fuji-yama

That's the name of the restaurant we went to for dinner earlier. And with a name like that, it has to be a Japanese restaurant = restaurant japonais. It's our very first visit to a Japanese restaurant here in France. It's located only a couple of minutes away from our apartment. We've been contemplating to go to this particular eatery everytime we drove by it but finally made it there only today. And that was mainly due to the documentary we saw on tv the night before, about Japanese food and that made us (well mainly hubby) hanker for some sushi spread.

Our dinner and "Oriental" nougat with green tea, as dessert

We wanted to have a takeout in the beginning but finally decided to dine in instead. We were a bit ambitious and ordered more than we could eat, so we ended up with half of the meal packed in a doggy bag - and that would be for tomorrow's lunch. We wanted to order tempura but with just 3 shrimps and some vegetables for 12€, it's not worth it.. we'll be better off if I were to prepare that myself.

Well the menu's not bad although it can't compete with those you'd find in Singapore. Most Asian restaurants here serve watered-down Asian dishes adapted to European palates unused to pungent spices. Dining at this restaurant reminded us of the great time we had with the cousins in the Japanese restaurant but minus the hubbub and fun, of course :)

Us with our takeout

liliputian cars

It's the kinda car you'll never see on Singapore roads. The first time I saw this moving bundle before us, I was thinking, "what's this toy car doing on the road?" Well it does look like a toy car at first glance. Everytime I see these cars on the roads here, I have the impression that it's missing its second half. But no, that IS the whole package. They call it voiture sans permis (car without permit). And what does that mean? Well it means exactly that... you don't need to have a license to drive this car. It's a small quadricycle (mostly around 2.6m long) - just like a smart car but with different technical (and legal) characteristics. Driven on a diesel engine, its maximum speed is 45 km/h and it comes with very restricted regulation. For example, you're obviously not allowed to go on the highway with this machine. So what's the use of this car then? Well it's particularly useful for those without license (duh!) or who has had their license revoked or suspended. This car offers an undeniable advantage over a 2-wheeler sans license like the moped, because of the safety of the driver on the road, a better comfort (possibility of transporting a passenger or cumbersome objects) and a good protection from bad weather.

Anybody (as long as you're 16) can drive it. Having a car here is more a necessity than a luxury, unless you live in the big cities where they have better public transport system. So while waiting to obtain a driving license, les voitures sans permis can be used as a temporary means to get you moving on the road. But don't think this car cost mere peanuts just because it's tiny. It's priced at over 10,000€ for a brand new one.

Speaking of cars, let me tell you that Europeans are big on small cars.. probably due to the demographics of their home market and the topography of their towns. This is especially apparent for a first-time tourist to this continent. Like how an American couple who once asked us for directions and got into a small talk, remarked, "The cars here are really, really tiny!" That was my exact reaction the first time I came to Europe. If sedans and SUVs are a common sight on Singapore roads,.. superminis, hatchbacks, compact MPVs, run rampant on the roads here. The obvious advantage of a small car is that it's real easy to park, especially when you have to do a parrallel which is common on the streets here.

Cars here are dirt cheap if you were to compare it with Singapore. A brand new car costs around 10,000€ to 30,000€ max (double the numbers for a rough amount in Sing dollars). Second hand cars go much lower than that. You can get yourself say, a Peugeot 307 for 4,000€. Just the other day, we saw a car at a mere 500€ on the net.. what? only 500€?! You can buy those in bulk of tens. But of course with that kinda price, it's probably third or fourth (or fifth?) hand.. and also old, ugly, dirty, smelly and with over a hundred thousands of mileage clocked in. Seeing how the cars here are cheap, I guess that's probably the reason why most people don't bother cleaning their cars as frequently as Singaporeans with cars do, cause if the car's really pricy, we'd want to baby it more often. And also, Singaporeans wouldn't wanna be seen driving around in a dirty, bent-up car.. we always want to look good on the road, don't we? Status, baby, status. But here, people won't even bat an eyelid if you drive a car with dents everywhere or with dirt thick enough, you can finger-write on your car.

A small, cute car is fine if you don't have a big family. I wouldn't mind having a smart as a second car (if we have the extra means, of course) cause I find it oh-so-very-cute!.. a girl-car, I'd say :)

chocolate galore

"How much is that baaanny in the window?"... Too much, I'd say! 58€ for a 120g chocolate bunny?! - ouch! As the French would put it, "ça me coûte la peau du cul!" (it cost me the skin of my ass!). But of course that's designer chocolate there, sitting in the display window of a chocolatier's boutique. We pass by this particular chocolate store everytime we do our grocery shopping and I like to admire their pretty displays. Well the number of times we stepped into this store can easily be counted in one hand.

