friends from singapore

I was looking forward to meet joyce & husband
Never expect a chance to hang out in paris!
They are only here for 3 days
So I was happy to be squeezed
Into their plans!

They arrived on sunday
With stuff from singapore for me!
Thank you for shopping for me!
Husband and I went pick them from hotel
And we head to notre dame!

Is the first time
I see so many tourists at notre dame
Maybw because of summer holiday
And was a sunday
We visited notre dame
And took a long way
To find a cafe that wasnt full!
Ended up in marais
And a small cafe
For some fois gras and cheese
Thereafter a long wait to chatelet
Before they went back for a needed rest

Never expected a long walk
With their jetlag
But hope they seen a new side of paris
And I truly enjoyed the singlish
And ongoing conversation

The day before they returned from swiss
There was a strike in paris
Although their train was affected
We are glad to have helped them
Find another train to paris
It must be scary for tourists
To experienced the strike
Which happens few time per year
Im lucky not to have experienced it

Sadly, they had to buy a new train ticket
And unable to get refund from the station
I think if we spoke french
We could have done it
Times I wished that I spoke fluent french

On thursday, I picked them from the station
And we heard to val d'europe
Which is a station from disneyland
We had lunch at macdonalds
And spent time shopping at the big mall
And the outlets village!

Is the first time I visited
Despite many people told me
About factory outlets in paris..
I think is similar to the one in jb
All brands has about 20-40% sale
Still too expensive for me
But we bought a small long champ
At euro30

Thereafter,
We decide a simple dinner
So we went shopping at supermarket
To get stuff for a simple dinner
And more chatting
In their room

And it was time to say goodbye
Im gonna miss having friends here..
People, come visit me soon!!

KFC

I knew there was kfc
But seems silly to take the metro
Just for fried chicken
And previously in barcelona,
Aven & I saw that kfc only sells chicken tenders
Not the usual chicken pieces
So I wasnt keen

Anyway that day we were near kfc
And decided to tabo some home
Husband cant remember the last time he ate kfc
When we went in, there was a big crowds
Quite chaotic
The menu ranged from burgers to fried chicken 
Fried chicken comes in original and zinger 
Choice of chicken tenders, pieces and hot wings!
Yay to chicken pieces with bones!

Since everyone was buying in buckets
We bought a bucket home
4 chicken pieces (zinger) and 10 hot wings
With ketchup and mayonnaise provided
Is costs euro16++, not cheap..

In the end,
It was finger licking good.. Hehe
The hot wings were more spicy
And the chicken pieces were less spicy than sg
Husband and I truly enjoy the sinful meal
But we make sure no kfc for a while

I am happy with fried chicken
But seems too difficult to order
When I dont speak french..

Ps next day, we suffered the consequences
In the toilet (poo poo)
Due to too much oil and spiciness
Haha

The Bouillon Chartier

After our chocolate museum
We were to the nearby famous covered walkway
Apparently there are a few in paris
Basically a short walkway
With glass roof
And shops along the way
Mainly old book stores

And husband decided to bring me 
to an old old old brasserie
Which I assume a brewery
But was surprised to see a nice cafe!

It is known for cheap food
Eg eggs mayo at €2.80
Fast service, or rather finish your food fast
Sharing table with strangees,
Bill written on the table cloth..

Lucky for us,
We arrived at about 3.30pm
No lunch crowd
And got our own table

We ordered egg mayo and shrimp mayo
But looks like mayo is the main
While egg and shrimp were side
An a beef stew with macaroni
Which I forgot to take photo of it

Nice decor and food
But I can imagine how noisy and uncomfortable
It will be when crowded!

Ps I googled and the place is opened since 1896!

chocolate museum visit

We were considering to visit the science centre
Or the chocolate museum
In the end, we decide a short day out
And went to the chocolate museum

I was happy to be treated with free chocolates
For tasting at the entrance
That we walked a few times back
To grab more chocolates!
I think we were not supposed to do so
But it was relatively empty
That no one cared

However, halfway in our tour
Many tourists group came in
And the place was packed!
I was happy that explanation was in english
And easy to read
It was about history, making 
And making of chocolates in the world
With display of models, videos and materials

We went for the demostration workshop
Which was about 15 mins
On the making of chocolates
Conducted in english & french
The kitchen smell fabulous!
And more tasting of chocolates!

As the musesum was quite packed
And husband was getting bored
We went to collected our hot chocolates!

We paid extra €3 for each hot chocolate
I was a little disappointed 
There was no little cafe
Or sitting area
It was more the shop area to drink them
And it was just a machine disperse hot milk
With a chocolate spoon stirer

But the flavours were interesting
We chose the spicy hot chocolate (mayan)
And spices hot chocolate (spanish)
Glad to be a couple that we can share
And I end up prefering husband's spanish choice

We did shop a littpe
But I managed to persuade the husband
Not to buy any chocolate
A little expensive for my pocket
But overall,
A good place to spend an afternoon!

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...