok and add cooking oil.

2. Add in the pounded dried prawns. When fragrant, add in the chili paste and stir till oil separates from the paste.

3. Dish up and set aside. On the same unwashed wok, add in a little oil and cook the raw shrimp topping. Add in a little chili paste, sugar, and salt. Fry the shrimp until they are very slightly charred. Dish up, let cool and slice them into halves. (I prefer mine whole).

4. Add 15 cups of water into a pot and bring it to boil. I used my 5-quart Le Creuset for this.

5. Add in all the shrimp heads and shell and simmer on low heat for about 3 hours or longer until the stock becomes cloudy and packs a punch.

6. Strain the prawn heads and shells using a sieve. Remove all visible foam or sediment.

7. Bring the stock to a boil again and add in the chili paste to preference. If you like it spicy, add in more.

8. Add in the blanched pork ribs and let it continue to simmer for another 2 hours.

9. Add rock sugar/salt to taste.

10. To serve, place some noodles, kangkung, bean sprouts in a bowl. You may choose to add the pork ribs too. Ladle the yummy stock over. Top with meat slices, quartered eggs, prawns and fried shallot crisps.

11. Serve immediately with chili paste as a condiment.

 

 

Phew! Sounds like a lot of work? It is! But totally worth it if you have the time. The HB and I ate till we were like beached whales that night. The recipe above yields enough for about 4 portions. We had prawn mee again the following day

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Goodies from Malaysia.

 

The hubby had been away for 2 months and he got home last week. He was in Malaysia and Japan for work, and next week he flies to Malaysia for work again. The lucky bugger.

I had emailed my mum a long list of goodies I’d wanted from Malaysia, 90% food related. The hubby kept grumbling saying that my mum had given him A LOT of stuff, but I took it with a huge pinch of salt, as the dear guy has a penchant for getting stressed up easily, him being law-abiding and all that Actually I can see him getting stressed out already, reading this LOL He called me from the airport and said that his luggage was overweight by 8kg! He was travelling on Business Class and was entitled to 40kgs, and it ended up being 48kg. Then again, he had some heavy tools too. When the hubby got home and unpacked, I literally burst into a fit of giggles and was giggling away even in the bathroom, with tears literally streaming down my cheeks. So.much.stuff. There was A LOT of goodies, it was better than Christmas, no kidding. The pictures below do not include some nice pajamas, tops, Nose sandals, bag that mum/sister bought.

Malaysian Goodies - Pacific Clams, 2 bottles of acar, Asam!

 

I just love the juxtaposition of the picture above. I was thinking how the placement of the food genuinely reflects the Malaysian me – Malay, Chinese and Indian deep inside. There’s kicap manis, Bah Kut Teh herbs, Kuah Masak Merah, Sambal Tumis, Linghams chili sauce, Ghee Hiang sesame oil, cencalok, and that partly hidden bottle with the blue cap contains……

FRIED BITTERGOURD!!!

Fried bittergourd @ pavaka

 

Boy oh boy do I miss this. I never fail to order it together with banana leaf rice. The hubby has never seen nor tasted this before, so I’m gonna cook some curry tonight and have this. Yums!

I realized that there aren’t any pictures of the leafy goodies my mum gave; pandan, curry leaves, kaffir lime leaves. I’m already thinking of what else to “order” as the hubby leaves for Malaysia again next Monday. Apart from galangal and lemongrass, I can’t quite think of anything else. Hmmm. Must.go.brainstorm now

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Nasi Lemak and Sambal Udang (Prawn Sambal) Recipe

 

I don’t know how the foodies do it. But I can honestly say that I make an awful food blogger. When I cook, I usually forget to take pictures. Or when I do remember, I am usually so caught up with making sure I’m not late with our meals that I rush and end up taking horrible pictures.

