Durian : king of the fruit or shit

The durian season lasted longer this year. Prices dropped due to oversupply.
This is great news for durian lovers in Malaysia.
There is a Malay saying : "Durian runtuh, sarong jatuh", which means when durian falls, the sarong falls as well (as people would pawn their sarong in order to buy durian).

I for one is a big durian fan. It is definitely the king of fruits for me. Unfortunately, the prices soared and this fruit has become too pricey or you could even consider certain species (Musang King...) as luxury fruit.

Oh I miss savoring durian at those all you can eat buffet durian store with friends and family.

In France, we can buy frozen or whole durian but they are expensive and less tasty (imported from Thailand). I was watching Fort Boyard (French Amazing Race) the other day, they were at the "eating awful thing moment", it was then I wonder if they would put durian as awful thing to eat. And bingo! The chef introduced durian to the contestants and asked them to eat durian puree. I was like, let me eat all of them! Most of the contestants puked, they had to close their noise with their fingers before eating. 

This shows how much your environments shape your tastes.

Milk formula : a real necessity or a result of marketing

Recently we had a gathering with friends in our place. I told some of them how parents attitude were so different between Malaysia and France regarding milk powder. At the end of the conversation, I told them that my kid has refused drinking milk before turning three, and I still had some milk powder left. When they left, one friend took the two tins of milk powder, saying that she would feed her kids with them. If they become sick, she would stop. These powder were already opened and on the tin it stated that it would be preferable to finish the powder within a month. This friend is a doctor.

These conversations just brought back my observations about how crazy the parents were in Malaysia regarding the quality of milk powder. They are willing to pay exorbitant price for a tin of milk powder. They believe that kids should continue drinking milk everyday until around 10 years old.

Several years ago I went back to Malaysia with my eldest daughter with a tin of Nestle Nidal. It didn't last for two weeks so I went to shop for Malaysian milk powder. I was so surprised to discover the price. A tin of PediaSure, weighted 900g, costed around RM50, wherease Nestle Nidal costed around 12€ at that time. So they were almost the same price as exchange rate was 1€ to RM4.4. But considering the minimum wage was around RM900 vs 1000€, the milk powder in Malaysia costed almost 5 times more than in France. And, low income group did not hesitate to buy expensive milk powder for their kids as it was considered necessary to help kids grow. I didn't believe at all that expensive milk powder could provide better nutrient, so I went for a cheaper brand. And last time I went back, the PediaSure milk powder has surged to RM90 per tin due to weak RM against USD.

When comparing the ingredients between the two brands of milk powder, I didn't see much different. Yet Malaysians were so crazy about the US imported milk powder.

They were huge price range in Malaysia for these products, it could go from RM20 a tin to RM100. These were not the case in France, milk powder was usually between 10€ to 20€.

Even organic milk powder didn't cost as much as those in Malaysia.

The milk powder companies were not allowed to advertise in maternity wards. So parents choose one according to their preference. I chose Nestle because it was the only brand I knew, and luckily both my kids accepted it without problem. I had heard that some parents had to change several brands as their kids refused to drink certain brand.

Milk powder is a necessity for babies so it has huge market potential in every country. In China, due to the one child (now two) policy, parents fight to provide the best milk to their kids. Due to the scandal that put down their own local milk powder producers, most of the Chinese parents buy their supplies from overseas. I have known of several Chinese friends here working part time as resale, they buy milk powder in French supermarkets and send to Chinese customers in Mainland China. Hong Kongese were mad at their Chinese counterparts as they smuggled the milk formula from the shells while visiting, leaving the local mothers facing the shortage of milk formula.

My mother had asked me several times how could we afford to let go of milk for our kids. I always explained that in French healthbook for kids, kids need dairy products which could be obtained not only from milk, but cheese, yogurts... so milk formula was not compulsory after they turn one or two year old. However, France had had the period where milk was forced into every household, and the real reason behind was that the milk industry was producing too much milk so their lobbyists influenced the government to force the milk consumption. 

