Pentecost Sunday

Today we have a few special guests from Indonesia presented at the Sunday service. Lidia Nursaid has a lovely and powerful voice, and she sings beautifully to the Lord... I was doing the English translation and thus have the privilege to hear her voice directly from the ear phones. I love the way she worships the Lord with a jazz vocal, very trendy and creative indeed. Pentecost marks the coming of Holy Spirit, may you find peace, joy and empowerment in Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ...

The Making of Kimchi

I made some kimchi today... This is my first attempt, so yet to figure out the taste but I marinated the cabbage and it is in a tight container...

I cut the cabbage into half, wash and drain dry... in fact I washed them just before I left for church and let them air dry in the kitchen.

I marinated the cabbage in the evening after I returned from Sunday service. Here is a photo in action. I sprinkled the kimchi powder on each layer of the cabbage and also added some carrot and spring onion at the same time, repeating till all layers are dusted with red color...

Now, it has to sit in the room temperature and tight container for a day (24 hours) to soften and break down the structure, then it can be put into the fridge for 2 more days before the kimchi is ready to serve....

Fruits la Mer

How was your Saturday? We spent a lot of time planning for our dinner, both of us were busy at the kitchen to prepare this seafood dinner last night...

I made this vegetables dish based on Harumi Kurihara's recipe. A light parboil of carrot, green asparagus. The dressing is actually made of a block of silken tofu, sesame paste and some Japanese ingredients. It is very refreshing and the combination of the asparagus with the tofu dressing is superb, but next time I will remove the green lettuce.

We bought these shell fish from Simonis, a dozen of oysters, crab claws, fresh prawns and others which we didn't eat last night.

Our mini version of fruits de mer (seafood platter) consists of shrimps, crab claws and oysters on the bed of ice. The crab and shrimps were quickly cooked in hot boiling water and then let cool in advance. Johannes has the privilege to open up all the oysters...

Some fresh cut of bread to go with the fruits de mer.....

Thousand Islands sauce hand made by Johannes, mixing mayonnaise with tomato ketchup, crushed garlic and a dash of brandy... very fresh and my mouth still stint of garlic this morning.

A bottle of Macôn Lugny 2002 to go with the meal. The wine taste really crisps and extend the seafood after tone in one's mouth to the maximum....

It was not until almost midnight when we finished our meal, feel actually quite like having dinner in a restaurant with homely decorations and of course without waiter/waitress serving us :)

Seafood Crave

Seafood is almost every where in Paris or France generally, but when it comes to fresh seafood in this country, it is usually hard to find them besides the big market or some specialty stalls. They are not commonly available ...

Stall selling seafood at Ave de Clichy, Paris

Seafood at Galeries Lafayette Gourmet

And the fact that Johannes didn't find his fruit de lar mer to sample in Paris last week, he kept murmuring about it all week. We decide get some from Simonis at Scheveningen today.

Simonis - The seafood selection is also quite extensive

But expensive...

Anyway, we got different types of seafood in small portion for tonight's dinner... yet to find out ourselves if it is value for money...

A Blissful Enlightenment

Matthew 6:28 -And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.

Wild daisies on the field, aren't they survive beautifully among the others in the open field?

And also the red poppy, stands out beautifully among its rivals

I would probably have a nervous breakdown if it would not have been a weekend now. I am stressed-out due to the situation at work. The evil kind of playing with me by injecting negative thoughts to my mind. A late night MSN prompt with "can you talk now?" from my supervisor put me to complete shock. I was also tormented by the thought of meeting my career counselor on a planned every 6-week as if I am expecting him to bring me the news that I don't need to come back to work anymore....

Today, the Lord reminds me of Matthew 6:34 - Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own

A promising weekend and a long one too with Pentecost Monday!

Have a nice weekend...

Beauty Unmasked

Know this place? Looks familiar?

If you ever been to Paris, you must have set your footprint here. Perhaps is the time of the year we hardly see the crowds of Chinese tourists or let alone Japanese tourist flooding this emporium anymore.

With less crowd and human traffic, Galeries Lafayette becomes more beautiful to me. It is the first time (after many times) I stood still and enjoyed the dome and the interior of the building.

Don't you think this looks like in the grand theatre setting with privilege seats to watch the opera...

And the geometric beauty counters with the view from the top floor and you noticed there are hardly crowds anymore.... Both Galeries Lafayette and Printemps are opening extra long hours to attract more customers but the phenomenon of Chinese customers splashing Euros are definitely gone with the wind....

La Maison de la Chine (上海滩）

I am still in the last bit of Paris mood... Johannes is a bit crazy of Shanghai Tang. Shanghai Tang is a fashion establishment with the twist of East meets West based in Hong Kong, these day they also carry some housewares and scents. They do have a few stores in different cities outside Hong Kong. He insisted to check the Paris one out. So we went to the La Maison de la chine at Rue Bonaparte.

