　おいしい！

Monday, January 26, 2009

Happy Niu Year everybody!!! I guess all of you are having a blast right now and stuffing your faces with pineapple tarts ya? I'm with you guys and I'm quite sad being left all alone on the other side of the globe. Sob sob. I know, can't cry during New Year. I'm kind of happy though seeing that my cousin posted some pics of the extended family celebrating CNY eve together. Even though physically I'm not there, I miss you guys and my heart is left there and basking in the festivities as much as you guys are. Ok, this is so emo... I should quit emo-ing.

Had the nicest birthday celebration that I could ever asked for! Kiba planned a surprise party for me on Saturday night and to think that I suspected nothing. Some background info : usually I could read Kiba like a book and he could never really spring a surprise on me, except this time! A million kisses for my sweetie who went through all this trouble organising it and many thanks for those who drove down to Normandy. You guys really warm my heart. Bisous bisous!

Apparently it went like this. Siti came over on Thursday and got told of the plan that night while I was in the shower. She was a neat distraction alright. The weekend proceeded as per normal as we return to Normandy every weekend. Kiba wanted to go to the chinese restaurant in Normandy and told me that he had a craving for chinese food for the past 2 weeks. I even chided him for wanting to bring Siti to eat chinese food in France instead of authentic french cuisine.

I was told that it would just be the 4 of us who were going for the dinner. Me, Siti, Kiba and Greg. Colette was sick unfortunately and thus she could not join us for the meal. Upon reaching the restaurant, we were told that it was full house that night and there were no more available tables. Oh my god. This can't really happen on my brithday, can it? At this juncture, I spotted Greg from the corner of my eye, already seated at the table and I heaved a huge sigh of relief! Phew! We had a table after all.

I must have been a bit blur cuz it took me a moment to register that there were other people at the table as well. Hm.. the faces look rather familiar... Oh. My. God. OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG! These are actually my friends! "What are you guys doing here?!" I had asked, completely astounded! Hahahaha, I really appreciate the fact that they took time off to drive down from Paris to celebrate for me! You guys are such a sweet lot. And u too, kiba kun! =)

I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful hubby and wonderful friends like that. Really really touched. Thank you for making my 26th bdae such a joyous one. The nine of us played Balderdash till the wee hours of the morning, 3am+ and it was quite hilarious indeed.

Thank you one and all! Hontoni arigatou gozaimashita!

Labels: bdae, CNY

2:33 pm　うまい！Y

Thursday, January 22, 2009

This is the first year that I won't be spending CNY in Singapore and I'm already feeling the blues...

I'm always a big fan of Chinese New Year. I love the festivities! The whole ambience being ri ri nao nao and how everyone's scrambling for the New Year cookies! How my aunts will go around offering me more and more love letters, bak kwa, kueh bolu, sweets, chocolates! The new clothes, the feeling of a beginning of a new season, the gambling, the ang pows, the sounds of drums of the dragon dance troupes all day long! The glorious glorious food as we tuck in together with so many other people of the extended family! I LOVEEEEE Chinese New Year!!!!

Yet here i am.... in cold damp Paris. Wet roads, chilly winds, grey skies. It's so depressing that I can't breathe. The cookies at the small chinese super market look suspicious and totally unlike the ones that I eat back home.

This won't be the last year that I'll miss CNY I know for sure. Sad. As I see CNY decorations in pictures of people's houses, I'm sad that I won't be there to decorate my parents' house in SG. The lack of the festive ambience, the knowledge that I'd be working on the first and second day of CNY, in a world so far removed from SG, in an office filled with french people, with no one understanding the true meaning of CNY, others thinking that it's just bank holidays for the asian countries make me want to book the first flight back and bask in the New Year festivities, celebrating joyously with the rest of my family...

Labels: chinese new year, sentiments

1:17 pm　うまい！Y

Thursday, January 15, 2009

What a day.

Yesterday evening, I received another "slap" in my face since arriving in France.

It was at the freaking Etam outlet at the shopping centre "Italie 2" where I was looking at this cashmere pullover that caught my fancy. It's not often that cashmere is available to folks like me and since there was a 50 pct discount on the item, I seriously wanted to look for a colour that I like.