Now I wonder, is the consumption of expensive milk formula in Asian countries, partly, or largely contributed by the excessive advertising and marketing campaigns in the that region?

When walnut is a dessert

My in laws have been to our place often to help with the DIY projects. When they were here, we usually had a tapas type of Saturday dinner. Over the time I had made almost the same kind of food.

 We usually have these...

 This when I was in the mood to make something visually attractive...

 My in laws brought this because they were cheaper in their place...

 Stuffed mushroom with something, I tried to alternat the stuffing..

.

I made this, I would like it to be a bit more chruncy, still need improvement...

So one day I was putting all kind of appetizer on the table, and since I know my MIL loves walnut, I purposely put it right in front of her. She was eating everything else except walnut and cheese. I felt weird, but when they had finished other stuffs they moved on to cheese. Then I realized they were following the appetizer-main course-cheese-salad-dessert-coffee kind of sequence. And when we moved on to dessert, I saw my MIL eating walnut, finally. I was like, oh!!!! Walnut in the shell is dessert!!!! When the shell is removed packing with nut mixed it is appetizer.

And I only realized this after living more than 11 years in France??? Oh my.

PS : In Malaysia we can jump from appetizer to dessert then back to appetizer and cheese. So, that's why I still couldn't get why eating in sequence is so important.

No cheese in the cake

I was trying to learn to make more desserts so that when there are guests coming, I won't be limited to those that I make regularly.

Through Whatsapp, I learnt that there was a type of Taiwanese cake that was quite popular at the moment. Since I got most of the ingredients I decided to give it a try.

After I had put the cake in the oven, I realized I made a mistake. The dough was mixed with grated Parmesan cheese, and it had a layer of cheddar cheese. What makes the cake unique was its sweet and sour taste, but it is a taste not too common in France, especially for a dessert.

It turned out ok. I kind of like it but I was the only one. :-(. Some kids from the neighborhood came to play and it was the 4pm snack time, so I offered them to take a slide of this cake. One had a bite and announced that she didn't like it. The other one took several bite and decided to give up. Luckily my girls finished their part.

The second morning I suggested this as breakfast to my daughter (in Malaysia we do eat cake as breakfast), but she refused and mentioned that she didn't like my "cheesecake". As for hubby, he reluctantly tried one, and told me that the fact to see a layer of cheddar cheese in the cake turned him off.

So this was just an effort that didn't bear fruit. No cheese in the cake then. That's probably why American style cheesecakes are not popular here.

Some French last name

After so many years living in France, I'm still amazed and shocked at some of their last name. For those Mr Small, Ms Carpenter, Mr Goodman, Mr Bigkind, it was kind of funny but still ok. However for those with pejorative last name, like the headmaster Mr Bastard, Mr Big boots, how do they survive all these years? French people do not react to these names anymore but I do. Each time I see the headmaster, I don't know how to address him, I won't want to call him Mr Bastard.

One day while I was working, I saw a mail coming in, I had a glimpse and saw something about croissant. I told myself that someone was bringing croissant to work to celebrate about something, but when I opened the mail, it was from Ms Croissant. If Ms Croissant were to bring croissants to share with us, I don't know how I would react.

December is approaching so I'm scratching my head about gifts. At my work I have to deal with a bunch of names so one day I thought I must be dreaming but I saw a guy with last name "Cadeau" = gift in French. I was like, no way someone is named Mr Gift, but it was real. Now I don't know how to react with Mr Gift. Maybe one day I will know someone who is Mr Right?

Rice porridge à trois

On Wednesday, we usually have rice porridge for lunch. Hubby doesn't like it so I take the opportunity to introduce some Malaysian food to the girls, when their father is at work. I always opt for simple dishes, so porridge with some fish, sweet potato porridge, and the mandatory fried eggs (荷包蛋).

Use the chance to steam whole fishes instead of fish fillet. The man at home like less when fishes come with bones, and eyes.

For some reason, the eldest accepts better Malaysian dishes in general. She likes porridge and red bean soup. She asked me porridge for lunch sometimes. She loves fried eggs too.

