La Ghiotteria- Pisa

Pisa is famous for it's Leaning Tower and Field of Miracles. I have been there twice before and this time we are bringing my husband's father and sister. We took a train from Florence and then another 10-minutes ride in a taxi. They didn't want to climb up Pisa so we went straight for dinner at this restaurant La Ghioterria.

This place is a hidden gem. Good food and at a really good price. A plate of pasta will only costs you Euro10 or even less (depending on what you order). The total costs for us was Euro 44, which my father-in-law kept the receipt as he said he can't believe how cheap it was. 

Field of Miracles, Pisa

Spaghetti seafood with tonnes of mussels

SIL with here ravioli and truffles

My ravioli with ricotta and spinach, so yummy!

Venice

Our next travel destination is Venice. Initially the plan was to rent a car and drive up north. However, we had to cancel that plan as the car rental was expensive over summer. It's better for us to take train to Venice which is only 3-hour ride. As you all know, travelling with a baby is always challenging. So we book train tickets with stroller option next to seat. This would be easy for me to breastfeed later as well. Moving on to Venice.

It is beautiful! But yes it is overrated as there are many other beautiful destinations in the world such as London and Paris. Bear in mind, anything in Venice is expensive. A cup of cappuccino will costs Euro8 if you decide to drink it in St.Marks square. We even got conned during dinner to pay Euro70 for 2 medium size pizzas (Euro12 each typically) and 3 soft drinks. So I guess always do research on food before you go into restaurants in Venice. My initially plan of 'follow the flow' didn't work in Venice. Honestly, for me I don't mind paying for food if its good but I don't like being conned. Venice can do this to you!

The most beautiful part of Venice is the Grand Canal. The view of it during dawn or dusk is breathtaking. Strolling around St. Marks square and Rialto Bridge is a must. Actually this is the main thing to do in Venice. Nothing much else to do in Venice.

We went to other islands near Venice such as Murano and Burano. Murano is known for the glass so we had to watch a glass-blowing demonstration. Burano (another 45mins vaporetto ride) is known for its colorful houses.

All in all a delightful experience except for the dinner incident. I do love the beautiful sights of Venice but I am not sure if I would go for another time. Maybe during Carnivale?
                                    

First Hari Raya Aidil Fitri in Rome, Italy

This year is our first Hari Raya in Rome. We were joined by my father and sister-in-law whom arrived few days before Eid. Tok Ayah wanted to spend time with his first grandson. Since we have never celebrated Eid with them before, I thought I would make all the effort by cooking the Raya dishes. 

Hari Raya has been announced to fall on Wednesday, 6th July 2016. We have all be invited to the Ambassador's Residence on the first day of Raya. Everyone is required to bring Raya dishes. So I have volunteered to bring daging dendeng, chocolate cake and tiramisu. So, the day before Hari Raya I was slaving myself in the kitchen to prepare the Raya dishes. Honestly, this is the first time I ever had to do a major preparation for Hari Raya. Typically I would just help out my mum back in Ipoh. Time has definitely changes as I now have to be like my mom, preparing Raya dishes for my own family.

I made rendang ayam first. I took me almost 4 hours to make rendang ayam, hence I would not cook this dish on a normal day. It's too long! Next is the daging dendeng which took less than 2 hours. The thing with Malaysian food is that the longer it is to cook, the better it would taste. But I didn't put in kerisik. Definitely will put kerisik in next week when we have guest over for Hari Raya. 

Before we set off to Ambassador's Residence, we took the opportunity to take our obligatory Raya picture. Unfortunately Norman refuse to take pictures and throwing his tantrum. Therefore, if you see our family picture is not as perfect as I want it to be...sigh. Anyway, Selamat Hari Raya and Maaf Zahir Batin everyone!

Norman Harris first birthday in Rome

Gosh, it has been a while since I post anything. Three months to be exact. I am currently a housewife in Rome but yet I find it challenging to keep on updating my blog. This time I have got to do it as it's my baby's first birthday so it a very special one indeed.
As parents, we have been planning to do this for a month before his birthday. The actual work is a week before but we need to come on with the menu, concept, decorations to make sure everything is nice. I didn't want to be one of the parents who keep on obsessing about their children but never throw any birthday party for their children. Instead the will write a long paragraph..telling the whole world that it's their children birthday wishing them all the best things in life. Surely, there is a lot more parents can do than posting pictures of their kids on Facebook for their birthday.

We picked the theme black and yellow. We did blue for his aqiqah so this time something different. The menu is Malaysian as our guests are Malaysian Embassy's home based staff. It's Ramadhan and the party will be for iftar (berbuka puasa) in our house.

