Happy 牛 Year!

Happy New Year! Happy 牛 (niu) Year! :p

祝大家平安快樂，牛年行大運。
讓我們一起牛刀小試的牛轉乾坤，讓世界變得更美好。

May everyone be healthy and happy in the coming year of Ox.
Let us change together to make our world a better place.

Best Time Visiting Italy

Yes, yes, I haven't update the blog for a while... so what have I been up to lately? Well, I gotta tell you that the best time to visit Italy is NOW... if you are into shopping! All the stores offer discounts between 30 and 70%. Since this maybe the last sales while I'm in Italy, of course I'm seizing the opportunity to 'help the economy'. :)

One of the most difficult items to shop for is baby clothes for my unborn niece (another is shopping for my mom). It is hard because I'm looking particularly for clothes that 1) fits from 12 to 18 months old and 2) has Italian writings. As it turns out, Italians' preference is English writings on clothes and as for the on-sale season, only 3 - 6 months old clothes are available. (Sigh) My little niece has already given me trouble... just like her dad. :p

Tips:
2 on-sale periods occur in Italy. If your goal is to shop in Italy (and perhaps Europe), the best times to come is 1) mid June - end July: clothing are on-sale for people to buy to go on vacation and 2) mid Jan - end Feb: End-of-Season sale.

Felice Anno Nuovo!

Happy New Year, Everyone! :)

Sera came to celebrate the new year with us in Torino. We 'had to' bring her to our favorite cafe, Caffè Basilica, to say goodbye to 2008 and welcome 2009. Here is a nice sober photo before we started drinking.



Now let the drinking begin... Domenico, the cafe owner, who was busy pouring alcohol all night. I had no idea what I drank the entire night but I downed 4 or 5 shots in an hour. Needless to say, I haven't felt this dizzy/ happy/ sick/ high since my wedding. :p Perhaps Syd's feeling the same way.














We had a lot fun drinking and partying with the local Italians. The DJ spun quite a few dancing tunes of disco, R&B soul, and most interestingly, middle eastern rap. Sera and I were the only Asians in the cafe so of course we 'had to' start the mambo line... and the Italians followed us! How much fun did we have? Well, we didn't get home until 3am that morning and for some reason, my right arm and both legs were extremely sore even today (too much aggressive dancing). I have to admit that my body is just not the same as in my 20s. (sigh)

Sera and Syd love mountains (why do I keep meeting hikers in my life?) so they decided to visit the Matterhorn (while dragging me along). The view was fantastic but my butt got frozen every time we went outside! The temperature was 3C during the day but it went down to -11C at night! Oh, Mamma Mia! :(














Here are 2 pictures I took while we were in Neive, a small town in Langhe. We went there hoping to taste the famous grappa (strong alcohol with 50% proof) but instead we had a delicious lunch (with truffle, duck, and home-made pasta with 30 eggs and 3 meat sauces) in a duke's palace and viewed some of the most beautiful snow scenery.