The little one won't finish on bowl of porridge if I don't ask her to finish. When she was one year old she ate in big quantity, but when I presented her porridge, she would eat two spoons then completely refused it.

As a lazy mother, rice porridge with sweet potato and fried eggs are the easiest food to prepare. I love it myself. But the little one would finish the egg and refused all the sweet potatoes.

I used to cook rice noodle too, but I'm not keen to clean up the mess after.

My mother must shake her head seeing this. Porridge with dishes are quite common for descendant from Fujian region, so we got to eat plenty when we were young. However, she always completed it with two three dishes, unlike me only fried eggs. Anyway, it seems that when we grow old, we would appreciate some comfort food from childhood, I hope the girls will think about this "rice porridge à trois" moment. 

PS : Just realized, I have never eaten fried eggs when I'm invited to someone's house here. It must not be a common dish in France.

How many tableware used for a French meal

We had a gathering in my in laws house. After lunch, they were heading to the beach so I decided to stay and handle the dishes. I have always thought that French use a lot of tableware for dining, so here I'm counting how much we used just for one meal, for a family of 6 adults + 2 kids.

Glassware: 8 wine glasses and 5 water/juice glasses. French do not mix up drinks in the same glass. Every type of drink has its own specific glass. If we drink champagne we would use tall champagne glass. During this meal, some people drunk water/sparking water so we needed wine glasses + water glasses.

Still for drinking : 2 water jars + a wine opener.

8 plates for dining, + 2 to serve food.

For dessert we had cakes and fruit salad, so we needed 8 bowls (for fruit salad), 8 small plates + 8 small spoons.

After dessert was coffee time. 6 cups + 1 small spoon (for the person who added some sugar in the coffee).

The cutlery: 8 knifes and 8 forks + some for cutting and cooking

We had French beans so the pot to boil the beans, drainage + a pan to fry it.

A salad spinner

The pan for potatoes

We had BBQ so a tray and cutlery for the preparation.

So for this meal, we used 8 wine glasses, 5 glasses, 6 cups, 2 water jars, 10 big plates, 8 bowls, 8 small plates, 8 knifes & forks and 9 small spoons, 1 pot, 2 pans, a salad spinner and varies cutlery. Wasn't it a lot just for one meal? And this time was simply BBQ and we bought the cakes, else there would be more kitchenware. 

My in laws do not want dishwasher so I washed everything manually. I don't mind when everyone is helping around, it becomes a convivial moment where we continue the conversations. But washing all these alone, it was a lot of work and I felt that it was not environmental friendly. I don't know what would the French react if I tell them to cut down the usage of glasses or plates, for example using only one glass for all kind of drinks, or using one plate for all kind of dishes (main, side, cheese, salad, dessert). They would probably throw me out of the country since gastronomy comes with fancy tableware, and fine cuisine is in the blood of a lot of French people.

Tears on cooking

Several months ago, on certain weekends, while preparing lunch, I almost burst into tears. I was very stressed out, thinking of what to cook for the next meals.

Here are some background stories. I started cooking when I moved abroad like 16 years ago. Efforts made, dishes tried, I didn't enjoy cooking, and most importantly, I didn't like what I cook. So, at one point, after several years living in France, I decided to stop. Hubby would be the chef in the kitchen and I would do the housework (he hates it).

Things changed after we decided to buy the land and build our own house. Due to financial constraint and the family culture of DIY, hubby was/is caught into many new tasks : getting quotations, applying for construction permit, making choices, calling different people, visiting forums for information...on top of a more demanding job, so the last thing I want to bother him was cooking. And, at the mean time, our second was born.

I picked up cooking as much as I can while dealing with a new baby. I cooked very simple meal : fried rice, curry chicken with roti canai, slow cooked pork, braised chicken with mushroom, quiche...On Mondays when there was nothing left in the fridge, I would just buy a flammekueche, or crêpe. Hubby and the kids would eat some cheese and dessert but I didn't make them. When the construction started in March 2015, We went there almost every evenings to check the progress and to make sure things were built as in the house plan.