 

And don’t even get me started on taking pictures of the finished product. Once the food is ready, all I can think of is E-A-T! So much for garnishing the food, taking pictures of food with good lighting, good angles, and not to forget that all important little details like a placemat perhaps, or a spoon artistically resting by the side of the plate. Nahhh ahh. Doesn’t work for me. I just wanna TUCK IN I guess that explains why I am no famous food blogger, or even famous blogger for that matter

 

It was a little different a few weeks back. I was all gung-ho about preparing a really decadent meal. I had me some fresh sambal, so naturally, I made Nasi Lemak with My Mum’s Best Sambal Udang with a side serving of fried chicken.

 

Nasi Lemak & Sambal Udang

 

Ingredients

Rice

1 cup rice

Thumb-sized ginger

2 screwpine leaves (pandan leaves)

5-6 fenugreek seeds (biji halba)

70-80ml coconut milk (about half a can)

 

Sambal

1 big onion, sliced into thick rings (optional)

500 grams prawns, cleaned

Sambal tumis (refer to my recipe HERE)

 

Other ingredients

2 boiled eggs, halved

1/2 cup ikan bilis (dried anchovies)

1 small cucumber (cut as desired; whole slices, halved or quartered)

 

Method

1. Wash rice as usual. Add coconut milk, some water, fenugreek, ginger and screwpine leaves. (I cannot find screwpine leaves here, so I substituted with 2 shallots, sliced for aroma). Cook rice.

 

2. Cook the sambal as instructed in my previous post HERE on a SLOW fire. The trick to a good sambal is to keep eyeballing (agak-agak) and watch that it does not dry out or burn. If it is too dry, add a little water at a time. Let it simmer on low heat.

 

3. Add in onion slices.

 

4. Taste as you go along. Sambal should turn a deep, dark red and the oil should separate from the paste at the sides.

 

5. When sambal has turned a dark red, and onion slices are soft, add in prawns and stir to incorporate.

 

6. Cook for another few minutes till prawns are fully cooked. Switch off fire.

 

7. Fry anchovies, boil eggs, slice cucumbers.

 

8. Scoop up rice and serve with sambal udang, anchovies, egg and cucumber.

 

Tips I learnt from my mum

1. Low heat is your best friend. Patience is the key. Cook this over a small fire for a long time and you will come up with an awesome sambal. FYI, I cooked this sambal for about 1.5 hours over low heat to get that deep red colour. My mum calls it “masak sampai tua” , if I remember correctly, that is. Translated, it means “cooked till old”

 

2. Always, always taste as you go along, and use your instincts. If paste is too dry, add water. If too wet, turn up the heat a little so that the water evaporates.

 

3. A little extra sugar won’t hurt. You’d be amazed by the difference in taste.

 

Frankly, I have made nasi lemak a few times now, and this is the first time that I am truly pleased with the outcome, hence this blog post. Am especially pleased with the sambal. In my humble opinion, good sambal is always a dark red and thick in consistency. Just the way I like it. Not fun cleaning up all the sambal splatters on the stove though. It’s quite a bit of work, nasi lemak is, but SO worth the while

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Sambal tumis (Sauteed Chili Paste) Recipe

 

You know you’re a true blue Malaysian when you go all out and try to replicate the food from home, notwithstanding the dire lack of ingredients. Unlike the lucky Malaysians in London and US, it is much, MUCHHHH harder to get Asian food and ingredients in Italy. I turn green whenever I read blogs like RasaMalaysia , in her case, a Malaysian living in US. Whenever she feels a craving for food such as Mee Goreng (Fried Yellow Noodles) or Loh Bak or Assam Laksa, all she needs to do is go to the Asian Store, presumably in China Town, and she can get her yellow noodles, tofu, daun kesum (polygonum leaves), lemongrass etc.

 

Poor ol’ me does not have a China Town to go to I cannot get tofu, lemongrass, yellow noodles, belacan, curry powder etc here. The nearest relatively well-stocked Asian store is in Bologna, about 45 minutes away by car, and even then, they do not have most of the things I need/crave for.

 

So what does a girl like me do?

 

I hoard.

 

When I flew back from Malaysia in May, I bought and packed two BIG packs of dried chili to be made into chili boh for sambal tumis. I absolutely love my sambal. My suitcase was 30% clothes and 70% food.

