Zoccai

Zoccai ring with 6.2 faceted Amethyst in 18kt rose gold with diamonds around it
aaAAAaaa *drools*

I've been shopping for my birthday gift
and I'm still SHOPPING FOR IT!!!!
GAH I can't make up my mind

Zoccai was founded in Venice, Italy back in 1839
sigh...how come I was not introduced to this brand when I was in Venice 3 years back?
I would have ta-pau-ed the whole shop if my credit card can stand it

every year they have an exhibition at Baselworld, Switzerland - the world largest watch and jewelry fair, which I dun get time to walk around *even thought I've attended it 5x!!!*
bcoz I'm just too bogged down with my own brand

unlike some Fatty woman with BIG HAIR and her Hermes Croco Birkin going around Baselworld shopping for watches and jewelries with the Rakyat's money
I see her every year in Baselworld *pui!!!*

Anyway let's talk bout happier things like diamonds, gold and precious stones

I can't really decide between the two
but of coz this 4.2 carat of Rose Quartz is more expensive than the earlier one bcoz of the weight of the gold and the number of diamonds

anyway Rose quartz and amethyst are semi-precious stone
my birth stone is actually emerald
but it's so auntie looking
maybe when I turned 40 I'll fall in love with it :P

There's a preview today!!!!! for Carlo Barberis!!!

you can purchase Zoccai jewelries from La Prendo
my favourite place to shop for bags, shoes, accessories - esp when I dun travel
and trust me La Prendo is POISON
I never leave its shop empty handed :P

So if you happen to be in Singapore please do drop by at their shops either in Fullerton or Dempsey
the one in Fullerton specialized only on Jewelries
for handbags and other leather goods, head down to Dempsey Hill

else if you hands are very very itchy now...please log on here
www.laprendo.com

lemme warn u first, if u do buy something from this website
it is entirely your own fault and not mine :))))))))))))))
yippeeeee another eppy day!!!!

Walkabout at Venice

truly sorry...
gonna be a busy morning, so just uploaded a post without wordings for u folk
enjoy the pics ya!!!!

Hotel Gritti Palace, Venice

Oh my gawd...this place is so beautiful~~~~
overlooking Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute and the Grand Canal of coz
it's within walking distance to the shopping strip and San Marco.
due to our hectic schedule, we didn't even get a chance to sit by the canal and have a real good cuppa coffee :)))))))))))))))
the hotel was built in 1525
>_< does that scare u?

the beautiful red marble on the reception table was worn off and polished smooth over the years.
I like the fact that it's so classical and elegant and this place just transformed us back into the 16th century.
and decorated the walls were all the Venetian mirrors
OMG...so cantik!!!!
I wanna bring home!!!!

the waiting area with a painting of Napoleon???
yeah all the lights were made from Murano Glasses
our room key....*wakakakakaka*
so nice but then it's very heavy :P
I like the pom pom at the end :))))
the room was huge, we didn't expect it to be...coz land in Venice is like so scarce
and yep...hotels in Venice are the most expensive of the lot.....
so most tourists tend to stay mainland and travel to the island each day for visits.
really special rugs *well we call them carpets here*
and we got our own Venetian mirror in the room!!!!
it was so old that it was stained with its age.....not to be used as a mirror but as a deco on the wall :P
the powder room was decked in all sorts of marbles
everything in marble...were they dated back to 1525 too?
even the taps were so antique!!!!!

Monkey reading the Journey of Marco Polo to Berr
*he's on my left arm*

the only thing I hated bout hotels in Italy are the
1) statues staring at u inside your own room
2) paintings with piercing eyes staying back at u....
quite eerie...but rest assured nothing happened :P
I alwiz look fwd to favors provided by hotels during their turn down service
most of the time, we get chocolates but this round we got chewy yummy jelly :)))))
with weather forecast for the next day
weather can get as warm as 12 degrees and as low as 2 degrees
we were so lucky during our stay in Venice coz it only rained on the day we departed
we'll definitely come back to this half a century old hotel
Hotel Gritti Palace was the private residence of Doge of Venice *duke*
Mr.Andrea Gritti

Hotel Gritti Palace,
Campo Santa Maria
del Giglio
2467 30124 Venezia
Tel: +39 041 296 1111
www.gritti.hotelinvenice.com

Da Fiore *One Michelin Star*

Da Fiore is one of the first restaurant to be rated Michelin Star in Venice
so we went with high expectation...
somehow the evening started with the wrong note coz we went to the wrong place...
and took another 15 minutes to walk to another piazza
*15 mins is very very far in Venice ok????*

worse part was we had to enter another restaurant and asked for direction
well it's never good to ask a restaurant the address of another restaurant :P
beautiful Murano glass vase
Murano is a small lil island near Venice producing the world most expensive and beautiful glassware
erm...I didn't buy any coz it's so difficult to carry em back....just got some nice mouth-blown murano glass necklace

and so they used the exquisite Murano glass vase to store bread -_-

we were first served with a deep fried white fish ball with sabayon
very well balanced flavour...

at least this cured our frustration of:
1) the difficulty locating this restaurant
2) environment was not up to expectation *it was way to rustic*
3) JS's Murano drinking glass has a chip on it
4) they dun have nebbiolo glasses for our wine *double frus*
yes we had Barbaresco 2003
drink until scared...
ate until scared....so it was a light nite for both of us
since it was a lite nite we shared a torre di insalata di mare = tower salad of the sea
and they were kind enough to separate one serving into two making it easier to eat
the octupus was outstanding!!!!!!
prawns were so sweet and it came with pickled onions
*the 2 rings u see on top*
simple and yet amazing taste
we saw every table has this...so we ordered fritters of seasonal vegetables Da Fiore style
dunno which species of aubergine they used...it has such good texture and amazing sweetness innit :))))))))))))
since it has to be a lite nite JS ordered a green pasta with muissels and clams
it's green coz it's a pesto pasta :P
Monkey had deep fried soft shell crab with rucola, orange and pomegranate salad
I like the fact that the small chunks of oranges came with its skin to give it some bitterness and acidity to the dish...well the rucola was bitter too...and pomegranate was sour.
all these melting pot of flavours were combined to kill the richness of the crabs..