The challenge started when hubby participated in the construction. My MIL took the girls, I helped when there were tasks I can do and every evenings after dinner, I had to think of something for lunch to feed three men (hubby, my FIL and a professional we hired). Since I was on vacation and the girls won't there, it was manageable even though I was getting tired to have to always think of meals to prepare especially now beside main dish I also needed to think of  cheese, dessert, coffee, chocolate. This stage lasted for a month.

The stressful moment came when the DIY phrases started. For about a month, my parents in laws came every week from Wednesday to Saturday for the tiling. Suddenly I had to cook real French meals almost every day. Both my in laws were good cook and they have their habits and preferences. Here the lists:

For breakfast, my FIL requests:

Brioche with certain brand

Orange juice with certain brand (I don't stock up this because I don't want my girls to drink too much)

Chocolate powder with certain brand (he switched brand so the one I bought for him in the past was sitting in my pantry untouched)

French baguette

Coffee with certain brand and brown sugar

Jams (he brought his homemade jams because I stopped buying since at one point nobody ate them in my household and they got spoiled)

Milk powder with certain brand (I happen to drink the same so ok)

Some snacks on a Saturday evening

For lunch & dinner:

French baguette is mandatory

Some snacks (preferable for Saturday evenings)

Wines (preferable for the men)

Meats (preferable for the men)

Salade (mandatory for my MIL)

Cheese (preferable for the men)

Dessert (mandatory for French meal)

Coffee (mandatory for everyone except me)

Chocolate (preferable for my FIL)

Some constraints:

Rice & cucumber (digestive problem)

No pizza unless homemade

No hamburger even though we bought fresh ground beef from the butcher

Flammekueche was considered junk food

Note : We lived in an apartment complex that didn't have elevator. So after every grocery shopping, I needed to bring up everything to the 4th floor, then brought silverware, plates, glasses and coffee cups to the new house for lunch. After that, I had to bring them back to wash at the apartment (after climbing up to 4th floor of course).

I shouldn't complain because it was very nice for my in laws to come help us out with the house. They live around 1h45 from our place and each time they came, they brought over a dish and a dessert, and some homegrown vegetables. However, I do not know how to meet their expectations. I was like a person who speaks only 50 Chinese words now having to please someone who speak 3000 Chinese words with idioms and expressions.

I struggled, I stressed out, I woke up during the nights thinking of what kind of dishes would please them, and I asked hubby to help, that he would cook one meal to release my stress. But he has a mountain of tasks waiting for him. I also needed to entertain my MIL, she got bored sometimes as some stuffs she didn't want / know how to do. My parents in laws go every places together, if she was bored and decided not to come, my FIL would be less motivated to come. She was nice and helped around the housework, but I was still the principal cook. 

So, every Wednesday morning, after sending off my daughter to school, I went grocery shopping with Awena and constantly reminded myself that I shouldn't forget anything required for breakfast. Unfortunately, the shop I went to was going through renovation, so sometimes I didn't find what I wanted, and it was time to go home and started cooking, before picking up Aelig from school (she only has half day school on Wednesdays). The dish and dessert my in laws brought over were usually for dinner. I had lunch with them, and tried to help out but with Awena, it was very hard. I would have to keep telling her to not touch this and that, to not step on this and that, and at the end I just gave up. In the evening, I had to think of their lunch for the next day. And the next day, after work, I needed to rush home to pick up Aelig from school then cooked for dinner. Sometimes my MIL prepared dinner and I felt so grateful.

After our CNY trip, hubby requested that they come during the weekend so that he could participate into the remaining works. So they decided to come on Friday and leave on Sunday after dinner. This time they brought their own lunch. So every Wednesday, I woke up feeling stressful for the 5 means I have to prepare (Friday dinner, Saturday and Sunday lunches and dinners). After a week of working, I was hoping to chill out during weekend, but I had to cook. Every weekend when I woke up, I felt stressed.