To my right was this young sales assistant, probably around 19-20, who was pulling out the miscellaneous items that shoppers hanged any-o-how over the rack in front of her. Thus I approched her:
"Bonsoir"
"Oui?" She replied friendly enough while continuing to toss out the mismatched items on an available trolley.
"Ou se trouve le rayon qui a des pulls comme ça?"
"I DON'T SPEAK ENGLISH" she snapped while flashing me her hand as a "stop" gesture or something. "Tout est là!"
"Ok... tout est là..." I repeated shocked beyond words.

Wah. What a freaking bitch.

The 3rd time I'm gonna get this in my face, I'm gonna give the person a tight warm slap right across his/her freaking face.

It's always when you don't master a language, you find yourself at a loss to give out the right rebuttal. Kiba said that it'd be funny to say "Moi non plus" i.e. (Me neither)

Well, at least I'm not the one arranging and re-arranging messy clothes everytime someone misplaced them. Pathetic little bitch.

Such a bad aftertaste in the mouth. Yucks.

On a happier note, Kiba brought me to a restaurant specialising in raclette and tartiflette. They are both very cheesy and potato-ey dishes which can give us carbo overload and nice spare tyres around our already-not-so-hard tummies. Initially I thought we'd share the tartiflette as I could not expect myself to finish it. However, Kiba had an equally huge serving of raclette and I was left on my own! Woe is me. I can still sense the reblochon cheese bubbling in my stomach. *Burp*

Went to watch "Les Femmes sont Folles" ("The Women are Crazy") and it has to be the worst theatre play that I have ever seen in the history of theatre in France. The three actresses gave me a feeling that they were trying too hard and the comedy ended up crass and not funny at all. The set looks cheap and thrown together and characters were all too one dimensional. The jokes are very colloquial and I had difficulty catching them. That's perhaps one of the reasons why I don't find it funny. It's such a huge contrast to "Le Clan des Divorcés" which was the most wonderful play I've watched in France. Such dichotomy. All the actresses slipped into their characters effortlessly like a glove and it was outright bursts of laughter from the start to the end of the play. Haven't laughed so hard in such a long time. Highly recommended if you understand French and are in Paris at the moment.

Looking forward to watching "Grease" next week. It's adapted and is now the french version with an all french cast. I'm in my theatre phase right now. Life is too short to let it waste away, which brings me back to the dilemma of me and my contract with the bank. I'm currently wasting in front of my comp screen, rooted to a desk and a telephone that rings but brings no good tidings.

I need a massive change in my life. I wanna go travel. I wanna do something else. I wanna I wanna I wanna I wanna I wanna really really really wanna zigazig ha.......

Labels: biatches, life, Ponderings, theatre

4:05 pm　うまい！Y

Monday, January 05, 2009

It hasn't snowed so much in Paris till today. It's kinda romantic to be walking along tree lined boulevards with the snow falling gently on a quiet Monday morning. My snow boots have been put to good use. =) Now's time to trudge back home in those trusty boots again!

Labels: snow, winter

5:20 pm　うまい！Y

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Was at a loss how to spend the New Year countdown. Think I’m really overaged for countdowns but a little part of me just wanted to mix with the happy New Year crowd to usher in the New Year. Thus came the unfortunate decision to go down to Sacre Cœur at Montmarte and the Champs Elysées. It must have been one of the suckiest, blandest new year countdown of my life. Although you know how they say that it’s not the place where you are in, but rather the people with whom you are with that counts. But however true that is, the place plays an important role as well. Frankly, the Parisian countdown of 2008 is just blah. Nondescript. Of course that’s for someone gian ben like me who would not fork out 500 euros per pax for a romantic dinner along the Seine River and a private chauffeur to drive you around in a limousine for a soirée privée around Paris. Evidently, if you are like Paris Hilton with all the money to splurge, you could go to Lido and enjoy a joyous evening with free champagne, hot sizzling Brazillian babes dancing in front of you, complete with foie gras and escargots or any of the top exclusive clubs for their private parties. Alas alas. Tong ren bu tong ming. No money = sucky new year ? Yeah, I guess that seems to be a sad fact of life.

I was looking forward to see fireworks and that explains the hike up Sacre Cœur. The ludicrous English websites REALLY need updating as Paris hasn’t had fireworks for her New Year countdown for the last few years ! It’s evil to raise people’s hopes and bulldoze them all over. There is no fireworks in Paris at all ! If you are talking about the sirens of the police, the ambulances or the fire engines to have some « light », sure you have them. Which country celebrates New Year without fireworks ?! Which one, which one eh ?

