My Milanese Mozzarella Stories

Ah Milano, I heart you! And I heart Italy!

One whirlwind weekend away with the best Italian tour guide ever and the best shopping buddy was just what Jen needed. I am now fully recharged and SO pumped about life and coffee and food and Christmas just around the corner!~

To be totally honest, I had no idea how this trip was going to go. My crazy (but awesome!) tour guide was basically some dude I met at a random bar in Stockholm just a few weekends ago. He seemed pretty normal and managed to convince me that I needed to visit Milan during my time here. I then convinced Lis to come with me and we even decided to stay at his place with him instead of booking a hostel like most other normal people would have done. Crazy right? We were slightly concerned that he might hostel our sorry behinds but decided to go with our gut feeling anyway. And voila! This made for the most awesome weekend yet! =P

Nico picked me up from the train station and it's like he knew me already because we went eating immediately after dropping off my luggage. We had something called a piadena which was a flatbread from the Bologne region of Italy. The bread was light and thin and could be filled with a variety of ingredients tailored to your liking. I chose the Pippo which was filled with rucola, stracchino cheese and proscuitto ham....YUMMERS. The cafe was really cute but the picture doesn't really capture it well. It just looks like someone's kitchen but take my word for it. It was cute!

Next up was my first macchiato shot! And I have to say here that Starbucks you are WRONG. All that coffee education you supposedly gave me as a barista-in-training got me laughed at in Italy. Macchiato does NOT mean you pour the espresso shot in the milk instead of the other way around. The correct form of a macchiato is just a shot of espresso with an equivalent amount of milk poured in after it. All coffees in Europe I've found to be of a significantly smaller portion than in North America. What's with all the venti sizing?? That's why people pee so much at home!

Anyway, this drink was delicious and it was my first time drinking a shot, erm sorry. That should be 'sipping' a shot of macchiato right up at the bar. It was actually quite nice. =) Also unlike what they told me at SBucks, an espresso shot does not expire or die within 10 seconds of it having been pulled from the machine unless you mix it with something else. Or maybe that's just the crappy machines SBucks has. At any rate, our espresso was enjoyed at an easygoing pace, first sipping the foam then the actual espresso with the small spoons they gave you. Mmm.

We left the cafe and headed on a short walking tour of central Milan before picking up Lis at the other airport. I saw some very pretty and some very interesting sights along the way. Not to mention the delicious double scoop of gelato! Omg I love Italy!!

No I didn't get to eat all of this - it was just window shopping!

The three rivers that are built for Milan make quite the pretty sight!

Old School washing stations

Maybe the best.....but then again....maybe not...hmmm

Inside of a non-top-ten church....still beautiful tho a bit fuzzy

Interesting ad campaign on the shopping streets consisting of people dressed as breasts and phalluses....

Apparently it was for a clothing company called Malibu?

Yes Yes and YES!!

One of the top-ten churches in Milan - San Lorenzo

Cool grafittied wall

What does this mean?? It's all over Europe!

After we picked up Lis we headed for a snack called an Apertivo - which was like a happy hour in most North American bars, except happier. You buy a drink, any drink, for something like 9 Euros and then you get the drink and an all you can eat buffet of small dishes like fries, pasta, polente, pizza pockets (yes - they are a real thing in Italy!! Not just a McCain creation!!), salad, olives, nachos, etc. It was great! The apertivo lasts from 1700 - 2100 hrs so we sat and loaded up on snacks until time was up. And then (you guessed it!) we headed for dinner!! =P

Nico had forewarned me to prepare myself for the best pizza I've ever had in my life. So I had pretty much been getting pumped since I got off my flight in the early afternoon. Dinner happened at 2300 and it was at a chain well-known for their Napoli cuisine (that's where pizza originated!) called FLB (Fratelli la Bufala). It pains me to say this, but the pizza did not really meet the expectations for the title of 'Best Pizza of Jen's Life.' (If you're reading this Nico I'm sorry!! I can't lie to my readership lols =) But I have to say it may have been my fault - I may have ordered the wrong thing. I literally just picked something off the menu because I wanted to eat it so bad. So after I had asked the waiter what a carciofocci was and he mumbled something incoherent 3 consecutive times after I 'what-ed' him, I gave up and said ok, just give me the pizza.

