7 Things We'll Miss in France

At the front of our apartments...

NOW in Singapore...

THEN in France

At the back of our apartments...

NOW in Singapore...

THEN in France...

7 Things that we'll miss in France:

1) The Tranquility
Singapore is just too busy, so much that I've not heard chirping birds and the hustling of the tree leaves ever since we touched down in Changi.

2) The Weather
The amount that I sweat per week in Singapore, is equivalent to the amount I do in France for a year, combined with a weekly sweat after a 45 degrees up slope jog.

3) The Colors
Singapore is filled with greens, but I'll still miss the variety of colors through the seasons in France.

4) The Language
French is a romantic language that is definitely more pleasant to the ear than singlish, especially when combined with dialects (although I must say that I love singlish for its efficiency).

5) The Landscape
There is so much to see in France, architecture from the medieval ages to renaissance, varied natural landscapes from Brittany to Midi to Provence and to the Alps.

6) The Food
Though I have an endless list of food cravings from Singapore due to her diversity, I'll definitely miss the freshness of the produce from France and a million variety of cheeses and wines to pick from.

7) Being Contented
The French place more focus on things that money cannot buy, and are contented with what they have...need I say more with how affluent Singaporeans spend and waste things? And then complain how the government is not helping them to earn more money...

With this post, I end our chapter in France...although I'll still be a perpetual student's wife in the next chapter with our little one...

Romancing Paris the Last Time

Having stayed here for a year, we've taken Paris for granted. Whenever I suggested going to Paris for the weekend, the Student will find some excuses somehow and suggest other towns in the area to explore. Now that we are leaving the city, I felt that we should bid the city goodbye...Happy Easter Holidays Paris!

This is a landscape that we've been taking for granted too, Le Guichet is the station where we take the train to Paris city...the houses on the slope are always a delight especially during fair weather.

The train station nearest to Supélec.

I was surprised to see the open air skating rink still in service in March!

Open-air skating rink in front of Hotel de Ville

Reminisced buckwheat crepes with a flavour from Bretagne. France in general has a very high quality of butter, which rolls down to excellent pastries and anything butter related. But butter from Bretagne is heavenly! Especially Bordier butter, which Briezh Cafe in Paris also carries. 

I prefer the traditional sweet crepes over the savoury buckwheat types.

Banana caramel with Chantilly crème on the side. Paired with Marco Polo tea from Mariage Freres.

We stopped by Puyricard, hand made artisan chocolates from Provence. The brand usually makes their chocolates every Thursday, without preservatives. And here they are, all prepared for Easter holidays. These are considered average sized, there is another egg by the window that is half my height (pity we couldn't get a good shot due to the reflections of the window).

We've tried their traditional macaroons, which are delicious! These are nothing like those from the pastry shops, when there are 2 macaroon cookies sandwiching some garnishes. These from Puyricard are just the cookie, but are made from almond powder from Provence. Very fragrant and soft in the inside.

Mariage Freres is a tea house that specialises in a humongous variety of tea blends, they even have a tea museum at their basement for visitors. But their display of pastries weren't that appealing...If only there is a tea salon that serves pastries from Lenotre, macaroons from Pierre Hermé, hot chocolate from Angelina and tea from Mariage Freres.

Price for the tea is indicated/person, so we had to get one pot each....a little too much for our bladder to take though.

Last stop for the day - L'orangerie, the museum that is showcasing the last works of Claude Monet, the panoramic view of his lotus pond. 

Last Shots Of Gif-sur-Yvette

Winter was bidding it's last goodbye last week with a sudden blizzard when the flowers are already budding. And so are we...seems like we will miss the spring bloom this year. Anyhow, we took the last chance to get some snow shots of our friendly neighbourhood.

Le Canape - Restaurant and tea salon with live jazz music on alternate Wednesday nights and Sunday afternoons  Additional fee at 10 euros.

Our favourite short-cut to the main street from the parking space, we could always smell Mdm Pineau's fresh bread from here (her shop is about 4 shops away after this staircase)

Main street of Gif.

A Date With Macaroons

This is a 3-hour intensive macaroon class at La Cuisine Paris, where they teach both the French and Italian techniques in making the macaroon cookie. In short, the Italian technique is preferred as it results in a more stable texture. But get ready for some arm wrestling with the batter though. We've got 4 different garnishes here: Dark chocolate, coffee flavoured butter crème, traditional pastry crème and pear (can be replaced with any seasonal fruits).

I was really flattered when the Student cleared my box when he hardly touched those from Ladurée...:)

Tips: Macaroons taste better 1 day after baking. Put them in the fridge and let the cookie adsorb some of the garnish's moisture.

The pear garnish is my favourite, all natural and blends really well with the sweetness of the cookies.

Fondant au Chocolate & Choux Chantilly Chocolate

This is another buy "2 get 1 free class", since the choux pastry has the same technique as making eclairs.

After going through this lesson, I'll never order another chocolate lava cake...because it only take less than 30 mins to make. The trick is getting it out of the mould without wreaking it.

Higuma Paris

Image from Tripadvisor

I got misled by Tripadvisor several times on restaurants in Paris, and this is no exception. I was craving for Japanese ramen after watching a Japanese series, and decided to check out the recommendations online. The choice was clear after going through the profile of the reviewers, but we just wanted to see the standard of "really good Japanese ramen" in Paris, so we went ahead instead.

Having grown up in Singapore, I was pampered by an international array of cuisine, and has always admired how the Japanese can whip out quality food with pride. Every time we try a new Japanese outlet in Singapore, we'll be nick-picking on the authenticity of what was served. 

But Higuma in Paris...this is a legendary "Japanese Ramen Restaurant" that have won so many hearts, but is nothing like Japanese. There is no chance for us to nick-pick, since it is already off-tracked. If the long queue outside the store is because they serve tasty dishes, so be it...but they are serving Chinese noodles that don't even pass the mark even if I labelled them correctly as Chinese Noodles!

And there are the gyozas, which are definitely bought ready made from the supermarket, boiled and pan-fried before hand, then microwaved before serving. With such ridiculous cooking methods, the chefs still have the cheek to show the public how it is done, and clueless customers still think that this is the right way to prepare ramen and gyozas.

It angers me seeing the queue, because I can't believe that people here can get cheated so easily, believing that this is the real deal! Higuma is serving neither Japanese, Korean or Chinese ramen, they are serving yellow noodles which is a totally different type of noodles from ramen, with soup that tastes like instant noodles mix with too much water.

Many shout on its value, but seriously, 5 Euros for 7 gyozas which are supermarket made, 7 Euros for a packet of instant noodles, and a queue to fight for...I think it is too expensive. And if this is the "King of Ramen" in Paris, then I would suggest skipping ramen all together, and stick to Vietnamese noodles for the Asian deal.

Café Gourmand

Café gourmand is a popular after meal order in France, especially for the women folks, since you'll have a little variety of 2 to 3 petite desserts complete with black coffee. Clockwise: Chocolate crème brulee, french meringue topped with cocoa beans, mini mont blanc, caramel filled financier.