Milan 2012

Don't you love this time of the year? Holidays, food and family, and although it is unbearably hot and humid here, the tail end of the cold north wind from China reaches here, just a bit, and the cool breezes in the early evening make me happy I'm alive and all is well. It has been a great year, I travelled many places, ate a lot, learnt a lot, met many new friends and my family and friends are all well. I'd say it's 9.5/10 year.

Tonight we are eating Japanese at home (wagyu steaks, salmon belly and ume wine), then off to the cinema to watch 'Life Of Pi' after which we'd go to either one of the hotels or Times Square to join the countdown although I think what will happen is, Ming will go off with his friends, Wey too with his, leaving Yi and I wanting to countdown but Hub wanting to sleep. Always been like that.

I must get on with the remainder of my Italian travel posts, just for my record. When I posted last, we were looking at Varenna, Lake Como. Instead of taking the ferry from Bellagio back to Como, we took the hour ride on the bus which I highly recommend. The ride gives a close view of the houses around the lake, and because the road is so narrow, you can peer right into the houses at the random stops.








The road was so narrow, at most points there was less than one feet to the drop of the hills. The bus driver was amazing.





We got into Milan about 7 pm and ate at Rossa Pomodoro, a chain restaurant that I scoffed at when I first arrived, choosing trattorie and osterie but after some disappointing meals, I gave in to Yi's insistence that the food's good at Rossa Pomodoro.


Not bad at all.


The potato gnocchi was yummy!

Passing by the pastry shops, I was sad to leave Milan and all the lovely cakes and pastries.






Candied roses, very very fragrant.






We ate some pretty marzipan covered cakes (yummy) but these choc covered physalis with some liqueur-flavored syrup made us run back for more.

The next day, we were invited for dinner by M, in a nice restaurant in Bierra.


Instead of mozz, the cheese was fresh ricotta. Very refreshing and delicious too.


M had the pappardelle with white truffles. I had a taste of this, the first time I ate truffles with pasta instead of just shaved truffle as a topping. It was simple but delicious.


Yi had the osso buco which she said was good. I was rather full and had a small bite and I think it was okay, not exceptional though.


I know Milan isn't anywhere near the sea and it's a risk ordering seafood but I love pasta vongole. This was a bit disappointing because a couple of the clams had a slight crappy flavor and the pasta didn't have that taste that I wanted. 


M's tiramisu was good.


Yi and I shared a slice of white and dark choc cheesecake which I think wasn't as good as the tiramisu.

And that is my final post on my Milan trip. Hop over to hungerhunger on Facebook for a video I'm going to post on a crazy place called we found in Navigli. It's a huge furniture store that is turned into a Christmas decoration store 3 months of the year. It's like the Disneyland of Christmas decorations.