As things turn out, carciofocci is artichoke and while I love artichokes, it was a bit watery and made the centre of my pizza soggy. This was my fault. I totally should have been smarter and ordered something super classic like a margherita. Sigh, I guess you're right Nico. This DOES mean I have to come back!

Apparently the people that worked at FLB thought Nico & Marcino were gay and Lis and I were lesbian. Wow. I wonder what tipped them off?

We finished off the meal with my second shot of macchiato that day and Nico and Marcino had Jagermeister in champagne glasses as their apres supper 'digestif' drink. (who does that?? Ah yes Italians do!) And thus began one of the most ridiculous nights of my life. I had been told that Italians party like no one else but really, I could not have prepared for such a night of 'balls-to-the-walls' crazy happy madness. We met up with some of Nico and Marcino's friends at a bar and stood outside chatting for awhile. I was wondering when we would be able to go inside because Milan was COLD that weekend. But no, we didn't go inside that bar at all. Nor any other bar for the next 3 hours. The people of Milan like to party OUTdoors. No matter the weather. So we bought beer and stood outside drinking it and freezing our tails off.

"Give me a wuu!!" WUU!!

But it was still so fun! Nico was giving us a crash course in Italian while we were giving him the same in mandarin. Every half hour we would count to ten in Italian while Nico would count to five. Since he could only make it to five we coined the phrase 'Give me a wuu!' (five in mandarin is 'wuu'), we'd slap each other a high-five and everyone would hoot 'Wuuu!' In between all the counting that was going on, I was so hyper from the super-strong Italian espresso that I sang Daft Punk - One More Time the entire night while dancing to it on the streets. I made Lis dance to it also. Good times!!

Finally we made it to a club and danced to some electronica music for an hour or so before they closed and we piled back onto the streets. Those party animals Nico and Marcino didn't want the night to end there so they invited a bunch of (almost) randoms over to Marcino's place to continue the party. This is where some very festive hat-wearing and balloon-volleying happened. All the while, Lis' brother was worried these random Italian dudes his sister was staying with might be crazy. After we emailed him a few photos of the dorky-fun-ness as per below, I think he stopped worrying. =)

At the club celebrating my piece of junk bag!

This was the most hilarious hat I've ever seen someone pay money for
-The hands wave to you when you pull the strings down!

Sombrero!

"One more time, we're gonna celebrate...celebrate and dance so free...."

The macchiato started to wear off and so we headed to bed soon after the above photo was taken. But what an unforgettable night of pure good fun!

The next day was sight-seeing and shopping in the centre of Milan. I kick-started the day off with a smoked swordfish crostoni and a delicious Italian-style hot chocolate. O.M.G. Words cannot begin to describe the levels of deliciousness that my tastebuds were reaching. Basically, I drank a white-milk chocolate bar with a spoon. And Lis' had meringue in it!! Ohhhhhh. I am reliving it right now and drooling a little.

Yes there was bread under there!

The cool-looking cafe with our hot chocolates

Apparently it was tough for Nico to take this photo for us since he is lactose-intolerant but still drooling...

Next up was some Duomo and La Scala opera house action and some shopping along the infamous streets of The Golden Triangle. This is where we bought our boots!! woot woot!!

Duomo - Biggest gothic cathedral in Europe
It was absolutely breathtaking from the inside but no photos were allowed!

The galleria next door

A lucky bull where you had to spin around 3x on your heel

Leo Da Vinci Statue across from La Scala

Ricotta cheese and rucola ravioli - HEAVEN on earth. SO YUM.

Typical Milanese cuisine of fried veal rib with brie, artichokes and roasted walnuts - DELISH

The most expensive tiramisu and cappucini in Milano - This cost 22 Euros!

The hunt for the tiramisu was long - we walked probably close to 5km looking for this cake!

Monday morning we got up early in the hopes of seeing Leo da Vinci's painting The Last Supper except it was closed. Oops. =( So instead, we went shopping really hard to find a replacement for my piece of junk bag and then had lunch with Nico to say good bye and thank him for being so very awesome. Take a look at lunch! (This is turning into a food blog....)

Bruschetta

I...

ADORE...

PASTA.

You rock Nico! Keep being crazy!

And of course, I bid farewell to a trusted friend - the piece of junk bag. It had its humble origins on the streets of Mong Kok in Hong Kong as a 15 dollar Canadian faux leather bag and I took it with me around the world. From Calgary to Miami to Seoul to New Delhi to Copenhagen to Moscow and finally its resting place in Milano. Farewell friend! Thanks for everything!