We normally buy chocolates from the supermarket whenever I need to satisfy my sweet cravings. And when you're greeted with rows of chocolaty goodness upon entering a supermarket here, that can only mean two things - either Easter or Christmas is approaching. Since April is around the corner and there're an abundance of bunny/egg-shaped chocolates sitting on the shelves, there's no doubt that Easter's coming. But what do we care about that... we're only happy that there're different varieties of chocolates and other totally sinful sweeties made available for us.. slobber, slobber! Hey, in times like these, you need to drop the calorie-counting for a while and give in to your gluttony instincts.

Well forget about the expensive bunny.. I'm happily settled on the couch munching on my much cheaper (and yummy nonetheless) bunny, even if it's not aesthetically at par with the designer choc but hey, chocolate is chocolate is chocolate :D

changing times

Spring's here and it's that time again when we move the time an hour ahead and I let dear hubby have the honour of changing all the timepiece in our place. So when we woke up at 9 this morning, it's actually 10.. an hour lost there. The time difference between here and Singapore is now at 6 hours instead of 7.

kissy kissy

Now we all know what French kiss is, don't we? Kissing though, goes far beyond that in the French culture. It plays an important role in the French way of life, not only between lovers but in nearly every key relationship. What looks like air kissing or cheek brushing to an outsider is actually a complex ritual that defines the connection between people. Just like how salam and kissing hands can outline the hierarchical relationships in the Malay culture.

So who to kiss? Not anybody and everybody, that's for sure. Kissing is automatic between family relations and among friends and can even extend to friends of friends. Usually women greet everybody they're closed to, with kisses but men only kiss another man if he is the brother or father.. otherwise it's handshakes all around with the other men. Adult social acquaintances always begin with a handshake and only evolve to the kissing stage with time and complicity unless you're being introduced to the girlfriend/boyfriend of your siblings or cousins. In the professional world, manners dictate that you shake hands with your colleagues every morning with a "Bonjour".

Apart from knowing who (or who not) to kiss, there's the question of the number of times to kiss. The most common is 2 times, one on each cheek but depending on which part of France you're from, it can go up to 3 or 4 times. And then there's the question on which cheek to kiss first. Frankly speaking, I'm lost when it comes to this.. I've experienced left to right and the inverse. But I've found out that if you're unsure, the best way to do is to stay immobile and let the other person approach you. A miscalculation can mean an awkward moment or at worst, a collision! And unfortunately, that happened to me before and I ended up brushing the other person's lips.. quelle horreur!!

A kiss can be affectionate or even impersonal... affectionate being a lingering kiss with one or both hands on the other person's shoulders, almost like a short hug. A quick and sans eye contact kiss on the other hand, is deemed cold.. kinda like 'I resent your presence but kiss you out of manners' situation.

The one rule you must know when giving out kisses is to always leave the full lips out of it. Only grandparents and the elderly (and over-eager men) apply them to the cheeks.

Kissing doesn't only apply on the physical front in French manners but also through the phone or mails. It's common to end a conversation (or mail) with a family member or close friend with "Je t'embrasse" (I kiss you) or the more familiar "Bisous".

Well it took me quite a while to get used to the French way of greeting in the beginning. But with time, I feel more at ease and comfortable with it.

Allez, bisous à tous. (Kisses to all)

moody skies

Just when we thought winter has graciously bid its farewell by displaying extraordinary great sunny weather with exceptional temperature for the past few weeks, out it reappeared in a fury yesterday by making its presence felt with heavy snowfall, just before we're about to leave from my in-laws. In two minutes flat, the ground was covered with white flakes the depth of around 3 cm... that really caught us by surprise. So while travelling from east to north, we encountered changing weather - snow, fog, rain, sun, mild hail... kinda like traversing a different zone altogether. And that's the kinda combo weather that can give you a throbbing skull. The temperature dipped from 17 degree last week to 5 degree today.. not good.

Perhaps the winter-maker read my entry about me missing the snow this time and decided to let me have a good dose of it yesterday. True, I went all excited looking at thick clumps of snow falling from the sky.. I even stopped to open my mouth to get a taste of the fluffy flakes on our way to the car. So there, we did see (and swallow) snow after all... that's done and now it's time to welcome spring.

summer prep

What's a good indication that summer's approaching? Well besides the obvious change in the temperature and climate, another sign would be the slew of slimming ads that appear everywhere, lucidly targeted at women who wanna look good in summer clothes and when frolicking by the beach in their bare essentials.

