jeudi de paris

photo by Cyril Masson 

There's slightly an hour more to jeudi... How do you like this kitchen?

jeudi de paris

Anais left on Monday for a ski trip with her school.  A week before, she started having butterflies in her  stomach.  I think I had elephants stomping in mine.  Contrary to what you may suspect though, I didn't rent a room at the nearest resort to them, equipped with binoculars and an extra large pair of sunglasses and scarves a la Jackie.  

There are two classes, with a total of about 45 children.  The teachers organised this trip totally on their own initiative and time, and although some kind of financial aid could be solicited, it was a self-subsidised paying trip.  Fund-raising events were organised to assist families who could not afford the full amount.   The entire school was involved in the exchange and lending of ski materials to those who were not equipped enough, from boots to gloves to hats etc.

Every night we get a short update on their day's activities and photos on a blog.  They are learning about snowflakes and how to build igloos, but are not ignoring maths classes either!  Tonight they have a boum.  Literally, it means a bang.  But a boum is a word for party, usually for the younger teens.

As I look at the photos on their blog (ok, for perhaps the 8th time now...) I realise that I hadn't posted pictures of that weekend in January we had so much snow in Paris and its surroundings.  Record snow disrupted travel, even closed down the Eiffel Tower. Paris had not had this kind of snowfall since 1987.  I think it was deliberately organised to celebrate our first winter in Paris.  

It had started to snow just before six in the evening and I captured these dusk photos from our bedroom window.  The girls were not yet back from school.  In fact, you can see their school in this photo below ; notice the building on the extreme left background with interior lights on. 

After a couple of hours, the roof tops were starting to be covered in white powder.

The morning after, breakfast on the terrace was not an option.

JB and the girls decided to go ice skating but the rink was closed because it was completely covered in snow!  The employees of the city hall at the rink are usually showing off their skating skills while supervising the public but this morning their muscles were being tested.

Plan B fell into place.  Armed with a camera and carrots (huh?) we headed to the park.

Here are what the carrots are for.  Our first snowman in Paris...looks a bit like a snowpenguin!  Excuse us, we are novices at snowman-making but you can challenge us any day to making sandcastles.

Did I tell you that for Christmas, JB gave me a subscription for Vélib'.  Vélib' is a bicycle sharing system.  The word originates from vélo (bicycle) and liberté (freedom). There is a rental station about every 300 meters.  I don't want to seem ungrateful, but do you think I would be cycling in this weather, freedom or no freedom?  No one else seems to be cycling either this morning, judging from the bicycles parked at this terminal.

The green carts along the quay in the photo on the left aren't rubbish bins if you're asking.  They are green locked up boxes of bouquinistes, who sell books, magazines and posters along the Seine, and are an iconic legacy from the 16th century.

On this same weekend, we were invited to our friends' home in Fontainebleau, about 70 kms out of Paris.  The Lincolns were our neighbours in KL at one point, and they have become good friends.

We undertook a daring expedition to the local boulangerie in the village for bread, bravely defying the forces of nature and its stormy perils.  

No prize for guessing if we paused to sit down and chat.

Here I am warning the children of strange animals and people you may encounter in the woods...Sometimes they may be people you know.

Olivia, who herself was a little girl when we met her, now babysits the girls from time to time.  She is a national sprinter and so very adored in this household.

The kids have it right:  when you get tired walking, devise some games which always involve adults carrying you.

Happy to be back, sitting in front of the fire.  A cosy, quiet game of chess while waiting for the mulled wine. Thank you, Lincoln family for this fantastic weekend.  Dommage (translation: 'a shame') we were not snowed in for the whole week!

Off to the market now.  Mmm, what to cook for dinner tomorrow when Anais comes home?  One more sleep and she is home. No, I'm not counting the days...really.

jeudi de paris

Anais turned 9 recently, hard as it is for us to believe.  

We went to Brussels for the weekend for her birthday to watch the musical production of The Wizard of Oz (a bit bizarre that Dorothy speaks French in Kansas, but never mind)  in which her music teacher was performing.  

We did what any self-respecting tourist would in the home of TinTin: we ate waffles with hot chocolate and french fries with beer and we went to the Belgian Comic Strip Center.

We found shelter from the cold in this sweets shop and were treated to a live demo of artisanal sweet-making.  Needless to say, we didn't leave empty handed, despite my best efforts.

Anais and her friends got invited backstage .  What makes a nine year old's birthday dream come true?  A scarecrow, a tin man, a lion, fairies, a girl called Dorothy and her dog Toto, all wishing you a happy birthday. 

It started to snow while we were in the theatre so all the way back to the hotel a snowfight ensued.  With frozen fingers and rosy cheeks, Anais makes a wish over her favourite butter cake (which  had travelled with us from Paris), a yummy ending to her perfectly perfect birthday.

This mother forgot the candles for the cake, but life is about improvising although I admit, it ain't so easy blowing out light bulbs.  But hey, I figured its never too early to teach your child that life isn't always easy.