A Little Bit of Unhappy

I have had a really sucky time in the past 24 hours.

I had originally planned to do a lot of studying in order to get prepped for the upcoming exams but instead I got so upset at Danish immigration that I swear I got a small ulcer (major stomach pains), got my bag and wallet stolen at a really touristy bar and partied a bit too hard for my liking. The latter two events were mostly my fault. I was being too careless and getting too carried away with the exchange student lifestyle. I miss my nerdy introverted sober self. 

Danish Immigration still has yet to issue me a visa for my study term that is almost over and they also owe me around $300 CDN since I overpaid for my application. I have not been able to reap any benefits of having a student visa such as signing up for a bank account, free danish lessons, free medical care or the ease of traveling back and forth between countries in the EU. In any case, when the customs official gave me a bit of trouble when I was coming back from London last weekend, I realized it was time to get back in touch with the office. The people on the phone are never all that nice to me always telling me to be patient and that there is nothing they can do for me because my visa is still 'processing' even after 6 months of waiting. After a particularly rude conversation on the phone I was told I had to line up at the office to get a re-entry stamp so that I would be able to get back into Denmark after my travels since it is getting dangerously close to my 90-day limit as a tourist in the Schengen region in Europe. I had no choice but to comply.

So I showed up 45 minutes before the office opened and there was already a line outside the door. I ended up spending 3 hours there waiting for said re-entry stamp. Added to the last time I spent another 4 hours waiting to produce documents for my application, these were the 7 hours of my life that I have felt the true impact of my being a part of a visible minority group. I have never in my life felt so segregated as a result of my race than at this time. Nearly every single person in that office was of visible ethnicity. There were about 3 other caucasian people there and they looked of Eastern European descent. Although I don't have any proof, my theory is that my visa is not being processed because of my asian last name. Lots of exchange students had also been in my position waiting for a visa but they have all since received theirs, save another student also of asian background. I have also had conversations with many Scandinavians and even the Danes themselves who confirm that the Danish foreign policy on a whole is very blatantly racist. So yes. I feel discriminated against and it sucks very much.

It's funny, I've lived in Canada all my life and while people have brought up the issue of racism, I don't think I've ever felt it for real until now. And perhaps even funnier is that whenever I am in China or Hong Kong I feel that people treat me different because although I am fully chinese hardware-wise, I am very much Canadian on the inside which means I don't get the asian cultural and historical references either. Depending on how optimistic you are, I suppose I either got the best or the worst of both worlds. I like to think best despite my little bit of unhappy today.

After this ordeal, I had major stomach pains which were not calmed by a breaking of my cleanse and indulging in a hot chocolate and a slice of carrot cake. I went on to try and soothe it over with a glass of mulled wine (called Glogg) and several pints of cider. Still no relief for the stomache. (not surprisingly) What it did do though is make me drunk and this is where someone stole my purse and threw my life into a bit of mad chaos for the next 18 hours. Good thing for my non-high maintenance tastes. The purse that I currently carry around is a complete piece of junk that is falling apart at the seams. And so while the thieves stole another guy's super nice tan leather satchel complete with his laptop and passport inside, they only grabbed the cash in my wallet then threw the wallet and everything else in my piece-of-junk bag in the parking lot. A very nice lady picked up my purse for safekeeping and that is how I was able to get all my IDs and credit cards back. What a relief!

Luckily, as with most stories in my life, they have happy endings and this one is no different. I am celebrating the finding of my wallet, the rising above of racist segregation and the breaking of my silly cleanse with a big bowl of ice cream and a Big Bang Theory marathon tonight. Life is good. =)

London London London!!!

Before I even got to London I had already heard so much from my roomie who studies there and many other people who rave about the sights and the excitement that this city brings. I didn't have high expectations but knowing that I would be staying with a long time friend and meeting with other long time friends, I knew that this trip would be pretty good regardless of the touristy stuff.

We flew into London Wednesday late night and was welcomed to the city with a very enjoyable late night snack of congee and kebabs. Yum! Thank you Lis!

This is me amazed by how pretty the 20 pound bills are in purple! And oh yes, also amazed by Ribena - yum!

