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.

Coquelicot

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

Coquelicot
24 rue des Abbesses
75018
Metro: Abbesses

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.

what more could a girl want?

I possibly had the best girlie day with my friend Jacinta yesterday. We went to Printemp MAC section to find new liquid eye liner. I usually use the one that's from Japan. They have cheap and not nasty cosmetics. But the problem is that good liquid eye liners are difficult to find. Specially ones that lasts and stays as bold as when it's applied. I don't wanna sound like an infomercial lady, but damn this is good. Me and Jacinta both got one. Highly recommended. It's worth investing in a good eyeliner.
I got this make-up base as well. I didn't mean to get this one... I wanted to get the oil control base this but I picked up the wrong one... However, this is amazing as well. The foundation goes on the skin so smooth after this. I should get a job at Mac... This lovely lady at the counter even gave me a discount. Turns out that she lived in Japan for 3 years in Nakamegro, met her French husband and now she's in Paris.

Gallery La Fayette has this great gourmet section. As you walk in, you can smell all the spices, chocolate, macarons etc at once. I don't know if that's a good thing...
Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki makes incredibly beautiful sweets. It's like this Japanese obsession for Paris, sweets and cute little things all mixed into their creation of their products. So colourful and beautiful to look at. One thing I really wanted to try was Chocorons!
Yes, they are macarons coated with chocolate!!! It is so delicious!!! I had a cafe flavour. I'm going to try all the flavours by the time I leave Paris. This is going to be my little treats from now on.
Jacinta with her wasabi flavoured macarons.

Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki
35 rue de Vaugirard
56 boulevard de Port-Royal

Gallery La Fayette
48 boulevard Haussmann 75009 Paris

Winter's back... Brunch Bazar!

Just as i thought that the winter is saying good bye to me, i thought wrong... It got really cold again, which put me into semi-hibernation. (means I don't get out of the house after dark.) Instead I made myself noodles from the scratch. Those Japanese udon noodles. They also eat the similar kind in China as well. My colleague has lend me a book on it, so I gave it a go. You just need some strong flour and water. (and a lot of arm strength) After a good work out of kneading the dough, you rest is with a wet cloth over it for 1 hour. Then, you starting rolling it out flat with a rolling pin. You need to repeat that for a good sometime to make it to 40cm each way. Then you fold the pastry and cut into thin strips. Viola! You cook the noodles in the boiling water, then serve it with soup or stir fry it with vegetables.

You only need:
200g strong flour
80ml water
a good pair of arms

Some says it's better to use salt water and use cornflour to flour the bench etc.

Strong flour is basically the flour used for bread etc. Not the normal stuff for cakes.

I made it into a stir fry. It was my first attempt but it went well! Yummy. I started having this funny idea that maybe I open a noodle restaurant...

I went shopping for Jonny, Duncan and Kath's birthdays looking for something funny and little so that I can send them over cheap.That Marc Jacobs is a pen inside. Wait for it Kath. Yves Saint Laurent "official" badge. I could've made them but hey, it's "official" YSL. I love them. So Paris...

Exert from a magazine. It's a hamburger cupcake. The article included a recipe. They stole it Gemma!

I went to Brunch Bazzar today! It's a little craft market with vintage stalls, crafts and stuff. It's held 1st Sunday of every month. It's very earth friendly and child friendly. They were so many cute French kids. (well dressed of course.) This little fella above was waiting outside for his owner and he was shaking. But for that, he was getting a lot of attention.

Cococook. Good cakes and hot chocolates!!


Country dance lesson for all... Cutest thing ever. The little dude on the left in gray was eating for the whole time.


I bought a top/blouson type thing for 20 euros. But then, the guy at the stall puts all these things in my bag and says "it's a gift." A lot more than what I actually paid for. It made me happy for it's total randomness and practicality. Beck's scarf, Emily's Xmas sock, Adidas medal (not sure if that's practical...) and coasters.

Brunch Bazar
At Le Comptoir General
80 Quai de Jemmapes
75010 Paris
Metro: Republic

Saint Valentin!

I got sick again this week and Paris winter is not helping to get better. It's freezing outside... My friend Jerome and Silvia were kind enough to came over for dinner last night so I didn't have to go outside. Japanese treats! This was actually the first time that I cooked Japanese in Paris. God, the ingredients are so expensive compare to Melbs. I found this Japanese/Korean shop that I can get stuff. It's called K-mart. Not that kind of K-mart but it has a good range of stuff.

K-mart
8 rue Saint-Anne
75002, Paris
Metro:Opera/Pyramides

Today, I had a coffee with a friend that I met in a hostel during my hostel life. Shops and Cafes are open around Marais so we had a walk around the area. I get so disoriented in the metro. I know that I've been there but if I get off at a different metro station, I totally don't know where I am, specially in Marais. I found the vintage shop that I went to last year today! I have been trying to find it but I couldn't remember where it was at all. It's open on Sundays. No purchase until next pay day though.

The King of Frip
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=56107301331
33 rue du roi de sicile/14 vielle du temple
75004, Paris

It was actually Saint-Valentin today. I thought it was time for my fondue set to come out. mmm... I made mulled wine and chocolate fondue for Valentine's Day. My friend Katie and her friend Duke came over.




I love mulled wine.
I read some recipes and I found a good mix.

Mulled wine (the Bubble special)

1/2 Lemon
1 Orange
Honey
1 Bottle of red
All spice (cloves and cinnamon etc)
Brandy (depends how strong you like it...)
Water (to adjust the strength)

Don't boil the wine, dah. You want all the alcohol to keep you warm. YUM YUM.

Here are more drawings. I did this 2 weeks ago but I had to add things.

and this one.