Into My Snow Globe

Florence, or Firenze in Italian is possibly my favorite stop of all.

I am heading home in a few days for a wedding, meet up with my best friend, and be introduced to my two new godchildren. Its IT time again... Just to give you an idea of how my ITs usually turn out - here's a snapshot. Its blurry on purpose guys, sorry about that, but I am just a tiny bit shy about bumping into any of you while I am on holidays. To be honest, I really wasn't looking forward to this trip for at least a thousand and one reasons but as the days pass and D-day is getting closer and closer I am getting more and more excited. While it will be busy, I guess I am getting excited about seeing everyone again. There is always that never ending list of affairs you need to sort out -- are my siblings ok, is the house still functioning in every little way, does everyone have what they need, do I need to attend to paperwork while I am there, do I need to ship over some stuff left over from Ireland that I sent to Manila instead., the list just goes on and on and on. But bet...

Cross section of empanada, my chicken looks slightly on the chunky side Today was one of those days when I just couldn't be bothered. I think this is what they call a Monday. PIC and I were supposed to meet up after work to go to the gym but that great idea quickly flew out the window as soon as I got into my car. So I made my excuses and went to the supermarket instead. I may not have enough energy to be bothered about work today, but I certainly have enough juice in me to attend to some craving issues. 

The trains in Italy are notoriously late. Sometimes it can be as bad as an hour late similar to what happened to us. Apparently this was very commonplace as only the tourists were panicking.  When the trains do arrive to take passengers for the next trip, there is no mad scramble as you would expect. Everyone just goes about their business in the most normal fashion ever. It was just another day for the train to be late. With each ticket, you get an assigned seat number and will be surprised to find someone already sitting in it once you get there. In fairness, they will move over the minute you gesture that they've taken your seat -- I guess many Italians just prefer to chance their arm for a better view. We reached Venice at dusk, it was a good evening to be where we were.

Last night, I was watching the latest episode of Top Chef and the long discussion on risotto reminded me of our trip to Milan and their unique risotto. Mmmm... yummmm... Milanese Risotto and Osso Bucco

  I like to think of myself as an active and sporty person. At the same time I know how lazy I can be. So if you can marry up the concepts of lazy, active, and sporty in your head -- that would be me. Because I am so lazy, active and sporty, I have tried a few things to maintain that image, starting from going to the gym regularly, doing yoga, tae-bo, boxing, playing tag rugby, badminton, proper swimming (meaning actual laps which I never did because I'm such a poor swimmer), then eventually completing my first 5 and 10 mile runs, etc etc. Over the years, many of these activities went to the wayside, either because I got sick of it, it was too inconvenient, or there was just no one to play with. The only ones that still manage to sneak into my schedule are the gym visits and badminton once a week. Enter November 2010 and me moving to my Kiwi friend's natural habitat.

So I've already written about our New York trip, and while there are probably a hundred other little stories that I can grab from it, I think the one that I find most noteworthy is our dinner at Les Halles.  Brasserie Les Halles (Source: highlimitzz flickr photostream) Now, the only reason we thought to visit this restaurant was because of the infamous Anthony Bourdain of No Reservations notoriety. The man certainly has his way of convincing us what food is worth eating and what's worth ditching. Because of this trait, we thought, what better place to visit than the brasserie that he used to cook in and still associates himself with, right?

The Empire State Building... and Friend... Ok, so I have tons of backlog, but I have got to start somewhere right? My most favorite city is the city of New York. I just fell in love with her the minute our shuttle crossed the boundaries of Manhattan. It was like being in the movies, only this time, I was on set and it felt like real life.