His birthday is on 22nd of June which is on Wednesday so we had to host his birthday on weekend i.e. Saturday to make it convenient for everyone. I am happy that I manage to set up his desserts table, which the best so far. I will definitely share all these pictures with Norman one day!

Vegan banana cake

Since I am now in the mission to make desserts, I am always on the prowl searching for recipes. The next one that caught my eye is vegan banana cake. I have made it twice and my hubby loves it. Here you go the recipe:-

Ingredients:-

4 ripe bananas- mashed

Splash of vanilla essence

1/4 cup sunflower oil (60ml)

1 3/4 cup wholemeal flour (420g)

1/3 cup brown sugar (80g)

2 tsp baking powder (10g)

1/2 tsp baking soda (2.5g)

1/2 cup choc chips (120g)- I used chocolate blocks, cut it into small pieces

Method

Pre-heat oven to 175 Celcius.

Mashed the bananas in a bowl. Add in the vanilla essence and sunflower oil.

On another bowl, put in the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and chocolate chips. Mix them together.

Then combine the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. 

Line up baking paper and in 9 inch square pan. Put them in the pan and put in the oven. Bake for 45 mins to 1 hour (depending on your oven)

 

Enjoy the banana cake over afternoon tea. We even had it for breakfast the next day,

Mashed the bananas, the most difficult job in making this cake

Mix the wet and dry ingredients.

Bake in the oven for 45-60 mins

All done, voila!

Cut the cake and enjoy.

Vegan chocolate tart- No bake!

This is another entry of my successful attempt at making vegan desserts. I can't believe it is so delicious and vegan at the same time. No dairy and less fattening (I assume)

The ingredients are below:-

120 gram vegan margarine
200 gram chocolate blocks (I used 60% or 70% cocoa)
240 gram Oreo biscuits (I can't believe Oreo is vegan)
200 ml coconut milk

Method:-
Put Oreo biscuits in food processor. Blend until fine crumbs.
Melt the margarine and put it into the Oreo crumbs until it sand-like texture.
Then use this as base on your tart container. Use spoon to spat it down.
Put this in  the fridge for 10mins to cool.

Then put the coconut boil on pot. Use medium fire while cooking it on the stove.
After it has boiled, turn off the fire and put the chocolate blocks. Stir in until all the chocolate has dissolved.
Pour this into the tart casing which has been cooled off in the fridge.
Then put the tart into fridge overnight to set it.
Enjoy the tart next day.

I like to use fresh strawberry as the garnish.

Tart sampling by me

Hubby eat most of the tart!

Lunch at Flavio al Velavevodetto

We have been planning to visit this restaurant for a while. We finally did it today despite the weather forecast says it was going to rain in Rome. The objective is simple- to order a Roman dish.

The location of the restaurant is in Testaccio, one of the oldest Roman area. Their food is known to represent the working class of Roman back in the old days. However, this area is now known to be a hipster area which represents Rome's culinary highlights.

We made the booking at 12.30. Please make sure you book in advance as the restaurant is quite popular. We were seated. As soon as the menu arrived, we are ready to order. The following is the name in Rome.

1. Carciofi alla giudia- deep fried Jewish artichokes.
2. Tonarelli Cacio al pepe- pasta in Roman pecorine cheese and pepper
3. Tiramisu- this is the classical Italian dessert. Slight different with melting chocolate inside a glass

I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone visiting Rome. I love all the dishes that we ordered, Would definitely come again.

Carciofi alla Giudia

Cacio al pepe

Dolci- Tiramisu

Vegan chocolate cake

I have never been vegan all my life. However, in order to help cure my baby's ezcema, the specialist suggest me to cut dairy and eggs. I was overwhelmed initially but decided I would start making vegan desserts for myself.

So, here you go. My attempt at baking a chocolate cake. It is one of my favourite cake of all time.Below is the recipe that I got from the internet.

Dry Ingredients:
300 gram of all purpose flour
240 gram of granulated sugar
80 gram of unsweetened cocoa powder
5 gram of baking soda
Half teaspoon of salt

Wet ingredients:-
240 ml of warm water
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
80 ml of vegetable oil
5 ml of white vinegar

Method:-
Put in all the dry ingredient in a bowl. Mix them all together. After that, put in the wet ingredients and mix all together. You can just use a wooden spoon. Then put them in an 8 inch round baking pan. Put it in the oven (180 degrees Celcius) for 30-40 minutes. Depending on you oven, you need to insert a toothpick in the middle of the cake and check if the cake is done. If the tooth pick is clean, then the cake is ready, Cool it on the drying rack for 10 mins before you take it out.

Honestly, it was so good that none of our guests thought it was vegan!