First day of L'ARTIGIANO

Today a lot of people took my name card, but they cannot find any information about the decoration stuffs in the blog.

Here is my explanation. This time I brought new stuffs to Milan besides clothes, which are home decorations with oriental style. These decorations are very nice, every piece is art. But they occupy all the space in my stand, so I cannot find a tiny space to show my clothes anymore.

Here I just give a brief introduction of these decorations. All these pieces are from a young designer in China. Most of them are made of stone powders from mountains in a south region of China, named GuangXi. They are all handmade, very delicate. The style is what I appreciate, very orient, but interpreted in a new way. Below are some pics of these decorations, have a look.

People are asking if I have a shop in Milan. The answer is 'No'. Also there are no other shops selling these decorations in Italy. At the moment I'm not ready yet to sell online, due to the transportation difficulty.

Cooking course: Stir-fried Chinese cabbage with Shitake mushroom

I'm leaving for Milan tomorrow. For a crafts fair called L'ARTIGIANO IN FIERA 2008. It's a very big international crafts fair, I assume it is the biggest one in Europe at least. Let's see how it is!

I made a nice dish today O(∩_∩)O, it is a common dish which I cook quite often. Both Alex and I love a lot!!! Very simple to cook, check it out now!

Recipe:

1) Two Chinese cabbages, two dried Shitake mushrooms. (They are always sold at Chinese supermarkets near Martim Moniz. Sometimes I can also find this kind of cabbage at the Bio Market at Jardim do Princípe Real, and there are also fresh Shitake mushrooms, they can be used instead of the dried ones in this dish, but you should put more if you use fresh ones, coz they shrink a lot after cooked.)

2) Tear the cabbages into pieces, soak the dried mushrooms in boiled water, for at least 1 hour, till they get very soft.

3) Cut the mushrooms into slices.







4) Put some olive oil in the wok. After it's warm, put in the cabbages.







5) Add the mushrooms, and some salt, stir-fry.

6) After the cabbages shrink, and some water coming out, READY!

Chinese traditional fabric available

I don't remember how many people have asked me for this traditional Chinese fabric, with phenix and peony graphic, most popular in red. Finally I found it! Now you can order it online :-)

About my real shop

Some people are asking me when my real shop can be open. I'm sorry that you still have to wait for some time. I did say that probably I would have my shop at Bairro Alto, however in the end it didn't work out because of this, that, bla bla bla...

But I never give up the idea of the shop. Alex is still waiting for the answer of work in Porto, so I have to wait too. Then I'll see where to have the shop, Porto or Lisboa. Let's be more patient...