Dinner at Bella Italia

Long , long time ago , there was this Italian who asked me if I had any favourite Italian dishes .

Naive as I was , I mentioned Pizza Hut . He roared so loud with laughter and then proceeded to admonish and correct me very gently that Pizza Hut was Americano then in the next breath , insisted that I when I had the means , I had to go visit Italy one day ( which I did eventually ) , as they had the best food in the world . 

Sardinia was mentioned but I never got round to doing that as I am and always will prefer the megacity loop. 

One day maybe I will get round to doing just that .

Anyway , it took the last trip for me to finally "get it" .

That real Italian cooking is indeed delicious , not plain or odd .

After learning how to appreciate their cuisine , that in itself presents another problem . I am no gazillionaire so thank gawd there are expats who can whip up something close to that, near my tramping ground .

In that retrospect , I find myself growing more and more fond of what is dished out at Bella Italia down in Bellisa Row , the reason for this post .

Tonight is the first time we're enjoying dinner here and I notice that there is at least one diner who took pains to dress up .

We ask for the customary pizza . Not the usual Quatro but a Pepperoni pizza this time . The base is so scrumptious I find myself slowly turning my nose up at American pizzas nowadays .

Because he was more in the mood for something different , we did exactly that and ordered an Antipasto .

Buttery button mushrooms , lightly smoked generous slices of salmon wrapped around lettuce with a wedge of lemon dangling on top , two very fresh and juicy mussels baked in cheese and mouthwatering tomato paste , ham , baked eggplant layers , more vegies and chicken ....I tell you what , if you love their Quatro Pizza as much as I do , this is like having part of it on a plate . 

Delightful sample pieces yet won't burn a big hole in your pocket .

Benefit Brow Masters Workshop

Some of you may have seen the post before this .

I slept it over and upon waking up , I found reason to go ahead and resolve my brow problem .

I've spent the entire day gathering an arsenal of tools to do my eyebrows and I can tell you that thanks to this workshop , a change in my attitude towards one more positive , as well as what was told to me by one of the brow artists ,I finally had enough courage and fire in me to get my brows drawn properly once and for all .

Redoing it again and again till now ( for goodness sakes ) when I think I am confident enough to step out and face the world with much better drawn brows ( by me ! ) thank you very much .

Souvenir buying back home

 Bought most of my souvenirs from Vegas , with a big chunk of it coming from Planet Hollywood .

This pill box pictured below , was the odd one I got off a shop by the strip .

Along the way , I picked up two native items ( a rockface magnet as well as a personalized ballpen ) from Arizona and a just one very low quality tee shirt ( clothes from Turkey are ten thousand times better ) after a mad dash past Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood Boulevard .

But by the time we reached San Francisco , and I realised that most items sold in the shops not only were made in China , but were basically repetitions with changes in the name of the state one was in , that was when I decided to completely stop buying .

Over the years I have been contemplating the next silly move ....

which is to buy my souvenirs when I get back home .

Seeing how one pays a bomb for something which is mass produced in the same place , which is China , yet which we know we can get at the fraction of the price when we touch down back home , unless they are special commemorative edition products , why not ?

While I regret getting the Eiffel Tower replica which is available almost anywhere you look , and some other junk souvenirs I cannot even recall , items like those that are handmade by artisans and craftswomen or unique to theme park anniversaries , stamp launches or sporting events are what I never hesitate to pick up .

Cendol Mini Stadium Keladi - Kulim

26 years .

That's how long this pushcart cendol man in Kulim has been operating .

According to him , he started on the opposite side of the road and then when the stadium was built , he relocated beside it .

Shell Heritage collectible canisters

Since it is their 125th birthday , Shell Malaysia has come up with commemorative collectible tins to mark the occasion !

And if you've been following my postings , you'll know I really love all those tin and metal containers and stuff.... so this is such wonderful news to me !

Believe me when I say I tried to ignore this but failed . Faile- ed .

Meet Week 1 ...the roaring 1920's .