It's amazing to see all the different kinds of slimming products they come up with, to beguile women (and men) into buying them. From fat-absorbing pill to slimming drink to appetite-control-mouth-spray (what?!) - all scientifically proven, mind you. All easy, quick fix, crap stuff, in my opinion.

Sure, it's the time to peel off those layers of thick clothes and shed those build-up 'winter fats'.. and the best way to get rid of those pudginess is through a sensible diet and exercise - the foolproof method.

Well I must say that I'm pretty good at maintaining my weight, though I do have some areas that are in dire need of a good toning up.. so lets get toning, woman!

what the..

So I was on the computer with MTV blaring in the background when I heard this commercial that goes something like this, "Salut, moi c'est Pooky..." (Hi, I'm Pooky...). My ears perked up to that and I did a double take at the tv. It turns out that it's a commercial on downloadable games for cell phones. Okay, so it's not the suggestive curse we know of but it's still weird for a Malay ear to hear the word 'Pooky' being so blatantly mentioned on tv like that but alas, it's just a dog's name.. heh.

early spring

The first hint of spring is already here and spring won't kick in until end this month. I guess the early bloom is due to the mild winter we're having this time around. We didn't get to see any snow this winter. There was a pretty heavy snowfall here for a few days over at our place and that happened while we're vacationing in Singapore, so we missed that marvel. That's too bad cause I like it when it snows - it makes the grey season prettier, though I don't like the cold but you can't have one without the other.

Well soon, spring is here.. then comes summer.. and then autumn.. and then to Singapore we go again! :D

especially for you

to read or not to read

I had the whole day to myself today. Hubby had to go for a meeting in Paris, so the time I usually spent on cooking was used to clear up some mess under the coffee table instead. While doing that, I digged up a couple of French novels that have been buried in there and long forgotten (they're courtesy of hubby's colleague). So I gingerly flipped open the first page and began reading. I'm already through the first chapter and it's pretty engaging - in a womanly storyline sorta way. But I guess I'd probably take slightly longer to finish the book as I have to look up for words that I don't know, although I do get the general gist of it.

Reading is all fine and good but the thing is, once I started on a novel, it's hard to put it down especially if it's a really captivating one. Then everything else around me gets abandoned.. yes, including hubby (sorry, dear!). Well lets see if my French will improve 'remarkably' by the end of the novels.. speaking of which, I should really finish reading up on the French language book that I've acquired when I first came here.. it's been sitting idle way too long. Time to give it some attention.. while I'm in the mood for it... vas-y Julie, lis!

pesky pests

Hate them. Just hate them. There I was, seated on the sofa peacefully mending a loose button on hubby's coat when I noticed to my horror, a creepy crawly moving its feelers a few inches away from my legs. What did I do? I shrieked like a little girl and leapt off the sofa in a bolt.. then I wiggled around, making sure it didn't somehow land on me.. eeee, geli geman seluruh badanku! I was quite a sight there. Never mind if the insect is the size of your pinkie fingernail. Any insects especially the flying ones is enough to squeeze a screaming banshee out of me and send me galloping across the room! I won't be in peace until I see the bloody thing drop dead or out of the house. A sneaking insect on the other hand, could give me a momentary coronary. It's that bad, yes.

One good thing about the cold weather is that most insects go in hiding except for the one I mentioned above... I suspect they come from the wood beams we have in the apartment. I don't even wanna imagine what other crawlies we might find if we were to pry open the beam.. but of course that will never happen.

We always open the windows during spring/summer to let the breeze in but along comes unwelcome 'visitors' as well, most commonly mosquitoes, bees and flies.. and the flies here are mostly the big fat ones - gross! Curiously though, the whole time I've been here, I haven't seen any coackroaches or lizards (not that I'm eager to) and that's a huge plus point.

Well my mom used to say "Ah, bende kecik gitu pun nak takut! Dia lagi takut pada kita." Well Mak, it's not the size that matters.. it's the look and the potential feel of those pests on your body. Ask me to hold any snakes (non-poisonous ones of course) and I'll gladly do it.

choc me up

What melts in your mouth, not in your hand but melts when you run a fork through it? Why.. a melting chocolate cake of course! I've been wanting to make this but found out that they sell it frozen.. so I just had to pop it in the oven, let it bake and voila, out comes a heavenly scented chocolate dessert, ready to be devoured. Best eaten warm and can be accompanied with pouring cream, whipped cream, vanilla ice-cream or just by it-good-old-self. A sure winner dessert.. miam-miam!