It was only after I’ve started working when I started to gain weight. What with my new-found money, I suddenly could go and eat all the food that I’ve always craved. Mcdougals. Burger queen. Especially Long John Silvers. Mmmm … Gosh, their rice burrito was just heavenly. Why on earth did they take it off the menu?

Picture by Dainty Chef. Not the same thing, but close enough!

Anyway, coupled with stress and boredom (two very bad combination) the weight just kept going up. They say that falling in love makes you gain weight too. And after moving to Rome, my weight ballooned up to 63kg. But it still kept going up. Till about a year ago, quite number of people kept commenting that I’ve gained weight noticeably.

I paid no attention to them because, well, I tended to filter out hurtful comments and was in a sort of denial. Even when my trousers were getting tight, I kept thinking to myself .. “Gosh, did they shrink in the washing machine?”

I was pretty much like that till when this picture was taken :

This was when Daphne, Serene and Nick stayed over with us on their European vacation. Oh gosh. I looked so … FAT and so puffed up. What the heck happened?! And I can’t blame this on bad angles or a bad picture. Because there are loads of pictures like that!

But even if it was, I couldn’t deny the numbers on the weighing machine. I was almost reaching 68kg. And seeing that number, and the picture was what shook me up and made me decide to change.

But one thing about me is that I’ve never believed in diets or pills and quick fixes. One could preach to me all the benefits of pills to me, and I’d probably smile out of politeness but I won’t take them because I don’t want to get the yoyo effect, or that I’d gain all the weight back when I stop taking the pills.

First step was to go for regular jogs. I was inspired by my friend Claire, who started to go jogging and was already losing quite a bit of weight since then. It was an inspiration to me. But I didn’t want to disappoint myself, so I never went jogging for the intention of losing weight but for health and feeling better.

First I started with 2km runs. And then upped it up eventually to 5km. And I did lose weight. Very very slowly. Up to a point that it seemed that I didn’t lose any weight and thought that I hit a plateau.

It was only after the fasting month when my weight went down quite significantly. I know that it was probably not healthy, but I was determined not gain them all back.

Too sleepy to eat

By this time, my eating habits has changed quite drastically, because after a month of fasting, my appetite and cravings went down, so I continued to have small meals. And at the same time, I continued jogging and eventually I found out that I could jog for 10km non stop.

Woah! Such an achievement for me! I never thought that I could do long distance. Makes me motivated to aim for a half marathon! (But maybe in 2013. Baby steps)

To my glee, after months of monitoring, instead of the weight going back to before, it just went down. It was just so cool. And at the beginning of this year (after the crazy Xmas and New Year’s feast) I’ve gone down to my optimal BMI (according to wii-fit)

And now that a year has passed since that picture was taken, I’ve lost more than 10kg. That just boggles me. That I’ve been carrying 10kg extra all these while. Carrying groceries is already so tiring. How did I carry 10kg? At this point of time, I’m hovering between 55 and 56kg. And it seems to be staying that way, even when I’m not jogging regularly at the moment. Work takes up quite a chunk of my free time and the change of seasons is making my body feel … bleh :\

Truth be told, I don’t feel any different. But Cart tells me that my stamina has increased and I complain less when we go around walking. And as the seasons turn and I change from my winter clothes to my old spring-summer clothes, they turned out to be annoyingly big. Some of them are rather new! I feel no satisfaction of diminishing returns!

Some of my trousers could just be pulled straight off my butt if I don’t wear a belt with it. Even that sexeh jeans I have up there is starting to be loose. And my beautiful bras! I can’t wear them as I’m not a 36C cup anymore. Small boobs! Sadness!

But despite all that, I think I look better now. And I can’t get over the fact that I’m about the same weight when I was in my mid 20s.  But I hope I don’t lose any more. Any more, I think I’d be too skinny!

And to end this post, this is a nice picture of me :

And a side by side :

p.s. When I was still living with my parents, my dear mum used to throw away MY clothes that she deemed that was too bursting for me to wear them. I’m gonna rub this on her face the next time I see her :p

In the middle there is Elio by the way, and coincidentally one of the judge for X-Factor Italia

I’ve been very amused by this particular song, “First me, Second me” for days to the point that I’m singing it out loud to Cart. It’s like a bad-direct-translation from Italian to English.

By the way, in Italian, Secondo me has a double meaning, it could either mean in my opinion or I’m second.

The kicker is, they got James Taylor as a guest singer for this song (just that it’s not him in this video) :

I love it because it’s such a beautiful song, but the lyrics is just nonsense! Hahaha! There’s a longer, more cruder version here – “In the light, I see the your true face. You are a toilet”

HUH?!

Now if someone will make a musical version of Tijah and her boifren mat saleh, my life will be complete!

