I haven’t been back to Italy since I left in 2006, then with a heavy heart and began a new chapter in life in Beijing. I forgot how much I miss the food, the fresh coffee and the beautiful produce and friendly wildly gesturing people. We ate wild caught sustainable seafood daily, and it was […]

I was hooked on her other novel In the Company of The Courtesan set in the 14th century Italy with its plot unfolding mainly in Venezia, a place close to my heart having lived in the Veneto. However, I am sad to report that Sacred Heart was so slow and was missing a denouement, ending abruptly […]

If I were to judge a book by its cover, I wouldn’t have picked it up. However,, the title and synopsis was interesting. This suspense novel is peppered with rich historical facts of 16th century Italy, in the same genre as Donna Tartt’s novels peppered with exciting historical recreation of that era like a Ken […]

I forgot how much I missed fiction and how much fiction I was reading a decade ago before work took priorities, but it’s been really good picking up fiction books at the library again. You never really know what you’re going to end up with. I thought The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani would fall into […]

While Macau living is nothing like in that romanticised exotic movie set in skyfall, it isn’t all about casinos and glitzy bright lights (well, for the large part it is). Macau is charmingly ugly, and everyday is about finding pockets of quirkiness and hope to fall into. I try to remember what I used to […]

January 17 is the annual day of Italian cuisine and the Italian chefs association pick a dish every year to promote the authenticity of their cuisine. Last year was ragu Bolognaise and this year Pesto alla Genovese. I had dinner at Sureño before moving on to Aperitivo at midnight to see the crew of Beijing’s […]

I remember living in Italy and my Italian friends would spout out numbers for which type of pasta they are referring to and plan to cook, but I never quite got round to getting to know my pasta in different shapes and sizes. Before everyone thinks I’m crazy, I’m referring to these numbers that everyone […]

I am completely buried in these amazing ideas and sites about food, design and art. I read a whole list of blogs on a daily basis and I’ve been surviving on 4 hours of sleep daily, on top of getting my homework done for weekend Italian classes and crawling out of bed at 730am on […]

and a step closer to the Italian dream… speaking of which I have to start the leg work of that complicated Masters application (they take in only 25 a year, eeeeep!) and keep the toxic realists away as they try to burst my bubble with practical advice. And the sweetest thing is having my Chinese […]

Now why don’t I get to enjoy any of that? Being a bed is hard work. What a pack of lies that bastard who made me promised—that I’d experience a lifetime of tactile memories so powerful, few other furniture would ever come close. Nail by nail, part by part, I was hammered together with immense […]