revival

My first entry this month. Well I guess it's high time for me to update my blog. Am I losing steam on this thing? nooo, just been lazy.

So the winter sales has ended and I'm happy to say that I'm richer by not one (almost three) but two pairs of shoes, a top and a trenchcoat... and it's all thanks to my dearest hubby (merci chouchou :). We got some stuff for the apartment as well.

Besides that, it's been raining almost daily over the past weeks. Days are wet and grey and cold.. pretty gloomy... can't wait for spring to come and then the summer vacation.

selamat bertunang

My hubby and I would like to wish my dear brother and his fiancée a "Happy Engagement!" We sorely regret for not being there on this special occasion and to be with everybody and eating all the good food and be merry... but we definitely plan to go for the big day.

So have a great engagement, you guys.. we're really happy for the two of you! :)

julie's cuisine

I dunno why but I was on baking mode today. I've made crab quiche and apple crumble back to back and it felt good.. really. There's no special occasion or anything like that.. maybe it's due to watching too many cooking programmes eversince we have the cable.. that's it, lets put it at that.

So I've spent around three and a half hour in the kitchen preparing those food from scratch and it didn't tire me at all. I guess the trick is to enjoy and have non-stop music blasting in the background. Well it's worth all the effort to see my cooking turn out nice and perfect in the end... and nothing beats the smell of freshly baked food.. mmm-hmm. Now it's time to DIG IN!

food for thought

It's amazing how the taste bud can adapt to certain food quicker than you can say eeuuurghh! That's what happened to me when it comes to those array of food in the photo. I've never eaten any of those prior to my arrival in France.. they were all foreign to me. I didn't take an immediate liking to any of them when they were first introduced to my taste bud but I became a fan soon after.

Escargot, asparagus, pickled gherkins, smoked salmon, olives.. they're eaten as an aperitif and/or entrance to a meal. I've always been adventurous when it comes to food and I belief in trying out 'new' food no matter how strange sounding or looking they might be, before passing judgement... else you never know what you might be missing.

let the winter sales begin!

Well, the sales actually kicked off about a week ago and it'll last for a month. So it's now time to thin our wallets and let the registers go ke-ching! We do have quite a long shopping list though we won't be getting all of them at one go.. well they're more of a luxury than necessity (we're upgrading things around the apartment). We've started the ball rolling by purchasing a new oven which is part Christmas present. Next in line would probably be a new cell phone or an upgraded set of home theater or a new home phone.. or maybe a new pair of sole comfort for moi-même (hint hint hubby)... that, would give me a greater satisfaction :)

get wired we must

It has been over a week that our computer was suspended of any online activity much to my chagrin. It's now finally reconnected and boy, am I re-lief! This period of online intermission was due to the switching from one internet provider to another. We're now subscribed to a better operator that has much more to offer for approximately the same amount of subscription fee. So we now have a speedier gonzalez of an internet connection, have access to over two hundred channels on the cable (no more weekly DVD renting now?.. perhaps), we have unlimited phone calls at no extra costs and calling Singapore now is free of charge (and that has to be the winner). We're using a WiFi system that allows us to transmit data from the tv to the computer and vice versa.. the wonders of technology. Well I think we're gonna stick to this operator for a (long) while... and with the newly installed RAM (a total of 768Mo now), our computer is in tip top performance.

It's great to be able to connect to the world again.. it's really inconvenient to live without the internet in this age and time... and being without it for almost two weeks felt like eternity. Well I applaud those genuises who've created this wonderful technology... what we'd do without them.

bonne année, bonne santé!

That means happy new year and good health.. and I think good health is the best thing you can wish for for the new year.

We're back home on Monday after spending the week at my in-laws. Let me recap on last week's winter vacation. Well it was generally a lazy week practically spent in front of the idiot box. The return of my brother-in-law was much celebrated and he brought along with him part of a souvenir store, what with all the things he bought for the family and friends.

It snowed heavily the day after Christmas.. we had around 15cm depth of snow. We woke up to see a blanket of snow over the street and it was such a pretty sight.. it exuded a sense of serenity and a touch of that magical winter wonderland. Winter is so much cheery when there's snow.. otherwise it's just cold, wet and grey (pretty depressing). Too much snow on the road can be very dangerous for drivers though, as it can be really slippery and you have to watch your step too especially when you walk over flatten snow. What I like best is to step on fresh snow and listen to the crunching sound of the flakes. We had one of the coldest days last week when the temperature fell to -11°C though the temperature improved a couple of days before new year when the rain poured and washed the snow away.

The new year started out on a tad bad note when the brother got our car into a minor accident due to the slippery road. After a change of the front wheel and bumper, the car rolls on perfect, safe for a dented front right face that still needs to be worked on.

We encountered thick fog during the ride back home. It was the first time I've experienced such thick fog on ground level. We couldn't see beyond 100m and we had to drive real slow. I suddenly thought of the American Werewolf in London during that foggy period. It was indeed a perfect backdrop for a scary movie. Oh I thought of the Care Bears too, imagining that must be what it's like to live in the clouds.

So we're finally back in our home sweet home.. I'm happy to be back home mainly because it's less colder here.. plus, nothing beats the comfort of your own home.