missing singapore food?

People always ask:
What food will you miss?
At times, I do miss the usual fare
Of zi cha, my mum's cooking, cha siew rice..
But no stronge craving..

However,
I really miss fried chicken!
I realised it has been a long time
Since I ate something fried
(apart from french fries)
Cooking here is mainly grill, panfried, steam..
No deep fried!
I really miss having kfc, popeyes chicken,
Chicken cutlet, nasi lemak chicken wing..
Is great to eat less fried stuff
And kfc is not easily accessible here
But I really crave for it...

Doing it at home will waste too much oil
So in the end
I did an oven baked "fried chicken"
Not really the real fry..
But I guess is better than nothing...
Hope I wont miss anything I cant create!

night at museum

Similar to singapore
France has a night of free museums' visits
"la nuit des musees"
Where most museums were opened till midnight
As we worried for long queues
We only chose to visit
The natual hiatory museum
Which is about animals
We were expecting to see many bones displays
But its mainly animals display
Without english explanation
A little boring
A zoo visit will be better
But I guess is to keep the animal display
In case one day, all animals are extinct..
Is still a wonderful experience to visit a museum at night
Look forward to the next year...

weekend trip - part 3

Friday : etretat - le havre - honfleur

After breakfast in hotel
We left for a last walk along the etretat beach
And took the bus back to le harve
As we planned our schedule well
It wasnt long before the bus came
And we head to honfleur
A little rain but weather was fine

After about a hour
We arrived honfleur
A small city (bigger than etretat) by the sea 
With many boats parked
A little similar to clark quay in singapore

Although we booked the hotel online
They had a cheaper room
So we changed our room to save a little
From euro 102 to 87 per night
Our hotel was built in 16th/18th century!

After we settled down
We went for crepes & oysters
Despite husband said is not oysters seasons
They were fab!

We explored the city
And accidently walked to a hidden museum
Before it closes
Not really intetesting about a composer
But was a good way to spend time
And we were alone 

Then we randomly chose a bistro for dinner
The food was not great
but we were not very hungry
We went back room to enjoy the bathtub and tv
With a bottle of famous rose cidre 

Saturday : honfleur

We woke up to the food market

Selling fresh fruits and vegetables

The greedy me requested us

To buy many food and drink

For brunch in bed room

It was great...

And I tasted the best strawberries

Each bursting with strawberry-ness

-

After the heavy brunch
We climbed up to the cote de grace
And visited the church
Husband never been up there
All thanks to the recommendations 
from the cidre seller
That we saw the beautiful view

We went for a seafood platter dinner
A must-eat when near sea
And went back to our bedroom for tv
Haha

Sunday : honfleur - le havre - paris
We checked out
went for a late breakfast
And it was time for bus back to le harve

We had 2 hours wait for our train
So we went to the le havre shopping mall
Till it was time for us to leave

It was a good trip
Discovering new places in france
I was telling husband I prefer the smaller cities
Than paris
And trying persuade him to change job
Haha

Good to be away from routine
New environment
More quality time
And new memories created..
Look forwar to the next trip!
^,^

weekend trip - part 2

THURSDAY: Le Havre - Étretat

We left the host family at around 1030am
To search for the bus to etretat
Luckily all the buses we required
For the rest of the trips
Were in front of the train station
We had time to take photos of their schedule
So that we wont missed any bus

Although it was public holiday
There were buses to etretat
After buying some stuff to munch
We boarded the bus
Really cheap ticket at euro2
To go another city! Not internal bus!
And 2hrs later we arrived at etretat!

Etretat is a small town near the sea
The only bad news - it was raining the whole day
And we were staying only for a day!
Being near sea + rain,
It was really cold
But we managed to walk around town,
Pebbles beach,
And climbed the famous cliff
No shopping for me
As stuff are touristy and expensive
A raincoat coat is euro60!
But husband was happy with food shopping

Strange that everywhere we went had a casino
A trend near sea? 
Hehe
And the next trend is
Everywhere is selling mussels&fries
Fish soup and crepe
I guess seaside cuisine?

Our hotel room was simple
With free breakfast in room
So we took advantage of it
Reminds me of our venice trip

We decided to splurge

And look for a good restaurant for dinner

Despite good online recommendations

And pricer than others

We were disappointed by the food

And reminded ourselves 

that price does not equal quality&taste

Being a small town with rain

Nothing much was open after dinner

We decided to rest 

And prepare for our next journey the next day

Oh the hotel had a thin blanket  

we thought will not be enough to keep us warm

But it was so warm

That we sweat as we slept with windows opened

We should ask hotel 
about where we can buy the blanket!

weekend trip - part l

In may 2014,
There are 3 thursdays that are public holiday
Husband and I decided to go for a short trip
For 7-11 may.
However,maybe because is long weekend
The train and airtickets were really expensive
So we decided to just go the northeast of france
Normandy area - le havre, etretat and honfleur!

It didnt matter to me 
That these places were near paris
About 2hours train rides away
And Parisians wont stay for more than 2days
I was happy to explore france
Especially on budget
Hehe

Wednesday :paris - le harve
We took an evening train
After husband ended his work
And I made sandwiches for dinner
To be munched on the train
The train was not crowded 
And we arrived le harve around 9pm

As the day is long
Sun was still up
That I didnt felt it was late
But maybe because is close to sea
Where the seine merge with the sea
It was colder that paris

Thank god that husband printed the maps
We quickly located our host family
Is our fast time staying with a host
As we wanted to save money
Husband friend suggested for us to try
Airbnb, a website where people can put up
Their room for rental on nightly basis
And for le havre,
We only have a night to sleep,
Seems too expensive for hotel,
I managed to find this young couple
Renting their room at euro30/ night
So we decided to try!

I think we are very lucky to find this

The apartment was spacious

Well decorated, clean

And they even provided towels!

Just a little weird they had friends over

And we hid in our room

Haha

We settled down

And went for a walk

But nothing much to see

Except some pubs, small garden,

Small part of seine and a casino!

But we were prepared that 

there was nothing much in le havre

So it was a terminal for us

To go etretat and honfleur 

In the next few days

So we ended the night early

And look forward to our day to etretat!

bank account - part 2

After our visit to the bank
We were supposed to receive updates
And letters
Maybe is the public holidays
Maybe inefficient staff
We only received letter
After 1 week
Not in 3days as promised

Another week went passed
And husband emailed the staff
Who claimed all was done
We finally received the letter for card collection

I had to go alone to the bank
As husband was at work
I was praying the staff understands english
But got husband to teach me in french
That im to collect my card

All was well at bank
With my broken french
The staff checked for my card
But didnt find it
I realized all letters were written 
As yishan garde
So told her to try garde
And I got my card!

The staff never asked whether I wanted
The account or card in my maiden family name
So everything is my husband family name
No wonder husband wanted me to add
His family name into my sg id and passport
Is really the norm here
I guess I will do that when my passport is due!

A step closer to be resident!

simple (sinful) dinner

First try at making quiche Lorraine
Shouldnt use my 2pc baking tray
That the content leaked
And I left with a think quiche
But taste alright
Need to improve!
And a fattening carbonara too...
Since both used the same ingredients!