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