Located in Via Ruggero di Lauria, it is within walking distance to the Vatican museum and also the Cipro metro station which is on my way home from work. So I could have this while driving home at the end of the day! Hehehe.

By the way, the name bavaglino means bib, like what kids use on their chest while eating. It sounds very cute. Nevertheless, its a classy and cosy looking restaurant. I really liked the beautiful tableware, and how every drinking glass was etched with the logo.

While I have to admit that while I do not have a very sophisticated palate, but my unrefined mouth could tell that food that we had was lovely. And here are what we had :

Antipasti :

Tonno scottato al finocchietto con riduzione di balsamico, fiore di zucca grigliato ripieno di spigola e zucchina romana con coulis di pomodoro

This is my tuna, lightly seared and it was so good paired up with the fennel and balsamic reduction. I would have never thought that the fresh fish and the cream would be so exquisite together.

There is also grilled zucchini flower stuffed with sea bass, which was a classy and upscale (and also healthier) version of my favourite “fior di zucca”

Cart, who is vegetarian, had cheese with vegetables inside, instead of tuna and there was ricotta cheese for the zucchini flower.

Primi :

Paccheri con seppie, fave e pecorino romano con mentuccia croccante

It’s typical to have pasta as a main course in Italy. And since it’s fava beans season, we had paccheri, which is a type of big and round pasta served with pecorino romano, a type of sharp cheese and cuttlefish with a touch of crunchy mint.

I almost expected the dish to be strong, but fortunately it wasn’t. The fava beans were small and sweet (older beans would taste more … grassy) and balanced the cheese well.

Trofie con vongole, asparagi e peperoni concasse al basilico

Trofie, one of my favourite kind of pasta (on account that it’s curly and cute) served with asparagus, peperoni and clams. It was so delicious! And I was sorry when it was all gone from my plate.

Secondi :

Calamaro ripieno con patate viola e fave, Raviolo di spada con caponatina

Second course would usually entail a meat based dish and we had squid stuffed with red potatoes and fava beans. For some reason, it reminds me kind of like eating sushi. The little package on the left is a sort of ravioli, but instead of pasta, it’s made of sword fish and stuffed with caponatina.

Cart’s vegetarian version was really good too.

Oh gosh, look at that parmigiana di melanzana! One of my favourite Italian things to eat! It looks so gorgeous and tasted so good, I was almost wishing that I had that instead. This was accompanied with a medley of seasonal vegetable tempura.

Dolci :

Gelato alla birra, carpaccio di ananas con gelato al riso venere

For desserts, we had gelato alla birra, which I could barely touch. While it didn’t contain any alcohol, I just don’t like strong, bitter tastes.

But I absolutely adore the black rice ice cream, which is amazingly not at all black in colour here. Served with a thin slice of pineapple, it was so light and delicately sweet, it was wonderful.

All in all, I had a very pleasant and lovely evening with good food, and good company in a beautiful place. It’s hard to ask for anything better :-)

Il Bavaglino
Via Ruggero di Lauria 26/A – Roma

Living overseas has been an enriching experience, but I’m sorry, it’s not all that bed of roses like what most people think!

But it’s really unevitable when you’re walking down central Termini (right in the area of the train station) and there are loads of affordable and pretty accessories.

Remember my butterfly charm bracelet? I had loads of nice comments about it when I wore it out. I think this was less than 15 euro, but it looks so much more expensive than that.

Leopard bow ring! It’s just a cheap little plastic ring, but it’s so eccentric and cute and it makes me feel so happy.

This bracelet below reminds me a little bit of a Tiffany bracelet. But it looks so much more exquisite and costs probably 500 times cheaper.

Yellow rose plastic ring! So vibrant and I don’t even need to water it … hehehe … I’ve been looking for this for a while! I think I’m subconsciously influenced by Kandee Johnson.

The flower below doubles as a brooch as well as a hair clip. Small flower hair clips seem to be a fashion nowadays in Rome. It would cost about 10 euro in a regular shop, but in Termini you could get it for only 3. The green pearl necklace I got from Porta Portese Sunday Flea market for the same price.

Angry bird necklace which I got more for laughs cause Cart is mad about this dumb game. I could always channel Naomi Campbell and throw it at him …

Zebra! I love animal pendants and I like to take him out for trot every now and then.

These are only two euro! So pretty! They are a little heavy though, these mini chandeliers.

And finally … this was attraction at first sight for me … Imagine cherries hanging on your ears … So cute!

Phew! I think I’m a little calmer for now, with the acessories craze. It should pass just like my mekap craze. But then again, at the back of my mind at this point of time, I’m wondering if I should try to be on a look out for a mustache necklace though, those are so funny!