One Friday, I took the day off, placed grocery order online, I planned to spend the whole day cleaning the new house as a worker just finished tiling the bathrooms and toilets. I wanted to leave at 6pm, pick up the grocery and started cooking before they arrived. Hubby came and announced that his parents were on the way to our new house and we should wait for them. I got home after 7pm and tried my best to cook as fast as I could. At one point, my in laws arrived and the first question my FIL asked : " Did you buy bread?" No, I completely forgot about it. Bakeries were not on my way so I don't usually buy them. So I replied : "No, but we have brioche at home". He looked at me, and said :" You are like Marie Antoinette, no bread, eat brioche (Qu'ils mangent de la brioche)". His words upset me but I know I was a failed host, bread is mandatory in this family, when they are here, we have to go to bakery every day.

My MIL is expert in homemade dessert. I don't really like traditional French desserts so I made this cake. They didn't eat it because they prefer something else.

My saver, BBQ! I'm happy we could do BBQ so that one meal less to prepare!

I think for someone who are talented in cooking, this shouldn't be a big deal. I have to admit, cooking is my weakness, I so wish that I could do just like in Malaysia : "ok everyone, it is lunch / dinner time, what do you want to eat, I will go pick up some food." Then simply go to any hawker center to get what they want.

Rice and Constipation

One day, during a conversation, someone told me that eating rice could cause constipation.

I have never heard of this. Coming from a country where rice is the staple food, this comes as a shock.

Then hubby jokingly tell me something he read on the internet:

Why do the Chinese have slanted eyes?

One of the responses: Because they are constipated due to all the rice they eat.

Ok, so the rice causes constipation and constipation gives slanted eyes.

I don't know what to think about this. I'm not sure if this is scientifically proven. Saw these on internet with totally opposite views:

Eating plenty of rice will help you get more fiber into your diet. It is a fibrous grain that can promote bowel regularity and a healthy colon. A cup serving of brown or wild rice serves up to a 3.5 g of fiber, which is much more than you can get from white rice, which has 0.6 g of fiber for the same serving.

Source

White rice is the main culprit you’ll want to focus your attention on if you’re looking to prevent incidences of constipation.Rice starts off healthy enough, but to make it white rice they do away with husk, germ, and bran that it contains, and then put it through a polishing process so it comes out nice and white. Unfortunately this removes the parts of rice that are best for the human body.

Source

Well, because of my Asian background, I cook quite often dishes with rice, and both my girls like rice. This day I was cooking fried rice, and the little one couldn't wait for long. She kept saying "fan, fan, fan" (rice in Chinese) so I just gave her some rice in a bowl. She kept coming back and asking for more so eventually she ate her white rice and ingredients for fried rice separately.

Mommy, I love rice!

So happy with my rice!

I have no problem eating rice. When someone tells me that rice makes her constipate, it stresses me out because if that person is staying for several meals, it means I have to cook something else instead of my usual rice dishes.

Tough day in Nantes

Yesterday, at 7:15pm, the traffic around Nantes was horrible. Usually at this hour the traffic jams start to ease but the traffic was densed starting from 5pm all the way to 7:30pm. My coworker said he left work at 5pm, headed straight into the jams, and waited 2.5 hours until finally manage to exit where he wanted.

Look at the map, areas with red lines mean severe traffic congestion.

The causes : accident in the North, and snail operation by farmers in the West. 

Snail operation by the farmers : trucks were advancing at a snail speed, everyone was blocking behind. Farmers here do this maybe 3-4 times per year, sometimes they even have animals walking on the highways.

I don't work on Wednesdays, so I managed to avoid this. Imaging parents rushing to pick up their kids...As for hubby, he bicycles to work, as the demonstrations for the labor laws reform has been carried out nearly every Tuesday and Thursday, so certain public transport lines were cut off. 

All those ça se fait pas

"ça se fait pas", it is a phrase I often hear during conversations, which for me means "we don't do this". It touches the things that French won't normally do / ask, but they are more tolerated in other cultures. Since I'm a foreigner, I sometimes take advantage of the situation, by simply pretending that I don't know that it is not a common practice in France, and would go ahead to do it.