 

And the past few days were spent deseeding, soaking, blending, packing the chili. I packed them into little freezer bags so that I can easily defrost each bag (small quantity) as and when I need it.

 

Chili Boh - to be made into Sambal Tumis

 

Ingredients

About 200grams dried chili, deseeded before soaking for about an hour

4 garlic cloves

6 shallots

1 big onion

2-3 tbsp oil

Tamarind, the size of a small ping-pong ball, soaked in half a cup of water and macerated with fingers

Salt, to taste

Sugar, to taste

Belacan, to taste

 

Method

1. Blend the chili, shallots, garlic and onion. Add a tiny bit of water just to get the blender going. Not too much!

2. Heat oil in wok or pan. When hot, add in the blended paste.

3. On small fire, fry till fragrant and chili paste turns a dark red. This usually takes quite a long time.

4. When you see that the oil has separated from the paste, add in the belacan. (I use belacan powder. If you use belacan paste, dry roast it on a pan for 2-3 minutes first before using). Stir to integrate.

5. Add in tamarind water without the pulp. Continue frying to get the desired consistency. I like mine thick, so I usually stir a little longer. Be careful not to burn the base.

6. Add salt and sugar to taste.

 

I usually make Sambal Udang with this sambal tumis recipe, and I add in the prawns right at the end and cook for another 3-4 minutes till prawns are cooked.

 

Chili boh is basically the blended ingredients before it’s cooked. Once cooked, it becomes sambal tumis.

 

My mum who makes the best sambal udang in the world usually cooks the sambal tumis for agesss on the stove, sometimes about 2 hours, depending on quantity, till it turns a beautiful dark red.

 

This recipe works well for me; one who has been spoilt by my mum’ sambal. It’s THAT good. It will be ages till I learn to tweak things here and there and get the sambal to be EXACTLY how my mum makes it.

 

 

 

 

 

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Of cupcakes, banana cake and steamboat.

 

Dad has been asking for strange things recently. Among them; binoculars, a steamboat pot, CDs by Engelbert Humperdinck (sp?), Tom Jones, Freddie Fender (?), Cliff Richard. We try and appease him by getting him whatever he wants. That’s what the doctor ordered anyway, that we respect all his wishes.

 

As of now, we’ve gotten him the binoculars, the steamboat pot (!!!), but not the CDs. Cant seem to find them amidst the plethora of techno and house CDs of today. Ick.

 

So of course, with the steambot pot, we made steamboat! Here are some pics. While I initially grumbled at the seemingly outrageous idea of buying a steamboat pot, I did kinda enjoy it in the end So did everyone else in the family. Here are some pictures.

 

Steamboat!

 

The fun part!

 

We were all perspiring from the heat, and Boo was sniffing around curiously. But really, it was good fun.

 

And today, I made banana cake again. Seriously, different ovens yield different results. The Smeg oven we have in Italy needs exactly one hour at 130 degrees to yield a perfect banana cake, but the microwave convection oven I have here in Malaysia needs about two hours at 150 degrees! Also, I find our Malaysian bananas a lot sweeter and better for banana cake. Don’t mean to blow my own trumpet, but it was a hit with the family and relatives who came from Johor. I kept half to give my in-laws when I visit them tomorrow. Didn’t take any pictures though.

 

Seeing my ahem…success…in the kitchen, my sis was inspired to bake something of her own too. She decided on cupcakes. The end results were quite nice. Though I wouldn’t say the same about the entire PROCESS. Let’s just say there was lots of flour flying around and the kitchen looked like a war zone   Here are some pictures:

 

Cupcakes

 

Dainty cupcakes

 

On a related note, it’s unbelievable how expensive things are these days. I bought a block of 250g butter (SCS brand) for about RM7.40 at Tesco. Seven ringgit for butter! Having said that, I could’ve skimped and used cheaper alternatives like Buttercup Spread, but the results wouldn’t be quite the same I reckon.

