Since the Airbus A380’s debut in Singapore, Malcolm has been an avid fan of this gigantic luxurious flying machine. He got even more hooked when my father-in-law introduced to him this video end of last year, when we were back in Singapore for a few months. He has since added this to his list of favourite videos and he watched it over and over again. I think he knows the details of the video more than me.

When we found out that the Airbus factory was in France, we knew he will go berserk if we will to bring him there. And sure enough, when we told him that we will be visiting the factory this holiday, he got extremely excited. Almost every night, he would ask whether there is school the next day, whether holiday has started. He simply can’t wait to be there!

So finally the day came and on the 3rd day of our trip, we visited the factory in Toulouse. It was a 1 1/2 hour guided tour, which includes 1/2 hour English presentation showing the visitors how the engineers test and put together the A380. We visited the assembly line and watched the same video, which by now, Malcolm has already grown so familiar with. This video was in fact put together by the Airbus company and if you watched it closely, you will realise that the different parts of this huge plane was actually shipped and transported by convoy, from Spain, Germany and United Kingdom to Toulouse. The parts were so huge and gigantic that they couldn’t use the usual air transportation by Airbus Beluga.

We were the only Asian in the group of about 30, or more specifically Singaporean. More than once, the word ‘Singapore Airline’ was mentioned as Singapore was the FIRST customer for the A380 and we had ordered 20, after the UAE who had ordered 50. In the assembly line, we were thrilled to see a few of the Airbus with the SIA logo.

I felt a sense of pride whenever the word ‘Singapore Airline’ was mentioned which probably stems from the fact that being just a mere dot on the world map, to be known wide and far, the achievement is marked.

Since cameras are not allowed in the factory, we only managed to take a few snap shots at the entrance. Scrutinized the video if you are interested to see how the factory looks like.

On the 2nd day of our trip,  we made a last minute decision to visit the Cité de l’espace, a theme park in Toulouse oriented towards space and the conquest of space.

Malcolm had a whale of a time even though everything was in French. He took picture with a full size Ariane 5 rocket, played with numerous interactive exhibits, had an expedition to Mars, collected some Mars rocks, saw how astronaut drinks were made, visited a mock up Russian Mir space station, saw how the astronauts live on board, tried star gazing through a telescope, shot a water rocket.

and here’s a video of him putting the Ariane 5 rocket together with other kids. He was the shortest but laughed the loudest during the later part of the video.

Ever since our visit to the ancient ruins in Rome, I was fascinated and intrigued. I wished I have the time and brain bytes to read more. Drink up the fountain of knowledge about the Roman empire. It has since been added to one of my to-do-list.

During our visits, architecture of this ancient civilisation left me in awe and made me feel little, literally. I was swarmed by a feeling that is usually invoked by the creation of mother nature and rarely by anything man made.

How on earth did these ancient beings put together such humongous structures without modern tools. To me, is an impossible feat.

When we read about the Roman aqueducts, I was curious, and so was Malcolm. Some of these aqueducts that are still around today, look like bridges. They were in fact water supply channels used for carrying water from the river to the cities and industrial sites. and were amongst the greatest engineering feats of the ancient world, which set a standard not equalled for over a thousand years after the fall of Rome.

Just south of France, there is Pont Du Gard, a 3 level aqueduct built by the Romans in the middle of the first century A.D. and we drove 7 hours, just to catch a glimpse of this magnificent structure.

We spent the whole afternoon just sitting by the Gard river, admiring the structure,with its reflection in the rippled water, from afar.

We hiked a bit and came across a wide varieties of vegetation in that region.

olive trees are aplenty, but his one is a rather old and unique one with twisted branches

Reaching the Sky, blue berries look-alike plants…

Brightly coloured toadstools. Knock knock, is Papa smurf home ?!

coffee break ? we thought this new extension, which includes a museum, some gift shops and cafes, was far too modern and is a huge mismatch to this ancient heritage site.

and while trying to climb on top this metal stump, Malcolm slipped and fell.

He ended up with a few mouthful of blood and a very bad bruise on his upper lips.

This marked the beginning of our autumn holiday.

The short autumn break started this week and as soon as Daddy was back, we set off again, this time driving down south. We are still on the road as I post this.

And everywhere we drove, we were greeted by brightly coloured foliage of yellow, orange and scarlet red reminding us vividly this season of the year, where shrubs and trees exhibit their final colours before shedding and losing them all.

Even this secluded rest area which we stopped over for a quick lunch looks picturesque with its lonely playground. As if reminding us to catch the colours before they are gone.

The previous post was actually meant to be this. It’s amazing how my thoughts get carried away by the silence of the night…

So yesterday, instead of the usual French lesson in a classroom, we visited the Palais Garnier. Or more commonly known as the Paris Opera. I told Malcolm about it and gave him the option to choose. To join me for the visit, which he must be prepared to do lots of walking OR to go back to school after lunch and play with friends at the playground.

He hesitated and decided the former.

He was VERY GOOD throughout the 2 hours trip. No whining, no fussing over too much walking. I was totally impressed.

