new dishes at home

I admit
Is difficult to be a housewife
And plan for daily dinner
Repeat the same dishes, it gets boring
Summer is coming, need some cold dishes
New dishes, may fail even when i follow recipes
And I dont really know how to cook french food
Nevertheless, I shall continue to strive!

Teriyaki salmon don & miso soup
Happy to discover how to make teriyaki sauce

Taiwan 3-cup chicken 
Ehhh 
I never tasted it but followed internet recipe
Didnt taste great..

A fruit salad for summer

parc de attractions

Parc de attractions is a big funfair
With rides, games and food stalls
Similar to the annual eurofairs
That singapore used to have
But I think stopped due to accidents
Anyway, parc de attractions here
is known for accidents too.. Opps

Although the biggest parc de attractions
Is near our home (10mins walk)
We only visites it on its last weekend,
It was open since april!

I was very happy to see the big funfair
With old rides eg ghost trains
Exciting rides (we didnt try) eg top gun
Stalls selling candied apples, chirros etc
Games stalls with gifts from dolls to $$

Seeing the old rides
Reminds me of being a child
Where plenty of pasar malams
had rides and games
Made me think of my family
Especially my dad and mum
(cant believe im missing my mum!)

We went for a few rides
Ghost train
Sky Merry go round (x2)
Fast spinning train
(goes forward, backwards and covered)
Rides are affordable at euro 2-5/pax

Many kiddy rides
Lim amazed at
how they can convert indoor playgrd
Into a "ride"
I think my nieces and nephew
Will go crazy here!

We played at some games stalls
We didnt had luck at those
With big presents eg ipad, tv
But husband won a bbq machine
With 1 try of euro 3!
Okay, we can choose dolls or electric ap
So we choose electric appliances
Haha, so practical!
And I won a heart
At the sure-win games stall

And we ate candied apples,
Churros, cotton candy
Before we left for home
And tried our new bbq!

family visits

Since it was a public holiday last thursday
the husband took friday off for a long weekend
so on wednesday night,
we went versailles to have dinner with the parents in law
the most exciting part was...
dinner was stew rabbit!
my first taste of rabbit...
it tasted like a finer type of chicken..
thank goodness i do not need to witness the rabbit corpse
sometimes i find it so disgusting to see the whole rabbit (skinless) at the butcher

husband finds it strange that i never tasted rabbits
but i emphasiwed that is like a dog
we see them more than pets than food
the constant joke about how 1 day he will buy me a rabbit to play
and kill it for dinner
hmm... not funny

then we spent tv and reading time at versailles
and had an early night
because im really sleepy
the start of my sleepiness...

the next day 
we started early with breakfast to celebrate the france's mother's day
which is the last sunday of may
and left for chambord to visit the parental grandparents
it is the first time, we required 2 cars for the 1.5hours roadtrip
and i felt asleep again on the way there

oh, since i posted the photo of cookies on facebook
my sister-in-law commented that she will like to try the cookies
so the day before
i spent 4 hours to bake for the family, paternal uncle, aunt and grandparents
it took so long because of the small microwave/oven 
but im so glad to have the electric mixer from my sister
that definitely speed up the baking process
so, being a good in-law.. haha
i gave everyone a packet of home made cookies!

we had lunch at chambord
my french is still lousy
but i guess its a slight improvement to guess what was spoken
and provide simple responses
suddenly, i got an awakening that i really married a french!
haha..husband hates it whenever i said things like this..
but sometimes; i do forget i married a french or am married,
just feel like we are in a relationship..
but i guess that means i will not take things for granted
and will continue to work hard for the relationship??
hehe..

after the 2 hours lunch, we were back to the roadtrip home
again, i slept through the ride
my in-laws must think i am a pig for sleeping so much..
thereafter, we took the train back to paris
and i was tired again!

okay, the next day my period came and i was suffering with bad cramps for 2 days
that explains my constant sleepiness for the whole trip
we were supposed to go out for the long weekend
but i was constantly in pain and slept almost the weekend away
it is times like these,
i truly appreciate a husband who can cook
and love to cook
that i need not do anything for the weekend
Thank you my dearest husband!

so, that rounds up the last holiday and we need to wait for july...