 

I rediscovered my quiche dish hiding in the corner of the kitchen cabinet, am itching to make Quiche Lorraine. But then again, my family seems to take better to sweet stuff as opposed to savoury, non Asian dishes like quiche. We’ll see

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What I’ve been up to

I hate posting without pictures. So dull and dreary. I cant for the life of me configure this stupid laptop to accept my mobile phone’s Bluetooth connection. Windows Vista sucks!

 

So here are some updates:

 

1. I am still alive

2. I’ve been getting Really Bad Headaches that makes the back of my left eye feel like its gonna pop out. And my left eyelid has been twitching to no end. I googled it fearing some neurological disorder (omg) and turns out it could be due to stress! So for the past 2 days I’ve been forcing myself to bed at 10.30pm sharp and trying to get more sleep. And touchwood, The Headache has not come back.

3. Funnily enough, I find that I sleep better in a room with a good ol’ table fan and not air conditioning.

4. I’ve been eating so much jambu (guava) with asam, I cant get enough of it!

5. Boo has been incredibly manja and adorable its actually quite amusing.

6. My only form of recreation is grocery shopping at Tesco. Coolness

7. I’ve the best mum in the world and the best parents in law too. Lucky is me!

8. I’m waiting for mum to get home from Tesco with some baking soda and vanilla essence so I can make my kickass banana cake

9. My littlest sister is quite literally NOT little. And she’s such a helpful little elf sister around the house. Does the dishes, laundry etc.

10. I’ve read the first two Harry Potters and I cannot proceed to the third one coz my sister has ALL except the third one, and now I’m itching to read the rest but I’m too much of a scrooge to buy the third one coz a REAL collector would buy ALL books and not leave one out. *LOUD cough*

11. Dad has good days and bad. Today is not so good. He’s coughing a lot and feeling very tired. The radiotherapy has also caused him to lose a lot of his hair. Poor papa

12. A certain Queen has gone home to the meadows, so for the next few days, I can actually BREATHE in my own house. (its not mum or sis btw)

13. No matter how simple, mum’s home cooked food pwns everything else. She made chicken, pumpkin and mushroom soup (broth) today. So simple yet so darn yummy. Ive no idea how she does it.

14. Mum, sis and I went crazy at the pasar malam in Bangsar last Sunday. It was so funny. Mum has been deprived of her night markets since she moved to KL, and BOY was she happy. As for me, I went OMG OMG so much food, which one should I choose!!! Nasi lemak? Satay? Rojak petis!! OMG, they have chai tau kuay too! Oh man, they have wet popiah also! Oh man, I’m soooo gonna buy this, or should it be that?? We were like real greedy things. As the HB likes to call it, “thamjiak” But its all good. Mum got her mint, banana, fresh fish, coriander. And me, my food

15. Dad has requested for petunias, and now there are 6 pots of pink and purple petunias hanging from our “Hotata Laundry Line” Shazlin, yours still the Hotata ah

16. Apart from mango, jambu and apple, Boo also likes Muruku Ikan Cap Popo. Go figure.

17. Watched Slumdog Millionaire and LOVED it. The little Jamal was sooo adorable. My favourite scene? When he looked down at the pool of shit and plunged into it with determination. They deserved the Oscars.

18. I read the Malaysian papers these days by skipping the first 1-2 main pages ; Politics.

19. I saw the (once) baby who looked like HB when he was little. He can now walk.

20. The family has been spending a bomb on Gardenia’s Butterscotch bread. We grab two whenever we chance upon it.

 

So there you have it, details of my oh-so-interesting life. Thanks again peeps for all your concern with regard to papa. Do keep the comments coming, I thrive on em!

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Leaving on a jetplane…

 

Nasi lemak (Pic from http://www.malaysiasite.nl)

 

 

Char kuay teow (Pic from http://www.masak-masak.blogspot.com)

 

 

Banana leaf rice (Pic from http://www.foodlah.com)

 

Those are the three types of foods that I will attack first when I get back home  My suitcase is all packed. My flight leaves at 6.30 pm tomorrow and I arrive on Monday, CNY.

 

Wishing all of you Happy Chinese New Year. Gong Xi Fa Cai!

