Roti Prata is one of the food that most Singaporeans love to eat. Since I was a kid, I would patronise hawker centers and order a nice plate of Roti Prata, accompanied by curry – it was an affordable, delicious and comforting food. The smell of freshly made prata is wonderful.

Nowadays in Singapore, there are many varieties of prata – Cheese prata, Honey and butter prata, Banana Prata, even rolled up paper thin ones. But I still prefer the original and the egg variety though. Prata has been popular for as long as I can remember.

However popular prata may be in Singapore, I’ve yet to find freshly made prata in Rome. My friend Lynn has been craving for prata, so I thought that I see if I could try to make one myself. I found a prata recipe online. It looked easy enough.

First put 3 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon salt and 5 tablespoon of ghee into a bowl and mix.

Then add in warm milk and then knead all your frustrations away.

And then you have a nice dough! Divide it into 8 balls and put it under a damp cloth and let the dough rest.

Once the dough is rested and unaware, hit it with a rolling pin and make it flat. Or use your fingers like me.

And then finally put it in a hot pan with some ghee and fry it. And soon you will have home made prata! Yay!

Of course, my prata isnt perfect though. I need to tinker with the recipe a little bit more. Maybe knead it longer and add more ghee so that the texture becomes more sturdy – thats why prata makers could flip and throw it around!

Impressive! I’ll try to make it better the next time

This is the real Cart :P

So I flashed him a warm smile.

And he smiled the biggest smile back at me.

It was only when he started to walk past me that I realised that he was not Cart! Mistaken identity! But he had a lingering smile anyways. I guess I made the guy’s day

I told Cart about this but he did not sound very interested. Who knows if he was jealous! :-P

Me : I should have said “Penso che tu sei mio marito!”

Cart : Oh what a nice thing to say!

Me : What should I have said?

Cart : Credevo che fossi mio marito. It means I thought you were my husband.

Me : And what did I just said?

Cart : You said, “I think you are my husband!”

Sidenote : Avenue Q is currently showing in Rome. I want to watch but its in Italian! Should I? And by the way, if you haven’t voted yet, could you help vote for me?

Regardless, the desire of meeting other Singaporeans living in Italy was very strong. So I made my confirmation to attend soon after. But there was only one small issue. Cart was working! So I had to go on my own. Nine months of living in Italy, and I’ve yet to take the public transport. I’m pampered I know, always having Cart as my personal driver.

This is a subway.

With the use of Atac and Google Maps, it made exploring much easier and with very few drama yesterday, I met up with Lynn and together we headed to Tullio restaurant, where there was a Singaporeans meet hosted by the Minister Lim Hwee Hua and Ambassador Loo Choon Yong.

This is Minister Lim Hwee Hua

When we both entered the area, I was so pleasantly shocked. I knew that there were more Singaporeans that were living in Italy, but to see so many Singaporeans in front of me was such a nice surprise anyway.

There was even an important looking namecard on my table. Woah.

Our last Rome-gang meet was already a good number.

But this meet was twice as large!

This is Ambassador Loo Choon Yong.

I met many interesting, charming and witty people. Some of them have been living here Italy for a long time – like 25 years! It felt a little unreal and also a little intimidating for me though, to be talking to successful people who really made it in life. There was a lawyer, jewellery maker, fine arts furniture maker … while I’m just a housewife. I should have introduced myself as an awesome, renowned and beloved blogger instead

I even met another Melayu!

Nevertheless, they were really nice and friendly. The minister herself seemed genuinely interested in what I thought, asking about life in Italy. Woah, I was totally awestruck. I wish I had more confidence booster injected into me. I really felt shy. But we were the noisiest group in the refined restaurant. Heheheh …

Oooh and by the way, had such lovely food which I thoroughly enjoyed.

This was my Parmigiana di melanzane

This was my Mont Blanc

It was really sedap! I’m still thinking of it at this point of writing

In any case, the meet was an initiative by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to keep Singaporeans in Italy to keep in contact with each other and should we need any help, they assured that we were free to approach them.

And there was a possibility that next year would have a Singaporeans day in Italy. I was rather upset for missing Singapore day some months back so this would be absolutely fantastic!

So us Singaporean in Italy facebook group could finally all meet up together yeah? Lynn and I to do that, but the logistics seems daunting but now that we have backup, I’m definitely looking forward to that. Whee!

