Tea time

I always love a nice cup of tea. Paris has reallly nice tea brands to offer. Fauchon, le Palais de the, Mariage Freres and Kusmi tea. Thinking about what to get my parents for X'mas, I stepped into Fauchon for the first time. The big store in Place de Madeleine always looked a little scary with the disco deco... but, it actually was quite pleasant in the gift shop. I bought myself a Cocoa with vanilla, very special.

Mariage Freres is such a wonderful experience. I really love Marco Polo Rouge. Strong fruits and flowery aroma but smooth taste. The service in the shop is excellent!! Nothing like my local supermarket... I actually was treated like a customer.

Kusmi Tea has the best Chai. I got it for my friend's birthday and I got to have a taste. There aren't many places that serves Chai in Paris and I was missing it a lot. It was so lovely with lots of honey and soy milk...

To go with the nice cup of tea, there's Canele. Little funny looking cake from Bordeaux. I actually hated it for the first time I tried it from my local bakery. I could not finish it. until I had one from Lemoine. I got them as a gift and to be honest, I wasn't sure about it. However, this one is unbelievably delicious!!! Crunchy on the outside and moist in the middle. Not too sweet. PERFECT.

Vin chaud and shopping in Winter Paris

What good is it if you can't shop in Paris. The Winter set in, and I need to get some Paris shopping out of my system before I go back home. I was lucky enough to find out about A.P.C broderie (basically a warehouse sale) through my good friend. It was like heaven... Items were 95% off...
A handbag, boots, necklace and a pair of sunnies later, I felt like a new woman.

My Stockholm treasure is this ACNE dress.

And the sandals from le Comptoir des Cottoniers.

Coquelicot

It's close to my house, cheap, open on Sundayz and amazing hot chocolate. Perfect!

Coquelicot
24 rue des Abbesses
75018
Metro: Abbesses

Chateau de Versailles

After 11 months of living in Paris, I experienced Versailles for the first time. On the perfect day of rain and strong wind. Some may call that a "storm" But the good thing is that no queque to get in. I heard from others that some days, you'll be waiting in line for 2 hours. I really wanted to see the Takashi Murakami exhibition which is actually in the Chateau. You basically can see the exhibition if you get a ticket for the palace. It's controversial as some are totally against this idea of exhibiting modern art in a historical and political place. But that's what make it amazing. There are such out of place objects but in some ways they look good together.

Stockholm

What an amazing beautiful city! Full of goodness. Good design, fashion, architecture and cafes. It's been a while since I had a good Cafe latte that I could actually taste the coffee... not a glass of milk with a dash of coffee.



My friend took me to this cafe Jin and Peeters. Newly opened by a Japanese wife and a Belgian husband. They have a unique menu of dumplings, Belgian waffles and roast chicken. Weird but good. So good.

It's dangerous shopping there... Could have spent few more days shopping (window shopping) in Stockholm. I really loved Grandpa. A select shop full of great Swedish designers.

Basquiat Exposition / Hotel d'amour

Basquiat exhibition at Musee d'art Moderne. I often lose motivation to go see a big exhibition or museums because of the waiting involved in getting in... But this was worth the wait. Internet tickets are very wise to get prior to getting there, though we didn't do that and ended up waiting for about 45mins.

Musee D'art Moderne
11 Avenue du President Wilson
75116 Paris



Hotel d'amour is designed by Andre and Lionel from Collette. As much as the bar downstairs is said to be a "hipster hangout" implying bad service and expensive drinks, I found that it's cosy and nice. The service is no less than a local cafe/bistro. In Paris, I would say you are bound to get bad service if the waiter's having a bad day. You can get grumpy waiters either if it's a hipster hangout or not. Drinks are standard bar prices. Courtyard and glass ceiling is very pretty.

Hotel d'amour
8 rue Navarin
75009 Paris

Le Comptoir de Relais

It's one of the restaurants of Yves Camdeborde, a French chef, also one of the judges in French Master chef. It was a very sophisticated Parisian experience. It opens at 12pm for lunch. There was a queque before it opened and while we were eating, it got bigger and bigger. Luckly we were second in line so that we can pick the table we wanted.

I had a sucking pig "Cochon de lait", my friend had "pavé de boeuf", thick beef steak. I hear too much of "melts in your mouth" comments about food and I dislike using that myself however, it was exactly that.



For dessert, we had a cheesecake with berry ice cream and fig confiture.

Le Comptoir de relais
9 Carrefour de l'Odeon
75006 Paris

Of Montreal @ La Cigal

Okay, I'm so sick of people telling me how great they are live. So I finally saw them live. Totally true... I had this "Oh my god, can I touch you" feeling when he came walking my side of the stage, like a good old Japanese school girl. haven't had that for a while...

The keyboard/violin/guitar K Ishibashi was also fantastic. He's not usually in the band I don't think.

Italy

Lastra a Signa, little town in outer Florence, Italy. Even though I basically sat around by the pool eating and drinking all day, I learned something. Hendrix Gin is the best thing in the world... So tasty.

Rock en Seine

I must say, I'm not a big fan of massive festival these days. But boy, it was jolly. Beirut was an epic... who'd thought horns can sound so sexy... ridiculous amount of people, yes. but, they'were quite pleasant.

And, Roxy Music. It got a little too sexy and slow for a while but then they came back for an encore with the hits. With the come back tour of and 80's band, you gotta do that do please the audience. I certainly loved it.

Arcade Fire's set got cut short because of the rain... such a shame. Having said that, too many people. couldn't see a thing.