Street sign of rue bonaparte

Finally we arrived at Shanghai Tang but find it a bit weird to see Japanese element at the store, Photo of Geisha with kimono, Japanese teapot... Question marks start forming in my head????? Later we found out that 'la maison de la chine' is divided into 3 main sections, one area is the Asia tour agency which explain why there are posters of Japan in Shanghai Tang...

These are some of the Shanghai Tang products, they are always colorful and bright...

They also have a salon de Thé in the building which is quite nice but it was too early when we arrived...

Together, I think we have visited Shanghai Tang in Hong Kong (our favorite window shopping at Pedder street), Shanghai, New York and now Paris.

A Pleasant Surprise

The Message

The Purple Rose

Today, when Johannes arrives home he saw a yellow slip notifying us to collect a bouquet of flowers from our neighbour, the flowers were delivered to next door as we were away for work.
I couldn't figure out who is that for (Johannes or me) and for what occasion. Well... It was actually for me and when I take a look at the message, I was pleasantly delighted, it is from the Executive sponsors of the project that I have worked on since October and it has successfully in operation and I am officially finishing the project today.

It has been a very tough week for me, going through an emotional roller-coaster due to the situation at work that doesn't really affect me but affecting my team members. The flowers came in just in time, like God's sent affirmation prior to the Pentecost Sunday... Thanks Eric, Marc and Eef for the kind gesture...

A Stroll along Saint-Germain-des-prés

I hope you are still in the mood to stroll the city of Paris with me? Now I am going to take you through the Latin quarter of Saint-Germain-des-prés. We were here last Friday on 22nd May 2009.

It was not crowded when we arrived at around 11am, weather were promising

There are also a lot of interesting shops and rather unique boutiques and less high street fashion. We were browsing the shop window displays

The reflection of Johannes and the hop-on-off yellow bus at the bus stop

A shop called SAVE THE QUEEN, reminds me of the recent incident on the Dutch Queen... God bless her...

The sky was clear blue but a bit chilly when sitting outside of the sunshine

We walked a long way around the area also taking our time at Jardin du Luxembourg before hunting for lunch.

We were pondering if we should sit in this little bistro Au Petit Suisse

Or this Cafe Les Deux Magots ??

But finally we settled at the quiet corner of Marché St Germain, we had our late lunch in this bistro. We both ordered the small bistro menu.

Johannes had this roasted lamb and I had this foie gras version. The foie gras is superbly marinated and the taste is really complex and pleasing. The set menu comes with the choice of drink, which we both opted for Badoit.

I didn't had any alcohol in Paris, this is my champagne san alcohol , aka sparkling water, which taste equally refreshing...

The dessert is an interesting composition of strawberry sorbet, Espresso and Madeleine.

Opposite the bistro, there is this little red soup restaurant that caught my attention, may be I will paint this one day...

LADURÉE

I am still indulging in the little Paris trip we did last week. Now I want to talk about the forever famous and forever busy LADURÉE. With only a few outlets, Ladurée is always busy and always with a long Parisian line at the patisserie counter.

Rue St Honoré

This is one of the outlet at the cross junction of rue St Honoré and rue Royale

The window display with tempting tartlets, macarons and other items of LADURÉE
We arrived at the Rue Royal outlet rather late, almost 6pm but they still serving tea in the establishment.

The interior of Ladurée, classical French design and rather warm in the afternoon

The menu card in pastel pink color, it didn't take long for me to decide what I want...

and then waiting patiently and full of anticipation for them to arrive....


Johannes ordered this of which we don't know the name, it is kind of made by the waffle of macaron but I find it a little too sweet.

The tart is garnished with raspberries, strawberries and intertwined with pistachio nut. Frankly speaking the tartlets would have taste even fresher if it is earlier in the day, there is a slight of tiredness and age in macaron pastry as has been exposed to the air for just a little too long, nonetheless, they are still good...


My La Divin

La Divin - taste really yummy, soft texture, creamy and full of the aroma of raspberries, not too sweet at all

The patisserie taste best with my cup of tea. Tea is served again in the French silverware and a large sign of 'L' thoughtfully design to protect one from the heat of the hot teapot handle.

This is another outlet of Ladurée inside Printemps, we didn't go into this one as it is too early for tea when we were at the Opéra area avoiding the rain. I bought the Ladurée macaron though from the outlet at Printemps and then carrying them around in this little pastel green paper bag and walk around Paris with it...

Even while we were catching a bit of fresh air after the humid rain fall at the green field between Jardin du Tuileries and the Luvre museum. The green LADURÉE bag sits stylishly on the field and complementing the Luvre annex building in perfect harmony...

For now, I hope you enjoy the journey with me...