Sidenote : I totally made a man happy yesterday and if you have time, can you help vote for me? :-)

And just when I was about to do a blog post about Karmic Koala which I’m geeking out about.

Anyway, coincidentally I saw a contest for a new netbook and thought that I’d give it a try

Please help me by joining the group and vote for me here. Wish me luck!

After visiting the Toy convention in Singapore last year, I was keen on going again and I felt very left out when the event was held again this year in August. Thus the first thing that came in my head when I saw the pamphlet was, “I demand to be there!”

When we reached Fiera Di Roma (which is something like Suntec City where expos and events are held) there were already a large amount of people there. But we were still wondering if we were at the right place. It was only when we found out that there were a number of people in costumes streaming in was when we felt more assured.

I noticed that while queuing in, the cosplayers were lining up in a separate line. We found out later that people who were in costumes got to enter in for a cheaper fee. If I knew that, I would have dressed up … or maybe not :P

For sure, my avid cosplaying cousin would quite like this place.

After queuing up for the tickets, we entered inside the event hall, and at first sight ,I already knew that the experience will be something similar to the one in Singapore.

Like swimming salmons! There were so many people! I took a deep breath and started to do dance the shuffle. To look at every individual booth.

The Comics

Obviously being a comic convention, there were a number of publication houses on display. One of the biggest names that I could spot out was Panini Comics.

Panini Comics is probably best known for their character, Ratman. Ratman is interesting because the character was conceived as a parody to all the comic superheroes – with his Mickey Mouse’s ears and his cape. He was wierd but yet, amusing. Kind of like how 2gether was a satire for the overflow of all Boybands.

I also had the chance to seeing a couple of artists doing works in progress, drawing and singing autographs. And I admired a few artwork and wished that I had half the artistic talents that they had. I should learn to be more familiar with these artists!

This particular guy was so diligently doing watercolour on the first page of his comic book. I was a little too shy to approach him. Also, my lack of Italian is of another hindrance, but oh well

Looking closely, I see a name tag and saw that his name was Luca Russo – Of course, I had to google it out, and I saw a couple of his artwork. Its so lush.

What a pity that I couldn’t communicate better. I would have liked to know his inspiration and process for drawing! Well, maybe next year, when my Italian is probably slightly better

Naturally, Cart being crazy about reading comics and collecting them, bought for himself a nice pile of comics to add to his shelf dedicated to all his comic books

I looked around and I saw a number of Japanese comics that I recognized like Love Hina, Battle Royale, Evangelion.

And I was pausing for the longest time pondering if I should get a Domokun Comic. I love Domokun! Its a charming singing brick. But its in Italian! So its probably no point to get it. But yet, I keep wondering if I should.

The Toys

There was not as much toys here as compared to the convention in Singapore, and the World Cybergame section seems to be very subdued. There was hardly any console games like Nintendo Wii or X-Box consoles, Playstation and such but there were still a couple of interesting collection of old-school toys to be seen.

Like these figurines of characters from the movies. I think that it was really well done. The joker really looked like Heath Ledger.

I quite like the top row with the “Movie Set” smurfs.

Did you know that in Italy, smurfs are known as Puffi? There are even Puffi flavoured ice cream in Italy, but that is another story altogether :-)

Stewie, from Family guy, probably the most evil baby in the world. And also one of my favourite cartoons that I watch here.

A couple of stuff from the Lord of the rings. I snapped this picture because it reminded me of the crown that Yanni crafted not too long ago. The lady behind the counter offered to let me try it on, but I think that once I try it on, the longing feeling would start to feel stronger :P

And this was a nice figurine of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. Coming up in the future, we will have a nice figurine of Hang Tuah.

Oh and this is a very interesting figurine.

Which reminds me, I even saw a booth dedicated to Hentai, with a tv display for all to see. I was momentarily stunned. But the interesting thing is that I didn’t see any horrified faces around me. Europeans are really liberal about this, I suppose. The person manning the booth was amused to see my flabbergasted face.

The Costumes

For me, I think that the highlight of the convention was probably the cosplayers. There were so many! I think that there were probably about an equal ratio (or perhaps even more) regular outfits to the cosplayers. Regardless, they were all pretty nice. And if you asked for a photograph, they would always oblige

There were characters that I could recognize like :

Flippy from Happy Tree Friends. Hohoho! I lurve happytreefriends, I think that they are the most adorable critters. The irony is that I dont have the heart to watch an episode since they always die violently.