Harlem

Great little band from Texas. The latest album is awesome. Good lyrics...
They did a support for Girls and also a free gig at La Plage Glazart.



http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14093-hippies/
http://www.myspace.com/harlemduh

Le Grenier à pain

It won grand prix de la baguette 2010. They serve the French president for the whole year.
I'd always love a good croissant. Although it was a grand prix de la baguette, but the croissants here are fantastic!! So amazing... they have a really good range of fruit loafs too.

Le Grenier à pain
38 rue des Abesses
75018 Paris

Bloemendaal Strand

I miss the beach in summer. Unfortunately, Paris doesn't have beaches... so i decided to take a trip out to Bloemendaal aa zee (beach in North Holland) from Amsterdam. It's only 30mins total from Amsterdam but it's a completely different scene.
The sand was so soft and fine, no gravel. Luckly, the sun was out and it was a perfect beach day. Not hold enough to get into the water though...

Apple pie and Coffee

Apple pie is not something that I eat often. Or even apple crumble I haven't had that in years. There was no way that I was going to not try Dutch Apple pies in Amsterdam. My friend told me about this cafe and it's a brocante (junk shop, well Op shop) and cafe in one. You can buy the things displayed in the cafe, lights, books, places cups etc. It's really cute and friendly staff and most of all, good apple pie.

Latei
Zedijk 143
1012 AW Amsterdam



Noodermarkt
1015 MV Amsterdam

On Mondays, they have a big range of vintage stalls. Of course you need to go through a mountain of not so great things to find the gold but that's part of the fun.
A great shoe stall with amazing selection. All the pairs are 15 euros.
It was a little chilly is Amsterdam even though it's August. I had to quickly find a jacket. Amongst the piles of jackets, I found a little leather jacket that actually fits me. This doesn't happen often as I'm short and also have short arms. Often ended up looking like a child who went through her mum's closet. This one was a perfect fit and only cost me 15euros.

Right next this market is a cafe Winkel 43. Some says they have the best apple pie in town. Sure enough there was a queque coming out of the cafe. Almost EVERYONE on the terrace is eating an apple pie. Yes, I had to eat one and yes, it was so delicious. It's moist in the inside and crunchy on the outside. Perfect.

Winkel 43
Noondermarkt 43
1015 NA Amsterdam

Amsterdam does fairly good coffees. When I say coffees I meant Latte. My caffeine intake was quite high during this trip and out of all, this cafe Razmataz did the best creamy milk. Not to mention, the girl at the cafe was sooooo kind that when I was umbrellaless and stuck in a pouring rain, gave me a lost property umbrella. If you wanna get out of the tourist filled Dam squire or King Street like red light district, I do recommend to take a walk and experience the life of locals.

Razmataz
Hugo de Grootplein
1052 KV Amsterdam

Amsterdam

I was always curious about Amsterdam thanks to Pulp Fiction, ever since I was 14 years old, I wanted to visit...
Canals are so nice... I don't know what it is about water that make people come out of the house in Summer. It's not like it's a beach, but it certainly has cooling effects in Summer. Houses, apartment blocks are amazing.

Coffee Shops...
I hear so many horror stories about silly tourists getting rather stoned and making fool of themselves... But, when in Rome right? I was quite careful with selection process of the Coffee Shops. I avoided those ones who look like it can exist in Byron Bay... Seriously, just because people smoke, doesn't mean we want to listen to Bob Marlery nor wear rasta colours.

As I stand in bookstore, I just stole a tip from Timeout Guide. We were near this Coffee Shop called "Tweede Karmer". It looked as if they have Jazz playing and serving Cognac and cigars. Coffee Shops are not allowed to serve alcohol so there were no Cognac, but it was very clam and were certainly no silly bong heads.

Tweede Karmer
Heisteeg 6
1012 WC Amsterdam
Centrum Area

I poped my head in to this bike rental place in Jordaan and a kinda guy behind the counter directed us to another Coffee Shop.
It's more or younger crowd/uni students. They have amazing range of sweets! All flavours of milk shakes, cakes, chocolates...

Amnesia
Herengracht 133
1015 BG Amsterdam
Jordaan Area

The Strange Boys strikes back...

The strange boys came back for the colours festival at Nouveau Casino.
They now added a girl from Echo Park L.A Jenna Thornhill DeWitt. She plays sax with them now. It worked I think. Then others thought that she wasn't needed in ALL the songs... they sounded great.

The support band Yussuf Jerusalem had this ridiculously over done lighting that I thought I was seeing Bon Jovi or something. I was not able to concentrate on their music... but then, it didn't grab me at all.

Pimm's o'clock

A friend requested a bottle of Pimm's from London. Pimm's is not sold here in Paris. Not that I've seen anyways. I only knew the Pimm's with Dry Ginger Ale and cucumber. But, London pimm's that I had was with lemonade, strawberries, orange and lemon. Delicious!

As I brought back the bottle from London, Paris was hotter than London and it was Pimm's o'clock.
We mixed it with lemonade, strawberries, oranges and mint. Miam!

I think I like any drinks/cocktail with lots of fruits... Sangria, mulled wine, punch, Pimm's.

Quick London

I had the pleasure of experiencing one of the hottest day in London. 31 degrees. Yes, settle down everyone it's not that hot. It's beautiful. But yes, I can understand that people are not as used to hot weather.
It was a very quick weekend pop in to London. I went down to Columbia road and found this little cute cupcake shop. To be honest, just because I've been chasing all the face cakes and cupcakes, I had to smell them to know if they were real or not. They looked so perfect to be real. They have mini-cup cakes for 1 pound. I had one with a malteser.
Treacles
110 - 112 Columbia Road
London E2 7RG

Then, had a good strawl down to Broadway market and had my first "hot salted Beef".