It was the first time we stepped into an opera house and I was totally blown away by the intricate architecture.  It was decorated with elaborate multicolored marble friezes, columns, and lavish statuary. It was grand and beautiful with lots of chandelier that fascinated Malcolm.

We were given a glimpse of the stage from one of those cubicle seats, once stood by aristocrats and I could almost imagine them with their binoculars, watching the performance on stage from afar.

We didn’t catch half of what the French narrator said but once a while, Malcolm would tell me he heard her said some words he knows.

And I knew I made the right choice in bringing him along, when on our way home, he repeatedly told me how much he enjoyed the opera house.

In his own words,

‘the opera house is beautiful,

there are lots of lights to see

it is very quiet

and I can hear your teacher speaks French’

he was actually comparing the silence to his class, when it is usually noisy when the teacher speaks.

And I never really know he appreciates silence this much.

We love these dragons on the ceiling

and the many angels remind us of Sistine Chapel at Vatican City

For the first time in 7 months

we have our 1st separation.

My husband is away.

He is in another part of France

Since we came to Paris

I confessed that I am a little pampered.

My husband gets to start work at 9 and reach home at 6

I have forgotten that he wears a uniform

I have forgotten those crazy working hours

I have forgotten that being away from home is a norm

and not getting to see him for weeks is usual

Such separations may be common

but I have never really gotten used to it

It is a tough position

and it doesn’t work going either way

if you know what I mean.

I remember waking up in the wee hours

just to hear him talk about his day

surprisingly,

I enjoy it

I truly do

For I love what I see in his eyes

something which doesn’t come natural to me

and took me a long while to find.

A passion for the work he does.

It is this passion

that thereon leads our lives

It is this passion

that makes some of our choices clear

It is this passion

that makes me sit here, ponder and write

and it is this passion

that makes the wait worthwhile.

On days that I am too busy and too lazy to cook up a storm, we have this, I call it the All-In-1 casserole dish.

I don’t usually bake my food as that is not a common Asian cooking style. Since the Asian supermarket is about half to an hour drive from our place, depending on traffic condition, and we only get to do our Asian grocery shopping once a week or bi-weekly, I thought I need to find some ways to cook those hardier vegetables that are found in neighbourhood supermarket.

By trial and error, I came up with some simple baking dish and now, the old conventional oven in my kitchen has become my best friend !

Ingredient

4 pork chops

1 zucchini

a handful of cherry tomatoes

a handful of fresh portobello mushrooms, sliced

ground black pepper

rosemary or mixed herbs

salt

light soya sauce

olive oil

Method

1. Drizzle the pork chops with light soya sauce

2. In a pan, brown pork chops with olive oil

3. Transfer to casserole or baking dish

4. Sprinkle with rosemary, salt and ground pepper.

5. Throw in vegetables

6. Sprinkle more salt on vege

7. Baked at 350 F for 30 -35 mintues

Serve with rice or my favourite Avocado

Welcome to my new site, to be exact, my new old site. This site was originally used for my baby sling which has been shifted to here.

It took me a long while to finally get it done. I am thrilled, I am excited and I am eager to present to you the new look.

I hope to eventually revamp my sling site, yes, I know! I have said that a loooonnng time ago! I blame it on the lack of ideas, lack of focus and mostly, lack of time. See, it is easy to blame it on anything and everything.

So, it all started when I realized that I have been paying the web hosting company good money for doing their bare minimum. I felt so stupid, transferring money to them every month! I contemplated  and decided that I need to shift but it is always easy to procrastinate when there is no real urgency and focus.

Somewhere along the way, I had created in my head, an illusion of Google being a charitable giant, unlike its competitors. They were afterall the ones who churned out masseuse multimillionaire not too long ago. Their Gmail was the first to offer 1GB of storage and had since then drastically changed the standard for free storage. Adsense is free and many SAHMs have been earning from their sites simply by turning on those ads. I have never heard Microsoft or Yahoo doing something so ‘free’ or ‘charitable’ in that sense. I was an avid Google supporter.

Then, one day while uploading our summer vacation pictures onto Picasa, I received a warning saying that my account was reaching its limit and I will need to pay for extra storage. I was DEVASTATED! I complained, I bitched. I found out that Google had linked up my Picasa and all the images I had uploaded to blogger for the last 3 years. I knew that eventually I will need to pay when my blog grows! That was when I decided that I NEED to move.

It has been a long and tedious process and there are still loose ends that need to be tied but I am just glad that I am finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel. PHEW!

Note : Kindly drop me a note if you encounter any problem while surfing this site. There may be some bugs that I need to fix. Thank you, thank you, thank you very much!

and you get to wear high heel boots when you don’t have to chase after your 4 year old in his roller scooter !

We had a picnic under this tree the other day

We didn’t realise what tree it was until we saw these…

and thanks to Malcolm’s library session, we learned that these are chestnuts!

and I have never really seen a chestnut with its shell. This is actually the inner shell. There is another outer spiny shell which split open before these were dispersed onto the ground.

and it was only then, a sudden realisation that Chestnuts = Gau Luk (in hokkein)

YES! my favourite nuts used for braised pork (Lou Bak) and my rice dumplings (Bak Zhang) !

the one that I had so much problem finding when we were in the States but now, they were littered everywhere! In the parks, along the streets, all over PARIS!