Bender and Doctor Zoidberg from Futurama. Another one of my favourite cartoons! But where is Leela?

Luigi and the Princess … Which is a little bit scandalous because Mario was supposed to be the Princess’s boyfriend. Maybe they broke up

And at one booth, I spotted out something interesting. A storm trooper playing a Clone wars game! A very dedicated and loyal staff

This is one piece – It seems to be very popular judging from the amount of people dressing up as Luffy. I like the middle cosplayer’s boots! Quite well done! But the actual anime annoys me though.

But as much as there were many that I could recognize, there were many more that I could not. Anyone could help spot them out for me? Like this character below.

Could it be Cardcaptor Sakura? Also, she never gave me my free hugs (Abbraci Gratis means free hugs in Italian) :P

Oh! So there where Mario was! Hanging out with the Milk and the Mushroom

Seriously, I wouldn’t have the patience to sew this and they both coordinated their outfits well!

And this is another fantastic costume. With the black face and the red eyes and all. Too bad that the flash of my camera flashed out his teeth.

But after spending some time spotting out costumes, the following would be in my top 3 :

I think that this guy here did a very good job in his zombie outfit that I had to peer closely at his make up.

Scary! And it wasn’t just his neck, but his entire limb had wounds and such.

This guy probably took at least 3 days to make his costume.

Also, he’s the first person to have the initiative to really pose when you ask for a picture. Seems like a professional cosplayer. Regular people would be frustrated after the 5th person I think.

And lastly, I’m not too sure what character this is, but I think that this costume was one of the most well made and the most intricate one that I’ve ever seen.

If he really did that, I think that, that was such an amazing job. Also looking like Heath Ledger isn’t bad either

Anyway, interestingly enough, while I was there looking at the different costumes, a little boy came up to me and peered at me as if I was wearing a costume myself. That was so amusing. Maybe it was because I was one of the few Asians there so its like wearing a costume!

Alright, alright, maybe the hat that I was wearing could have played a part in that. So next year, I could probably go as a catosaurus!

12challenge: What’s your favorite dinosaur? on 12seconds.tv

We are almost at the end of this blog post. But before I end, I just have something funny I had to share. Cart and I were looking at a comics display when suddenly the crowd parted into two.

There was this ferocious looking golem walking through. And everyone was transfixed at the sheer awesomeness of the golem. Everyone was afraid!

Except for this little girl who seems to make it her duty to smack the Golem’s butt.

LOL!

If you liked this post, you might enjoy :

• Singapore toy and comic convention 2008
• Gundam seed cosplay meetup
• Mint Museum
• Museum of Shanghai Toys

Being Malay, its inevitable that I look close to my Asia Pacific counterparts. I could go to Indonesia and blend in as an Indonesian, the time when I was in Thailand with my girlfriends, the locals thought that we were Thai ourselves … until we opened our mouths.

But in recent years, there has been countless the number of times that I’ve been approached and asked, “Are you Filipino?”

Even on youtube, there are people who think that I look like Happyslip, an insanely talented youtuber who has ancestry from the Philippines.

I’m not skinny enough to look like her :P

Dont get me wrong though, Personally, there is nothing to feel offended about and I think that there is nothing wrong with looking like a Filipino. Besides there are so many attractive looking ones at that.

Like Lea Salonga.

Like Marian Riviera

Like Toni Gonzaga

See! Filipinas are attractive people!

But its just wierd for me that everywhere I go, everyone would assume that I’m from the Philippines. Even in Singapore! And even by Filipinas!

Like the time while Cart and I were shopping at a Filipino Shop to see if we could get some Asian groceries, the clerk started to cheerfully talk to me in Tagalog.

It was later when she saw that I couldn’t respond to her, then she realised that I wasn’t a Filipino.

Maybe I should start to learn a little bit of tagalog

But the only word I know is Mahal kita so I probably wouldn’t get very far with that

But anyway, I just wish people in general would stop assuming things. And I’m not the only one. Even my Egyptian friends are commonly mistaken as Moroccan here.

Now if people went up to me and said, “Oh my gosh! You remind me of Ziana Zain!”

That’ll be another thing altogether

Kening up!

Actually, they remind me of Teeny little superguy from Sesame street. I’m not that talented to make a stop animation, but wont you stay to see me struggling to make coffee?

If you liked this post, you might enjoy :

• Rinaz, the accidental coffee genius
• How to make Penne Arrabbiata