4 seasons

This is my first experience
living in a country with 4 seasons
especially after 30 years in the hot, hot and hot singapore

my experience of winter
was to constantly wrap myself up with layers of clothes
and the freezing wedding
so, I was looking forward to spring (about march to june)
where i can wear lesser layers
and made use of my singapore clothes

sadly, spring disappointed me
it is still cold!
the average day temperature may rise to 17degrees with sun
but the morning and night were back to below 10 degrees
i am embarassed to admit
that i wore my winter coat a few times
because it was too cold...
okay, i managed to wear 1 layer less than winter
and kept 1 thick blanket away

May / June is better
with more sun and average day temperature of 20+degrees
but i dread waking up in the morning and in the night
where temperature drops to about 10 degrees
now i understand why everyone may be in tee-shirts
but holding a jacket 
when they are out
it is difficult to dress up with 10 degrees difference in a day!

initially i was very fearful of summer
husband has been scaring me that it is hotter than singapore
and can reach 38degrees!
so being kiasu, i went and bought a small fan for our apartment
at anytime ready to blast some needed wind around

the fan has been home for 1month
i have only used it 3 times
first time ... to try
second & third time.. was during the night there was no wind and the room was stuffy,
the fan was blowing at level 1 and not directed at us
-.-"

and it does not help that sometimes it can rain the whole day
and reduce the day temperature to average of 17degrees
anyway summer is due to start 2 weeks later to September
im unsure how i will be able to handle it

like now, even when it is really sunny
the cool breeze makes me put on my cardigan
i guess my body is bad at adapting at the changes in temperature
at least now, is lesser layers of 1 top and a light jacket to go out
but still need to wear stockings for skirts, shorts and dresses...

i know everytime when i complained about the weather
the singaporeans will remind me how grateful i should be
hmmm is a tough choice..
singapore being hot and humid but freedom of clothing and plenty of air-con areas
paris being hot and dry but limited choice of clothing and most malls/ shops have no aircon
that i literally was shopping in sweat..

i shall see how summer will be
and im definitely looking forward to the summer sales that is starting soon!

ps - the day is so long now
sun rise about 530am ( feels like 6.45am in singapore)
sun set about 10pm (feels like 6.45pm in singapore)
i dont look forward to the longer days to come...
my body clock feels strange...

Free french lessons?!

As part of the assimilation process
for foreign spouses
france provide free french, cultural and history classes
up to 400 hours of french classes!
it sounded so good
that i didnt take any french classes back in singapore
or to plan for classes in paris
since it is quite expensive about euro 200 per week

the procedure seems easy
at least on paper :
- arrive paris
- send documents to immigrations to inform my arrival (within 3 weeks)
- appointment with them
- sign a contract of agreement for classes
- medical check up
- class starts!

as usual;
france administration amazed me..
I arrived paris in april, 
sent them the documents within 1 week,
received their acknowledgement
and wait....
and wait..
and wait...

after 1.5 months,
still no news!
i blamed the end april's public holiday
and the may's public holidays (3xthursday holiday = 3 long weekends)
for the slow processing of my documents

since the husband and i are trying to plan for our singapore trip and wedding
we need to know the frequency of the classes and can i take 2 weeks off for singapore
and whether i can join my sister's family in geneva in september...
so we called the immigration and received bad news!

a) ONLY 1.5 months wait?
apparently 1.5 months is not a long wait
according to their criteria
i am to wait up to 3 months 
just to get the appointment
which makes me wonder how many foreign spouses is coming in a day
-.-"

b) no details of the classes
we will only have information at the appointment
but with summer holidays coming (school is closed from july to september)
I guess my classes will start in september
which may mean i will have problem going geneva????

c) classes can be postponed
since we do not know the frequency of the classes
missing a day's class may be a 2hour or 8hour of class
if we are to leave for singapore for 2 weeks
we need to tell them at the appointment
and they will postpone the start of my classes
after the singapore trip
which means more waiting?!

initially we planned that i can learn french for this year
and not worried about jobs etc
but with the waiting and delay,
*i guess the classes will spread over to 2015

arrrrrggggh
hope for good news soon...

new dishes!

Husband made curry chicken!
Maybe we didnt add enough
Of the curry paste
It has the taste of curry
But not spicy
So it was great for me!

I bought frozen dumpling skins
And made dumplings (wantons)!
Taste great for the first try!

I guess 1 step closer to diy xiaolongbao?
Haha

apartment improvement

Our apartment may be small
A simple 2 room apartment
But still comfortable for 2
Especially after reading and hearing
About tiny parisian apartments
With shared bathroom and no cooking area
So im grateful 
for our attached kitchen and bathroom

Since husband stayed here for 6 years
Is a typical bachelor pad
So I started the slow process to convert it
Into a couple home
With diy tricks and projects

From invisible bookcases
To rearrangement of furniture
The biggest spending and project will be
building the new wardrobe, cabinet, cupboard!

Wardrobe is the main focus
Because we only have a 1m wardrobe to share
With 80% filled with husband stuff...
While most of my clothes were hanging 
on a rack
Can imagine how messy it was!

For weeks, We have been searching online for 
an affordable bigger wardrobe
But many times disappointed 
When the prices were too high
Or sold out

In the end,
I made the decision
To buy everything from ikea!

We spent a weekend to build all
And gave the bedroom a new look
Definitely a lot better witg more storage space
No more messy corners of stuff!

With all the new furniture

The room looks brighter with the white

Compared to the yellow walls

I guess the apartnent "renovation" 

Can stop for now....