I know they hike up prices during this kind of occasion. That’s THE commercial gimmick that is set up to do us consumers in. I thought the Christmas menu was bad enough but for St Sylvestre (the 31st Dec is St Sylvestre in France), the menu is hiked up four to five folds ! « Pitié » One might say. Why couldn’t we enjoy a nice, gourmet meal for a reasonable price ? Why must we be left bleeding dry just because we would like to eat slightly better fare ? Around the Sacred Cœur area, the cheapest bowl of onion soup costs 6.50€ ! Most of the St Sylvestre menu are 150€ and above. We did find others that are cheaper but what’s the point. I would not bend my principles and play into the hands of the evil restaurateurs and commerçants ! Anyway, as Kiba says, I’m never hungry. Haha. Thus I left the poor guy famished for the most part as I marched around looking purposefully for the hot wine stands I never found.

It is written on those misleading not-updated-for-a-million-years-website, that there would be stands selling champagne and hot wine that are as cheap as water. Yeah. Like real there were. I kept my eyes peeled, zooming in on any semblance of a wine stand to no avail ! There were no wine stands at all ! Alas alas. Why do they want to cheat my feelings ? My feeling plunged as the night wore on.

Utterly disappointed with Sacre Cœur, I decided to change venue and make our way to the Champs Elysées. Kiba nudged me asking if I want some crêpes or waffles and I shook my head. Poor him ! He wanted to share them with me and yet I let him starve. I’m already blogged down by a full stomach of disappointment, how could I stomach anything else ?

On the metro on the way to Champs Elysées, there were the youngsters who were already tipsy at 9pm. Of course too much alcohol is not good. There were a few people here and there wielding their own bottles of champagne and red wine, swaying precariously with their wine glasses in hand. There was this young lad, too drunk for his own good who tried to hit on the girl standing beside me. « Here, for you !» he cooed, extending his arm reaching out to hand the rose to the girl. With a « Non, merci.» the girl rejected him curtly before turning back to her friend. Ho la ! At this point, a splash of champagne towards the girl’s front, with the rest of it dripping over her bag and shoes. The french girl yelled and stormed out of the metro soon after with the prankster giving chase. Sigh, was this for real ? People ! Give me a break.

Had to squeeze with the huge horde of people at Charles de Gaulle Etoile station and it really was a nightmare. Note to self : Never go out for countdowns EVER !
Finally made my way out onto the grand boulevard on the Champs Elysées and saw the beautiful, twinkling, bluish-white lights that were hung on the trees. It’s funny how barren trees could look beautiful like that. But was there any New Year atmosphere ? Apart from the fact that there were many, many, MANY people, the sad truth is, no. Zilch. Nada. It just feels like any typical December evenings since the lights were put up. Beautiful ? Yes. Joyous ? Atmospheric ? Not really.

My hot wine radar went into action, scanning, scanning and always scanning. I just need one glass to lift my spirits. But then, tidak ada. Zen zen nai ! Rien ! Zero. Kiba tapped the shoulder of a nearby gendarme asking if he knew there would be any hot wine or champagne stands. He gave a smirk saying he’d be very surprised indeed if there were, as alcohol was prohibited on the Champs that night. What…………. ?!

The end of the evening saw the two of us hunching, shoulders down with disappointment (mine more exactly as Kiba doesn’t drink) as we made our way home. Great. Simply great. What a great way to end 2008 eh ?

Post note : But Kiba made it alright again ! He made HOT WINE specially for me as you can see from the entry below ! My baby is the best !

Labels: new year countdown

12:37 am　うまい！Y

Saturday, January 03, 2009

YAY! KIBA made hot wine for me!!! Yippeee!! I love my big, costaud munchkin to bits! muaaaaaaaaackz!

Labels: drinks, happiness

8:45 pm　うまい！Y

Here's to a lovely 2009 ahead. May this lovely year bring all the love and happiness that one can enjoy to infinity and beyond. May all the unhappy things rest in the past and all good souls move on.

A big thank you to the blogskin community providing such lovely creations for all to partake in the sharing. May the talents of the designers shine.

In 2009, I have only one simple resolution.

And that is....

To be happy.

Labels: New Year resolutions

5:45 pm　うまい！Y