mind u....their soft shell crab was full of....errr...well in short..there's no meat.
u bite innit...there's white creamy stuffs oozing out...bite sumore...more creammy stuffs
so guess i was just eating creamy high cholesterol roe with crispy shells :P
no dessert for us tat nite...coz by this time, notti Monkey was so tipsy
she can barely say yummy!!!

guess i drank too fast tat nite.
:P
and poor JS had to navigate us back home to hotel in the narrow alleys of Venice
bcoz throughout this Italy trip, notti Monkey had been the GPS...
and since GPS was drunk and tipsy...JS had to lugged the heavy monkey home without getting us into trouble :P

Osteria Da Fiore
*One Michelin Star*
S.Polo 2002
30125 Venezia
Tel: +39 041 721 308

What stop me fr my walking tour all the time.....

heeeee heeeee.....
I want~~~~~~~

Gondola ride....raa.....raaaa....raaaa

This post is dedicated to Mee Mee
whom visited beautiful Venice in 2008
and wondered wat's the big fuss about the ride
:)))))))))))))
it was on our to do list :))))))))))))
and we took off after a long long day of walking around the whole of Venice
decided it's time to take some form of transportation without using our poor legs
*esp Monkey's tiny legs*
Madamme Bottega got her own seat as well....
One gondola can seat a max of 6 person

and soon we were transported to smaller canals
and over bridges
and oh yea wearing a Venetian handmade mask and riding a gondola with the fella at the back singing were also in my to do list
:))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
JS's to do list is to train me to use his camera :P
hence the stress facial expression
wakakakakkaka
soli lar sir....me can only manage my Leica
the Grand Canal
and we watched sunset over the Grand Canal

building a gondola is a mad mad job...
7 different types of wood were used just to make the hull alone
and it has to be asymetrical
in a way where the left side has greater curve to counterbalance the weight of the gondolier
and the lateral action of the oar

it takes about one month to make one
and a standard gondola cost Euro 20,000 = RM 100,000
a pretty one can cost more than Euro 50,000

and yes I know everyone's been asking..
how much doest it cost to ride one
well it depends on your route....duration.....and your disembark location
watever it is...pls do negotiate

our 45 minute ride cost Euro 110 = RM 550
hmmm....well...
and another thing...it's not as romantic as u think it is :P
unless u hire musicians and a singer on board
kakkakakakkaakaa

MET by Metropole Hotel *2 Michelin Star*

Seafood is very popular in Venice so it's a must have in the list
MET is a very beautiful restaurant in Metropole Hotel
and was just some walking distance away from San Marco
*well anyway u can just walk around the whole of Venice easily*
wat surprised me the most was the "water menu"
with the indication of PH level and mineral content by percentage
and also its nutrients value
and also its origin and tasting notes
-_-"

JS made me chose the water and without any idea I just mini-minor-moh-ed it
JS chose Barbaresco 2004 for the nite and its nose was such a beautiful bouquet
:))))))))))))
we were served this delicate consomme of duck & thyme
*can u imagine how JS shrieked?*
**nyek nyek nyek**
anyway it was very good
followed by braised squid in its natural black ink served with saffron foam and anchovies on top of its crispy bread
the bread here was outstanding....all in small lil bites with 8 different flavours..
u have black charcoal bread, herbs bread, olives bread, shallots bread, saffron bread..
and erm I forgot some other yummy crispy ones.
JS had this first course of scallops
it was injected with juices fr the sea...served on top of mash with mozzarella foam and sevruga caviar...and the crystal sheets that u can see there was the rose candy!!!!
I had the Venetian Style starter of: *fr left to right*
1) deep fried crispy baby crab with fried polenta
2) tartare of fish with cheese and olives
3) Tempura of scallop with Puccini Cocktail
4) mixture of fish
5) really really fresh anchovies with frozen raspberry *this was the best of the lot*
squid ink pasta with oysters and mussels and aragula
sorry I forgot to change the settings of my camera

and I had braised beef cheek drowned with Rabara wine and chestnut pudding
after our main course we still have rooms and ordered the famous traditional risotto
served with tuna tartare and crispy chamomile flower and WASABI ice cream
it broke its mould outta tradition...with tuna tartare???
with wasabi ice cream??
but the combo was very good and tasty and the fresh chamomile flower
I wanted to try their "surprise menu" but it was a 9 courses menu and JS was so fearful of huge dinner -_-"

for dessert we shared this cigar and rum
the round truffle was broken with a fork and smokes soon came out
with aroma of cigar
how innovative...followed by the rum gelle in the clear glass
since we had this dinner about 1.5 months ago...I can't remember wat is this.....

I have a MOLE on my right hand...it just grew outta nowhere a few years ago :P

entrance of MET hotel
Chef Corrado Fasolato really did put the bar high this time
and I bet this had to be the BEST restaurant in VENICE
:)))))))
after all there's only 2 restaurants in Venice with Michelin Stars
will blog bout the other one soon...soon.....SOON!!!!!

MET Restaurant by Metropole Hotel
Riva degli Schiavoni, 4149,
30122 Venezia.
Tel: +39 041 520 5044
*reservations in advance is required*
www.hotelmetropole.com