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Kuah Rendang Brahim (Brahim’s Rendang Sauce)

 

I thought it would be a good idea to finally use one of those precious pre-mix sauces that I brought from Malaysia. Seeing how cold it is today, I thought a little spice can provide a little kind warmth.

 

Now I’ve always heard people wax lyrical about Brahim’s pre-mix sauces, so I bought that particular brand from Tesco back home. It wasn’t cheap, probably the most expensive one around, but oh, what the heck. If you’re gonna be living for months on end without Malaysian food, might as well go with the good stuff eh? How wrong I was.

 

Brahim’s rendang sauce turned out to be such a disappointment I know that I can’t be expecting the same kickass rendang my mom whips up (heck, even I make awesome rendang), but this, this was such a letdown! It tastes like curry, maybe a little semblance to fish(!!!!) curry even, but nothing like rendang! Bah, I’m so disappointed. Tipu betul!

 

If I had wanted curry, I would have whipped one up from scratch. Rendang is NOT curry. I repeat. They are two DIFFERENT things altogether. I think what’s lacking from Brahim’s rendang sauce is probably the serai (lemongrass) and lengkuas (galangal).

 

I have another rendang pack left, this one is a different brand called SingLong. This had better be more like REAL rendang! GRRRRRRR!!!!

 

Brahim's Tak Sedap Rendang Sauce

 

See, I was so excited to cook that I forgot to take a picture of the packet before using it. See how I cut the whole thing open to scrape every drop of precious sauce in there. >______<

 

You people at Brahim’s!!! I want my money back!!

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Modena. Finally!

Alright folks, so I finally had the chance to walk a little in the city today. The weather was good, and the city was abuzz with people. Almost all the shops I saw were open, since the summer holidays have about ended. Everywhere I turned, people were dressed to the nines. Reminds me that I am in Italy, the fashion capital of the world =____=   That’s not necessarily a good thing for a jeans and tshirt kinda girl like me.

 

So I actually bought some stuff from the market today. It’s about a ten minute walk from our house. The market is different from back home. Of course, here, you don’t bargain. Also, you don’t touch ANY of the produce. If you want something, you point to it, and tell the grocer how much you want. Well, I had to use sign language mostly =___= 

 

I bought cabbage, plums, grapes, eggs, minced chicken + turkey and chicken fillets. The butcher was pointing to the chicken fillets and saying goodness knows what. I thought he was asking me whether I wanted a plastic bag to go with it, to which I nodded, and next thing I know, he was using a meat tenderizer/mallet and banging the chicken fillets. =_________________________=  So now I have to look for a recipe that uses flattened chicken fillets. Ideas, anyone?

 

So, here are some pictures of Modena; the city centre and the market.

 

Street in Modena

 

 

Modena Cathedral (Duomo)

 

There is a major reconstructive work being carried out at the Duomo, hence I couldn’t get a full view.

 

Partial shot of Piazza Grande

 

Entrance of market

 

Panetteria in the market

 

Greengrocers

 

I bought plums from this stall.

 

Fishmonger

 

Will you check out the OCTOPUS!!?? And I don’t know what fish is that on the right, but it sure is RED!

 

I thought I didn’t buy all that much stuff, but my hands and fingers were sore from carrying all that stuff. When I reached home, I realized the reason for that. I bought cabbage which probably weighs a kilo, a kilo of grapes and a kilo of plums. And then there’s the chicken and eggs. No wonder!

 

OMG, HB told me that next week, we will go to Venice!!!! I’ve not been there before, and I am really looking forward to it.

———————–

UPDATE:

I am officially the happiest girl in the whole of Italy right now!!!!  HB spoke to a colleague, and he gave directions to about 4 shops around this area that stocks Asian stuff!!! OMGGGG am I excited or what?? There’s this supposedly big shop/supermarket in Bologna that sells LOTS of Asian foodstuff, and they even have a website!!!

 

www.asiamach.com

 

I have pored through the website, and they do have loads of stuff, but strangely only one product from Malaysia, which is chili sauce with ginger.    But they sure have lots of stuff from Japan, Singapore, Thailand and China.

I can’t wait to raid this store!  

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