Food-induced homesickness:

As lovely as Tuscan cuisine is, I think I've had more than enough. 3 weeks straight on pasta, salami, cheese and olives will wear out any Italophile taste buds. Gelato is still tasting good, but it's definitely taken a toll on my already subaverage figure. Another olive oil + balsamic leafy salad, and I'll swear off rabbit-food for the rest of my life.

Tuscany is uninspiringly homogenous restaurant-wise. All the menus are starting to look the same. I could have gone to that one and only Chinese restaurant outside the city wall, but word has it that Chinese food in Italy cannot be touched with a 10 ft pole. Am desperately missing me old stir-fries with bak choi / pea pod stems / choi sum, basically anything green with stems would do. And cha siu [roasted pork] and roasted duck, and all the summer fruits: mangoes, lychees, Loong Ngan [tastes a bit like lychees but they have brown smooth shells, and are called "dragon eye"]....Aaaah! Went to the supermarket to look for things to cook, but apparently ginger does not exist in Italy.

So my first non-Italian eating experience took place at.... a Macdonald's off a highway going into Lucca. Aiyaiyai!!!
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I ain't no Ching Chong Chinaman!

I'm getting fed up. Whenever I leave home for work, take the train, go to places where tourists don't go to, I get gawked at. Should I even attempt to go out partying at night, slimey drunks come up and go, "Cheeena!" Sucks that my Italian swearing is limited to "fuck off" and "shit", which never gets my msg across to their chauvinistic pea-brains.

Get with the programme! It's the 21st century, and everyone travels damn it! Even the yellow ones!
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Cool gelato flavours of the week: Nocciolasa [whole hazelnuts + choco fudge + vanilla], Dolci di Latte [basically that yummy Dulce de Leche caramelly stuff]