The next day we headed off to the Natural History Museum which came highly recommended by a random local Londoner that I met on my Easyjet flight. At first I thought this was the museum they filmed the Ben Stiller One Night at the Museum at but upon further research on Google it seems I would be mistaken. Oops. But it was still pretty cool seeing all the large life-sized stuffed animals!

Front Entrance to the Natural History Museum

Next we hiked it through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park which are adjacent to each other. We visited the Albert Memorial, Peter Pan Statue (very anti-climatic, much like the little mermaid statue in CPH), the Diana Memorial, then headed past Wellington Arch and Buckingham Palace! It got so dark so early we were only able to get some night shots of the palace which was ok by me. The only complaint I had was on the walk to the Palace I could not believe the amount of leaves that were left unkept! I was up to my ankles in leaves! You'd think they would have some sort of fundage to maintain the grounds surrounding Buckingham Palace. Meh.

Albert Memorial - We had no idea who Albert was (apparently Victoria's husband. He was popular)

Backside of Wellington Arch

Look at the crazy unkept leaf situation!

Buckingham Palace by Night

The tube was super easy to take although now I totally understand why people faint underground. It is SO hot and stuffy down there. And this was winter. I can't even imagine summer.....yuck. Next we walked through most of Liecester Square and through the Piccadilly Circus and totally crashed the M&M store!! It was so awesome! Everyone is getting Christmas gifts from here! No joke. Lols.

Piccadilly Circus

Throughout the next few days we managed to see Notting Hill and Portabello Market (wayyy awesome!), Big Ben (Houses of Parliament), Westminister Abbey (it cost a whopping 13 pounds just to get in!), Trafalger Square, Tower Bridge (the cool looking one), London Bridge (not as cool - not sure why everyone sings about this one...), Millenium Bridge (where they filmed the death eater scene in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince), had tasty eats at Borough Market, had really yummy and cheap Pakistani food in a ghetto neighborhood close to Brick Lane, visited the flagship Top Shop (because according to Lis, every girl has to visit there at least once =)

Big Ben

Westminister Abbey

Random store I saw on the street

Whaaat?

Trafalger Square

Raclette Cheese! So smelly but soooo good!!

Again - SOOO good

Tower Bridge

Millenium Bridge

Us posing like Lame-o's in front of Top Shop =)

London Bridge by Night

Tower Bridge by Night

...And the highlight of my trip - Matilda on Broadway! I love Broadway and can never really get enough of it. It is for this reason that I would think about living in big cities like Toronto, New York or London. The Broadway scene is just so awesome! Anyway, this show really crept up on me. I knew I wanted to see a show of some kind and Lis just suggested Matilda since it was pretty new. I had read the Roald Dahl book as a child but never watched the movie so had no idea how they were going to do all the crazy fantasy scenes. But good golly did they ever do a good job!! It was seriously amazing! Because it was a children's book most of the performers were young kids and they did so well! I can't imagine how much work it would take to train all those youngsters to perform at such a high level! And the set was really cool too! I don't know that that same set can be all that mobile but I would still recommend everyone to go see this show if you get the chance!

The Set of Matilda - totally had to sneak this photo in when the usher wasn't looking!

Sooo good!!!

I should point out that we went during the Remembrance Day weekend and everyone was sporting poppies. I had no idea up until this point that poppies are a commonwealth country thing. Except Canadian poppies are totally way better. I used to get upset that the pin would constantly poke me and it always seemed to fall off my jacket. But now that I've seen the British version? I wouldn't have my poppy any other way. But in order to commemorate the soldiers who fought for us we donned these flaky poppies anyway. At least ours came with the service of having them pinned on for you!

Also another few highlights of the trip was seeing all the Christmas decorations up. I had heard that they are really nice with all the lights and tinsel all strung up but to be honest it didn't really rival that of Hong Kong from what I saw. I guess that just shows you how commercialized Hong Kong really is - they don't even really celebrate Christmas! They just want people to buy stuff!

Annnnnd.....I'm sure you've all been wondering - of COURSE I had loads of fish and chips!!!  Here was my first batch at an upscale restaurant called Gaele's in Notting Hill. We also had another dose in Spital Fields markets at a place called Poppies that was just a local diner and it was SO GOOD. The normal cod is ok for me but omigoodness when you batter up a halibut = SO GOOD. I was also recommended to try the Rock (a type of fish) and didn't get to this time around but you can bet your booty I will be back with a vengeance for these fishies in December!!