Italy meets Trininista: A night at Buzo Osteria Italiana

Buzo Osteria Italiana, Port of Spain, Trinidad

Since I have been back home, I have been trying to check out some of the places that had opened while I was away, or just places I had not had chance to patronise yet.

Last night, the girls and I went to Buzo Osteria Italiana, located on Warner Street in Port of Spain. Everyone else had already been but I was going to pop my Buzo cherry. I had heard many good things and believe me, I love Italian food, so I was very excited (and how awesome that Italy is on today in Euro 2012!! woot woot!)

And I was not disappointed. The restaurant's ambience is amazing. Very modern, very chic but not pretentious. My type of place and for a moment, I forgot I was in Trinidad. There is also a great outdoor area where most of the smokers had settled for the evening but even with the disgusting cigarette smoke, it was really cosy and fresh in look and feel. The out of Trinidad feeling was compounded by the stellar service from the wait staff. So used to horrendous and just plain BAD service from local establishments, I was really pleased to not have to sharpen my tongue to answer back anyone last night. I loved that our waiter, Shannon, had an honest opinion of what he would recommend. I hate going to places where the wait staff are just like lumps who tell you "everything is good". Excellent service.

And the food? Oh the food, my lovelies. Let's just say it was as good as it looked. Five stars!

Torcelli with Italian sausages, porcini mushrooms in a light cream and tomato sauce

The lamb...in a mint sauce

The sexy looking salmon

Panacotta and the most decadent chocolate souffle

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Call Me...Maybe: Dating has gone Beserk

Forza Italia! Forza Azzurri!

Of course it is football time in Trininista land (where we do NOT say "soccer") with the European Cup, or Euro 2012, on.

These are the times a girl - well, this girl - looks forward to in life. Being a long time fan of the Azzurri, and for the non-footballing heathens, that's the Italy national squad, I will be plotting some sort of plan to be able to see that do-or-die game tomorrow, as I sit in a meeting for 3 hours!!!

But in other more disturbing news, and I felt I needed to bring this to the fore...the Call Me Maybe card.

The Call Me Maybe Card - sad

Isn't this a tad bit desperate? On the flip side, one may say this is ingenious and proactive. But I am not sure how I would react if some guy came up to me in a bar and gave me one of these. It is too obvious and too orchestrated. This guy is walking around my bar, with a card holder full of these things. Is he just passing them out like candy to anything female that moves? Am I supposed to feel special after receiving one of these ? Then he has his Facebook page listed - maybe with all his glamour shots, and what else? Testimonials? What's wrong with saying hello? Okay, maybe the girl will roll her eyes and walk away. Maybe she will laugh at you with her friends. But isn't that part of the game? lol. This just took the game from sport to creepy activity. Sorry. I mean it's bad enough that when you meet a guy these days, he does not even call. He wants to BBM you or IM you - total lack of proper communication skills. Now we have to put up with dating call cards? Really?

p.s. I don't roll my eyes unless you have gold teeth, cannot construct a sentence or you refer to me by some body part, or by my complexion. Take that as a hint as to what NOT to do.

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Game of Thrones Season Finale: Valar Morghulis

Robb Stark...oh dear boy.
Photo credit: HBO

The season finale of Game of Thrones lived up to the hype. It was going to be hard to top 1. the season one finale and 2. last week's Blackwater episode which was amaaaaaaaaaaazing.

There was deception as Tyrion learnt his own sister was the one who ordered him be killed, Theon being blindsided by his men, and also some idiotic betrayal from Robb Stark who is clearly using one head more than the other. While the season finale did not expound on this point, Robb's misguided and idealist notions of love marked the beginning of the end for him. So sad, cause he is just so incredibly hot. Robb, like Ned before him, is an idealist and in this game, doing the right thing or following your heart is not going to cut it. Even Arya - going to find her family instead of taking J-Haqen up on his offer to learn all his shape shifting, magical tricks. Really? You love them because they represent the best of men, but they also can be pretty daft. Not sure what the lesson is there...lol.

There were dragons - and while I am not always a great fan of Daenerys Stormborn, she finally came into her own. Between her dragons lighting that creepy looking man up, and her kicking the fat Xaro and her former handmaiden out of bed and into an empty vault, she showed some real balls in the finale and proved herself worthy of being in the battle for the Iron Throne.

Maester Luwin says goodbye to Bran and Rickon Stark
Photo Credit: HBO

There was death with Maester Luwin bidding farewell to Bran and Rickon after being speared by Theon's men. These little boys have seen it all now. Well, maybe not yet...

There was a douche in the form of Joffrey, whose childish arrogance and stupidity are mind-numbing. Maergery Tyrell clearly has a thirst for power that can tolerate being married to such a tyrant.

Sansa - still trying to figure out this girl and whether she is mildly cunning or just plain stupid. She has her redeeming moments but last night, there were none of those.

Bad ass White Walker from the Game of Thrones
season finale

But while the scene lasted less than 2 minutes, the arrival of the White Walkers sealed the deal for me and as the main reason this episode was a winner. What an awesome closing scene. That white rider - the visual - fantastic. I almost peed my pants for poor fat Sam. Stunning end to a stunning season of an amazing show.