Happy birthday big sister!

Some snow left over from the night before called for another battle.

Thinking about this fabulous weekend has given me a craving for a hot toasty waffle as the temperature continues to drop.   Might sneak off and go look for one.    We are expecting a cold snowy weekend.  We will be thinking of our Malaysian friends eating kuih kapit.   Gong Xi Fa Cai, wishing you all happiness, health and fortune in abundance!

jeudi de paris

2012 had been an incredibly memorable year for us;  leaving Malaysia was a big step.  The trip around the world will of course always mark the year.  2013 though, has its own promises.  So we started off the year with old, and new,  friends and lots of cheer.  And lots of style.  Gangnam style... (I decided to leave out the photos of JB and Richard doing the gangnam style so that you can keep the image you have of them being all suave and cool).

Parisians don't know when it first started.  A pair of lovestruck tourists decided to leave a padlock on the metal railing of one of the many bridges across the Seine River, and threw the keys in the water.  A symbol of their everlasting love.  Apparently one night a few years ago, an irked Parisian perhaps, cut through the wires and removed all the locks.  But they reappeared like mushrooms, in all shapes and colours.  Some kiasu ones even use big bicycle locks.

15 minutes from where we live is the Jardin de Plantes.  Founded in the 1600s, the grounds includes four galleries: the Grande Galerie d'Evolution, the Mineralogy Museum, the Paleontology Museum and the Entomology Museum.  There is also a small zoo and a botanical school.  The girls and I spent a whole day there before they went back to school after the Christmas break.  We needed a distraction as we were all missing our friends who left after what was really a magical Christmas together. There was a special exhibition on dinosaurs at the Grande Galerie d'Evolution and the girls took part in an archaelogical workshop, excavating fossils.  You could visit the museums just for the architecture.

January babies have to contend with post-festive blues since everyone is still suffering from the new year's eve hangover and foie gras overdose.   So for JB, cake and tea (and red eggs of course) was all I could manage.  I admit I didn't even make the cake. In France, the galette de rois is traditionally eaten on the Epiphany (though its now available throughout January).  Made with puff pastry and frangipane, the cake has a feve (ceramic trinket) hidden in it.  The youngest family member goes under the table to randomly designate the pieces of cake.  The lucky person who gets the trinket is king/queen for the day and wears the crown that is sold with the cake.  He/she then chooses his/her queen/king.  

We've eaten the galette de rois so many times this year; everyone has had a chance to be king/queen.  We're a right royal family now. 

jeudi de paris on friday evening

Yes, I'm a bit late (so what else is new?) since I guess you all know by now that Jeudi in French is Thursday... We've all been down with the flu.  I'm the last man, well woman, down.  

Christmas seems like such a long time ago, although we only just took down the tree over the weekend.  It was our first Christmas in France, and although it wasn't a white Christmas, it was still magical.  Our good friends visiting made it even more so! The city hall organises free merry go rounds all over the city during the festive season.  Everyone, and I mean everyone (see bottom right photo) gets a chance to ride the merry go rounds.  Ice skating rinks, shop windows (especially in the grand magasins) and decorated streets add to the mood.  

Here are the girls with their soul sister, Akhila.  We made some soh ee for the winter solstice.  The girls used to do that with their grandma and I never knew how to make the dough.  I got the recipe from my mum over FaceTime, and the girls rolled away. 

They've have had years of practice with their grandma!

We went up the Eiffel Tower (a thing you only do with visiting friends, a bit like Batu Caves) and here is the view at 6 in the evening.  You can see the Sacre Coeur Basillica at Montmarte in the distance.

Letters to Santa were sent in time, he delivered, devoured the cookies under the tree, and left us to enjoy the looks on the children's faces on Christmas morning.  Notice shoes under the presents?  Its a French tradition - you leave your shoes under the tree and Santa places your presents over them so you know which presents are yours.  I guess Santa's not big on labelling, he just knows which presents are for whom (who/whom?).

Christmas day lunch was hosted by my sister-in-law Clotilde in her charming four-storey house.  The subject of much discussion at the meal was the wine and the cheese.  Which is a typically French thing to do at the table.

It always take visitors to make you explore your city.  And we sure packed in a busy programme with our visitors.  On the ferris wheel at Place de la Concorde, we took in amazing views of the city.  Shopping stints at the Marais and then for some culture, guided visits to the Opera Garnier and a night out at a flamenco ballet for the adults.

Blending in with the locals.  Not.

Of course, no visit to France is complete without a visit to Chateau Versailles.  Every other tourist must have thought the same that day because they were all there. Note to future visitors to France:  if you have a friend with a fancy house a la Chateau Versailles in the suburbs of KL (which are plenty), arrange a photo shoot there and we can be forgiven to believe its the real thing.  Essentials: crystal candelabras, lush carpets and tapestries, lots of gold and marble and there you have it - voila!