In case you’re wondering where this picture originated from …

And here’s what I’ve been up to … *drum rolls* I’m now a nursery English Teacher.

Haha, what a choice huh?

To be honest, prior to living in Rome, I thought that it was kind of like a step down (if you know what I mean) having paper qualifications and years of teaching experience in a Secondary school and then now I teach mainly 3 – 5 year olds.

But then again, I do enjoy it for most part as I love kids. And how can you not just melt when you see cute and adorable children with those big eyes and thick lashes and those rosy cheeks, that you can’t help to pick them up to cuddle them. And they seem to have a sense of curiosity around them, chattering about in their little voices, “Teacher! Lo sai che bla bla bla?”

So sometimes I think I’m really lucky. I get to play with kids, masquerading as an English teacher.

Don’t get me wrong though, while it’s fun, it’s also hard work as keeping them focused is very challenging. And sometimes they tend to fight with each other and then obviously they cry. Can you imagine how chaotic a room of crying children is? More even so that, because I’m not that fluent in Italian, trying to explain certain things (like why you should be kind with others) is very challenging. I’ve learnt to be extremely patient and calm.

Sometimes I wish I could somehow reverse time back to when I first started teaching in Singapore, and changed my psychology. Rather than being easily annoyed, being patient would have rendered me a more effective educator.

So all in all, I’ve learnt not to look down or think that I’m downgrading myself. After all, if I enjoy what I’m doing, it’s not so bad isn’t it?

Moreover, it pays quite well enough for me to to buy nice crap for myself every now and then rather than having to depend on Cart all the time.

My nice new charm bracelet I bought with my own money!

And who knows in the future, I could even save up and afford to buy on my own, a new scooter or even a car!

And that made me realize quite recently on how autonomous that I finally am becoming – after living here in Rome for some years, I’ve gotten a driver’s license, my own vehicle, I can speak basic Italian, and now that I’ve finally have my own banking account I actually feel like I’m quite up to the same level as I was in Singapore. My independence.

Guess it’s just a matter of time that everything fits in.

Anyway, living in Rome for several years now, I found it interesting that there are recognizable fast food restaurants like Burger Kings and Subway and Macdougals here in Italy, but the strangest thing is that I’ve never seen a KFC branch in Rome before.

But discovered quite by chance by Claire, there is a new alternative in town though, called Kin’s Crunchy Chicken.

Founded by a Muslim man, there are branches in UK and Pakistan. And now most recently in Rome. Claire and I went to the branch in Via Carlo Alberto which is right next to the Vittorio Emanuele metro.

The place seemed so new that even the sign wasn’t revealed yet when we arrived there for the first time!

And look! Everything in there is halal food. Yay!

Coming in the place, there was a sense of familiarity. I have a lot of memories especially when growing in the old house in Singapore, Taman Jurong KFC was just 5 minutes walk from home so I spent quite a fair bit of time there.

Ehm, pardon the blurry picture, but I didn’t want the manager to scream at me …! But see, everything looks pretty much the same, down to the display.

I had the 2 piece chicken and 3 spicy wings combo set with drink and fries. (You could change it to rice if you wanted) I don’t remember how much this costs. I think it was under 6 euro.

I quite liked the chicken. Like the namesake, it was crispy and hot. And it was fast to get. I got it immediately after ordering.  On the other hand, while the Spicy wings were yummy, they weren’t spicy enough for me. But then again, being in Italy, the level of spicyness is seems to always be toned down.

Don’t let the size fool you though, although the portion looked tiny, it was very filling! I could hardly move after I had my meal.

Claire on the other hand, had a chicken fillet burger. This took a while to be cooked as burgers are prepared on order.

This was pretty intriguing to me as it had … a hashbrown in it! Does the combination taste really good this way? Claire seems to think so!

I’ll try to remember to do this the next time I make a bur-gher!

The second time that we went there, Claire tried the combo meal that I had the first time while I decided to go for the grilled chicken burger. This one I liked a lot! I think that they put in black pepper sauce inside and with the mayo and the grilled chicken combination, it was oh so good! Fattening, but I really didn’t care.

Next time, I want to get the double grilled chicken burger! Twice the happiness!

Oh, another thing I wanted to mention before I forget, Claire and I were playing the “Count how many Italians are in this restaurant” game while we were there. Not surprisingly, there weren’t that much Italian (or Italian looking people) there. Also the fact that the restaurant was situated in Vittorio Emanuele / Termini, where there are a lot of foreigners.

Nevertheless, to me, eating there was a good experience and we’d definitely go there again when we are hankering for fried chicken!

Oh! But just one thing … though the restaurant is clean …  be careful of their toilet.

Monsters seem to lurk there …