Friday, June 28, 2013

Making noodle with Si Fu

My dad was making noodles and this time he has a student. They communicated with hand gestures. Or the Si Fu would pass messages to my mother, and my mother would rush to get someone for translation. A fun and harmony process.

My parents showing the student the size of the noodles that they prefer.

Under the guidance he started cutting.

Noodles in process.

The fruit of hard work.

Making more since we have to feed so many people.

We got fried noodle for lunch and loh mee for dinner.

Hubby also made ravioli for my family.

Our dessert : tropical fruits. My BIL bought us some durians.

Hubby made us some choux patisserie. We stuffed it with durian, and apparently it was yummy. Copy right reserved please hehe.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Food Trip

We have been only here for 4 days and my family has already pampered us with so many scrumptious Malaysian foods. My mother has been making some of my favorite foods, just say that my stomach would never has chance to get emptied. Just to name a few of them : bah kut teh (herbal pork soup), sticky rice dumpling, pohpia (wrap with jicama), satay, roti canai, chai kueh, curry chicken, Indian rojak mee, different kind of soups, vegetables and fruits.

Homemade chai kueh
Homemade curry chicken
Roti Canai
Satay
Durian
Lah-lah (small clam)
Pandan chicken
Homemade meal
As I said they love the raclette cheese, they have been baking them to go with different food.
Even a simple bake cheese is good.

I think I'm going to gain a lot of weight by the end of my stay.

Arrived in Malaysia

We have arrived safely in Malaysia.
We are welcomed by my families and also, the haze.
Indonesia is burning their forest again, and this time Singapore got their share, the pollution level is at a dangerous level in several areas.

Anyway, back to the trip.

It was a long trip. We left home around 5am French time (11am Malaysian time), and arrived the next day around 3am French time (9am Malaysian time). A total of 20 hours' trip using all mean of transport : car, bus, tramway, train, plane, car. Aelig kept repeating : car, bus, tramway 3 times (including the transit in the airport), plane. And she asked to go on a boat.

At the immigration, one officer told us to go through the non-EU line so we could stay as a family. We met another officer and we wanted to switch to the EU line but he said that since I'm a non-EU citizen I would need to use the non-EU line in order to get a stamp on my passport. While queuing, we met another officer who got us passing through the long queue since we were traveling with a young kid. That was nice!

With Aelig growing up, it is easier to travel with her. She slept quietly on her seat instead of stretching her legs and moving on us. No more diaper, no more milk powder, no more pacifier. She watched "A life of bug" over and over again, and required the headphone at all times. As for me, I watched three movies : Caught in The Web (Chinese), I Love Hong Kong 2013 (Cantonese) and Miracle in Cell 7 (Korean). I did sleep but couldn't sleep as well as before. I remember I used to sleep through the whole trip from LA to KUL 18 hours straight. Hubby was all happy to be in the double decker Air Bus 380. It has big screen with better quality, he was excited to eat some Nasi Lemak and Beef Rendang, and drink some Tiger Beer!

Touched down in KLIA.

So what was in our luggages?

Crazy Asian ladies loving their LV and Long Champ bags.

Hubby wishes to dive. We are heading to an Island soon but the weather forecast predicting thunderstorm throughout our stay, thing is not looking good.

And, raclette cheeses, my family is addicted to them...


Saturday, June 22, 2013

Training in Paris : Food and gathering

Early this week I was having training in Paris. I took the opportunity to arrive a day earlier to meet with friends and try out some Asian food.

A friend brought me to try out the Dim Sum in Chinatown last time but it was fully booked on a Sunday afternoon. I really wanted to try it since we don't have Dim Sum in Nantes. The food was authentic, I loved their Cheong fun. Here is their address:
Restaurant chinois Chinatown Olympiades
44 avenue d'ivry
75013 Paris
Tel : 01 45 84 72 21

 Unfortunately we had some sound pollution as a group of Vietnamese were dancing and singing Karaoke, on a Sunday afternoon.

 In the evening I met with my classmates who are now working in Paris. It was nice to catch up with them.

The food was ok. The service was bad. I asked a waiter to take a photo of us and he said he was busy and would come back later but he never did. And, they only accept one restaurant ticket per person. I was a bit surprised as I didn't know that restaurants could limit the use of restaurant ticket as payment.

I know I know I'm going to Malaysia soon. Friends discouraged me to try out Malaysian food in Paris. Well, I don't go to Paris often and we don't have Malaysian restaurant in Nantes. So, I figured I would just try it out for once. I went with my coworker and she loved it. Well, the satay was probably reheated but the sauce was quite tasty.

And, I finally got to eat Nasi Lemak in France. The shrimp sambal was excellent. Under the nice ambiance I slowly introduce the Malaysian culture, language, and cuisine to my coworker. Here is the restaurant:
Legenda de Malaisie
46, rue de Trévise, 75009 - Paris – France
Tél. : +33 (0)1 47 70 87 07Fax : +33 (0)1 40 22 00 41

The training was carried out in La Defense, an area with many headquarters of international companies. We dined out with the trainer once, and felt that 23€ a meal was too expense with the quality of food provided. We decided to venture into other restaurants in the big shopping mall. They have a huge variety to choose from. I got sushi and Chinese for lunch. The service was fast and efficient. That compensated the lousy weather with grumpy sky.

Three days of metro, training, dodo, we had had enough of it and was so eager to go home. Yes home sweet home.

Getting ready for the big trip home

We are ready for our annual big trip to Malaysia.

Guess what are inside this bag. There are mostly hubby's gear.

And this one? None of the items here belongs to me. Checked the Airlines and discovered that each of us can check in 30kg. Hope all of them would arrive safely in Malaysia.

Saturday, June 08, 2013

So what about mother's day?


One Friday evening while picking up Aelig, we came home with a container with three paper flowers and a piece of paper printed with a poem. Well, obviously the school made some art work with the kids for the mother's day. She was repeating some phases with gestures, I realized later that it was the poem:

Devine ce que j'ai caché
(Guess what I'm hiding?)
Un bisou pour la joue
(A kiss for the cheek)
Un baiser pour ton nez
(A kiss for your nose)
Plein de fleurs
(Plenty of flowers)
Pour ton coeur!
(For your heart!)

It was sweet to see her repeating it over and over again for me. As for the paper flowers, she presented them to me, but claimed that it remained hers!

Question: Do you keep these art works at home? At 3 years old she is accumulating tons, I wonder how many I need to collect over her schooling years.