Now the worst part - the more than 10 month wait for the season 3 premiere.

What is a girl to do now?

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Trininista - Day in the Life

Who wakes up at 3am? I do.

Life happens. Most days I am too tired or indifferent to blog. It's also been pretty routine lately. So routine that I can share a "Day in the Life" type post with you.

So every morning, whether I am going to workout or not, my alarm clock goes off at some variation of 3.00am. On non-workout days it is 3.45am and sometimes as late as 4.00am. But generally, as I fight the bulge, the alarm goes off at 3.10am.

It is at this point, I drag myself off the bed and change into my workout wear, brush my teeth, make sure I have everything I need. This last bit is very important since I workout near and in the office and so change there as well. In the past, I have left critical things behind - jewellery, shoes, mascara and even pants. Yes, one night I had ironed the pants and hung them on a separate hanger as I was too tired and the next morning, I drove all the way to the office and realised I had no pants. The options were slim - work in sweaty gym pants, sit in just my knickers, go home for pants or just go home. Taking into consideration the traffic in Trinidad after a certain hour, I called my then boss and said I had an emergency and would be taking the day. lol. But I had a great workout.

Queen's Park Savannah in the day
Photo credit: TTCS/D. Teelucksingh

So once I have confirmed I have everything - gym bag with toiletries, shoes, makeup, accessories, my outfit for the day, laptop, lunch bag - I get on the highway and head to the office. Park, go walk/run around the Savannah, praying I survive. Between my general lack of fitness, my knee and the carbon monoxide even at 4.30am, I am always grateful that I finish in one piece. Some mornings I take the workout to the gym, which conveniently is literally behind the wall next to my desk - these are the mornings it is either raining or I am strength training.

Shower. Change. Head to desk. Have breakfast - hard boiled egg white on whole wheat; coffee; a glass of wheat grass drink (blech) and my vitamins. Then I start working. This is usually at 6.30am by now and can involve a range of things - speech writing, report writing, endless calls to our creatives at our agency, endless endless meetings, editing and uploading intranet stuff, editing website stuff and getting the provider to action ASAP, social media stuff, newsletter stuff, internal comms stuff, external comms stuff, proposals, budget monitoring, chasing down stuff, proofing stuff, editing stuff, photo selection, strategy planning and writing, lately a lot of event chairing, which also involves external engagement and hob nobbing (which impacts the fashion choices the night before), endless teleconferences with other critical teams, and all usually running past 4.30pm.

If I leave at 4.30 on the nose, I then sit in traffic for a lifetime, listening to my fave radio show and laughing my head off in my air conditioned car. If I leave at 6pm or beyond, it is then an easier albeit later commute, once it is not raining. 

Get home, scrape up dinner which can be as good as a hot meal or as bad as popcorn or cheese balls. Go through the maddening process of choosing an outfit for the next day and making sure everything is packed, including my pre-prepared lunch and breakfast (I do this on Sunday - make and package both meals and stuff them in the fridge). Pack gym bag, making sure I have the right shoes for the outfit of the day, right accessories. Watch a little tv, pass out usually during said tv show. Shower. Get to bed anywhere between 9.45pm - 11.45pm. This is the part my doctor lectured me about, in addition to being too fat and not getting enough exercise. But I am also not getting enough sleep which also impacts the other two so I have been really working on being in bed by 9.30pm.

This is a typical day. On Fridays, we have happy hour, which involves a cocktail or 5, or which can be a day off as I do get every other Friday off as well. I am now actively trying to use these off Fridays for things other than errands - make them ME days. And I am also looking to add a workout in the afternoon - adding to the chaos that is already my life. Can you believe it? lol. I may never blog again! lol.

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Men - From One Awful Extreme to Another

Yesterday I saw the most ridiculous thing - a not-so-young creature,  in a shirt that was clearly picked out from the children's section, and it was so tight I wondered if the creature could breathe. Not to mention, the overly tight skinny pants which showed the "fullness" of the letter "I" shape.

The creature was a man.

Men's fashion has gone to the other end of the spectrum - from overly baggy, loose clothes - complete with pants falling off the waist - we have now evolved to men in slim to skinny fit clothes. And there is a difference - slim fit I can tolerate, cause it is not meant to be tight but instead is meant to accentuate the man's body.

Men's Slim Fit can be very sexy, if done correctly

Skinny fit in my opinion should be limited to teenagers, still finding themselves, and male models. The end.

Men's skinny fit is not it

This is not a sexy look. I don't think so anyway, so if it works for you and your man, great. The man yesterday was not a tween. This was a full grown homo sapien, with flecks of grey hair, so what were you doing, man?

Slim Fit shirt - very sexy

Like women, age appropriateness is key. The skinny fit look, while great for teenagers and angst-ridden 20-somethings, may not work if you're clockin' 50 - no matter how debonair and handsome you may be. Just don't do it.

Also, I would not wear an outfit that accentuated all the parts of my body I need to work on, so why on earth would a man, not in the best of shape, want to stuff his pudgy bits into a too-tight shirt?

Please, get some guidance on what works for you, size-wise, age-wise etc. Thank you.

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