Example 1:
We went to a restaurant with grandmas and there were plenty of leftover. I suggested that we asked for a doggy bag, and the grandmas told me that "ça se fait pas en France" (we don't do this in France). After some thought I decided to ask anyway, the worst was that I get a "no" in answer, or I could take home the leftover and not waste the food. The result : they got me a doggy bag, the grandmas were surprised.

Example 2:
Recently we were invited to a birthday celebration. We asked around if someone would collect money to buy a common gift, but we were told that we would contribute financially as they were inviting a band to play traditional musics so that guests could dance. We had a great time.

The second morning, after greeting each other, the first thing I asked was how much did the band cost and if they managed to collect enough money to pay the band. I got an answer, but I was told later that "ça se fait pas", basically topics involving money are mostly taboo in France. I would know a French for long time and we are good friend, but we won't tell each other how much we earn (I'm willing to tell but I think it would make people uncomfortable because they would feel oblige to tell me theirs). Whereas money (how much you earn, how much you paid for your house, your car.... ) are something so commonly asked by the Chinese, even by those living in France, and during the first encounter.

Example 3:
When I go to Asian restaurants, and if I know the chef well, I would ask for things like changing to another table, asking to switch a dish I like that is à la carte to be included in the menu of the day. Hubby told me you don't do this in French restaurants, he was amazed to see how we always negotiate with the waitress / chef.

So over the years I get a lot of "ça se fait pas" comments on what I did, sometimes I respect and follow it because I was convinced of the reasons, but sometimes I just don't care or old habit dies hard the question just came out naturally. So far nobody got offended, or they were but they didn't show it.

On the other hand, there are things that the French do that the foreigners would think "mais ça se fait pas!" (but we don't do this!).

Example 1:
People on strike or on demonstration publicly destroying shops / blocking highways & public transports / burning cars.... We have many recently : demonstration against building an airport (the talk of building this airport was started like 40 years ago), demonstration on the new labor laws, farmers' demonstration due to falling livestocks prices. It was always a shock for me to see how much things got destroyed after each demonstration, and how the police were just there watching, and people in general tolerated these behaviors. I read in an article, the unions argued that having demonstrations and sometimes destroying stuffs is the fundamental right of each French people. Destroying, is just a way of expression, and that's in the French cultures. Ok these might only be the point of views of certain unions, but in general, French people just give a shrug of shoulder towards these behaviors.

Example 2:
When the season changes the flu virus has gone viral. People clearning their nose openly in public, in the office, that still amazes me.

Example 3:
French men, when they need, just stop their car in the middle of highway, and pee.
I have no word for this.

Cream crackers vs chocolate

I mentioned that I love cream crackers. My girls look them too, sometimes I give them some as breakfast, as many Malaysians do with a cup of Milo (chocolate drink).

Well, this didn't go too well with hubby. For him cream crackers are junk food and we shouldn't give junk food to our kids. Does it mean the Malaysians who are having crackers with Milo are eating junk to provide them energies for the whole morning?

During the whole month of Decembre we had advent calender, so every morning the girls had a chocolate. I didn't like this idea. For me Chocolate provides nothing nutritious except fat and sugar.

So, I accused him of serving the kids junk food (chocolate), which he disagreed, while I didn't think that cream crackers are junk.

We decided to look at the nutrition information. Below is the table of comparaison. We can see that crackers have more carbohydrate, protein and salt whereas chocolate has excessive fat and sugar. Both are to be avoided I guess but chocolate is evil if you ask me.

Nutrition information (Average Values)	Jacob’s Cream Crackers (Per/100g)	Côte D’Or’s Chocolate (Per/100g)
Energy	1851kj / 440kcal	2370kj / 570kcal
Fat	13.5g	38.5g
Of which Saturates	6.2g	16.0g
Carbohydrate	67.7g	42.5g
Of which Sugars	1.4g	40.5g
Fibre	3.8g	4.6g
Protein	10.0g	9.7g
Salt	1.3g	0.20g