HOW COULD I HAVE MISS IT !

and how could I not collect some home for cooking ?!

SO WE DID!

We brought a handful back. Washed them and tossed them into the oven.

I felt so smart and pleased thinking that we could soon get to enjoy our homemade Gau Luk just like those sold at pasar malem stalls back home.

My sense of nostalgia was interrupted by a loud boom from the kitchen.

One of the nuts EXPLODED.

We took a bite of the flaky cooked chestnut and

EWWWWW….EEEEKS ! They tasted terribly BITTER AND SOUR!

We had to wash and gargle our mouths with water for several times and chew a mint to get rid of the after taste.

Till now, it is still a mystery why those chestnuts tasted so horrible and I am just glad we didn’t end up with some kind of food poisoning !

Note : We found out that the nuts need to be pierced through before putting into the over to prevent explosion.

Here’s what I do everyday with Mal in school …

7.40 am - I wake up, prepare breakfast

8.00 am - Malcolm and Hubby wake up for breakfast

8.20 am - Hubby /  Me walk Mal to school

8.30 am - Morning jog if weather is good

9.30 am - I have breakfast, morning bath, surf net, read book

11.20 am - Pick Malcolm for Lunch in his scooter.

11.45 am - Cook lunch

12.15 pm - Lunch with Malcolm

1.20 pm - Send Mal to school

1.30 pm - Grocery shopping / French lesson on Tues and Thurs

3.30 pm - Tea break, household chores / French lesson on Tues and Thurs

4.20 pm - pick Mal from school. Again with Mal in his scooter.

4.45 pm - prepare snack for Mal

5.00 pm - Malcolm time, chat, play, cycling

6.00 pm - prepare dinner

6.30 pm - Hubby comes back and play with Mal

6.45 pm - Dinner Time

7.45 pm - Bathtime, Wash up & quiet play time with Mal

8.30 pm - Bedtime stories for Mal

9.00 pm - Me and Hubby time

11.00 pm - zzzz

On Wednesday where there is no school for Mal, we go library in the morning.

I was super tired yesterday and knocked out at 9 after reading bedtime stories to Mal.

This morning when I woke up, I found my sewing kit on the dining table and this…

A Mended Sweater.

I am ambitious and maybe a little unrealistic.

I bought a bicycle a little too heavy and too high for my boy.

I was eager for him to ditch those training wheels which he has been relying on since he was 2.

I can’t wait for him to go on 2 wheels

I can’t wait for him to ride over hurdles

and cross through muddy dirt tracks

and bring mama along for some off road biking fun !

We used to baked cookies more often when we were back home and when we were in the States. Things get tricky here when you have to figure out which is which and what is what, even for the most basic baking ingredient. It is like having a completely different metric system.

Take for instant, instead of plain flour, self raising flour or cake flour, the flour is given a TYPE number which creates the whole confusion. NO NAME or whatsoever, just a NUMBER. Who  on earth will know what this number stands for, unless I am born and breed in this country, or maybe if I was born a french farmer’s daughter.

I finally got it figured out after reading David Lebovitz’s blog. And with my new old handheld mixer that I managed to squeeze inside my 20 kg baggage during my recent trip back to Singapore, we can now bake our own cookies, without breaking my arm, creaming the butter. They do sell handheld mixer here, but they cost me more than 20 EUR when I got mine at USD 5 !

We baked some museli cookies the other day and they tasted sooo good, maybe because we were deprived for too long, we finished up the box within 2 days and thus we are baking it again this morning. Malcolm can’t wait. He is helping to get things ready in the kitchen while I type this!

If you are interested in getting your hands dirty, here is the recipe. ENJOY !

Ingredients
125g butter
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 cup castor sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup plain raising flour (I used TYPE 55 from Monoprix)
1 1/2 cup museli
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Method
1. cream butter, essence, sugar and egg until light and fluffy
2. mix in flour and baking soda
3. stir in museli
4. roll mixture into a ball. Place on greased cookie sheet
5. repeat, allowing abt 4 cm between crisps
6. bake in 375 F oven for abt 15 minutes or until lightly browned

Bake 40

Just came back from a good jog. It is cold but we have CLEAR BLUE SKY today and of course, I have to jog!

I need to breath,

I need to sweat,

I need to feel the cold morning air

planting icy cold kisses over my face.

I need to laugh

I need to sneer

I need to feel sad for busy commuters

working on such a beautiful day.

I need to catch the leaves

I need to hear them rustle

I need to savour every sight

before they are all gone.

I need to be out there

to try something new

and feel alive

for life is more than just another routine.

I need to vent

I need to rant

I need to write

to pour out my thoughts and get them out of my system.

And as I sit here on a Friday morning,

watching one of my favourite video

listening to one of my favourite song

over and over again.

I feel completely emotional

and totally inspired.

Auntie Mon,

Have you sky dived ?!