I knew eating would be a major itinerary while in France,
and my high expectations were not let down!
On some days, the first thing i drank after waking up was not water,
but champagne.
Can’t say i’m complaining (unless a hangover was in progress).
One of those aforementioned days was when we went to Clem’s aunt France’s apartment for an intimate pre-Christmas family lunch.
By the way, we had many ‘pre-Christmas meals’ – all filled with amazing food and wine.
I’ve been trying to avoid looking down at my midsection since i got here.
Clem arrived at the apartment a little later than some of us,
and i love how welcome his family have made me feel…
by showing me baby + kid pictures of him.
Sorry can’t help posting at least ONE.
Before eating we usually sit around having champagne,
and spreads on bread like caviar, olives or foie gras.
This one above is 100% NOT halal… and the BEST of all.
We’re SO addicted to it and i plan to buy home as MANY AS I AM ABLE TO CARRY.
Peeking into the kitchen while lunch is being prepared.
Didier, Flore, Serge, Dom, France, Clem
Didier, Flore, Serge, Dom
The absolutely succulent steak we had – perfectly rare and soft!
Lots of fromage (cheeses) + salad after
Flore trying to dance off the food.
I told Clem she’s like a one-woman-club.
Tarte tatin we had for dessert was unavoidable.
I say unavoidable because one, i’m not usually a big fan of apple pie,
and two, i was already so full from all the steak and potatoes and cheese,
but yet i couldn’t stop eating it.
I felt like i was swimming in a heavenly spoonful of syrup.
+ + +
For the next day’s lunch, Clem took me to L’Entrecote,
this really famous restaurant in Bordeaux which has expanded to an additional two oulets in France.
There is no menu.
They only serve one thing and everyone eats the same entree (salad) and main (steak + fries).
There are no reservations allowed.
Popularity + No reservations = Pretty DAMN LONG QUEUE.
The line was from INSIDE the building till outside,
winding till the building next door!
Crazy!
I’ve never seen a queue for a restaurant that long in my life!
I didn’t want to line up for the Eiffel Tower,
but for food, i would.
And i did.
Took a picture while queueing. Nothing to do.
Waiting to see WHAT the fuss is about!
Okay i must admit… i know what the fuss was about after eating it.
The meat was so soft it practically melted in my mouth.
Drenched in their signature butter sauce,
it was also pure pleasure to drown the french fries in it.
SO SOFT AND RARE OH I WILL MISS IT
Sad face after it’s finished.
Shared profiteroles for dessert.
I will forever be reminded of Yishyene everytime i have some,
cos she was the first to convince me to try them,
and we had many-a perfect profiterole moment during our trip to South of France and Italy last summer.
+ + +
On our last day in Bordeaux, it was really gloomy and i was quite disappointed we weren’t going to the beach to eat oysters as planned.
So Clem took me to a seafood restaurant to stuff me with oysters to shut me up.
J’adore soupe de poisson!
One of my favourite French dishes (next to bouillabaisse and foie gras)
We ordered a whole platter of different types of oysters.
I had more than my share weeee
SO MUCH to tell about Christmas with a gazillion pictures so i have to go through them slowly later!
These are some i edited last week but didn’t have time to post cos we moved from Bordeaux to Le Mee for 2 nights,
then to a farmhouse in Mont (just outside Paris) for Christmas eve.
I’ve drunk more alchohol than water for the past few days,
and don’t think i can look at another oyster or piece of foie gras without cringing as i gave in to greed and overdid it at every meal.
Here are some pix taken in Le Marais, a trendy gay-friendly area in Paris with lots of interesting shops and art galleries.
Even as a lover of all fatty food,
the bone marrow i gleefully ordered as my entree was a bit too much for me to take after emptying 2 and a half bones…
Guerande salt to be eaten with the marrow.
Had a steak but it couldn’t compare to the luscious homemade ones i had for Christmas later on!
Les Marronniers
18 rue des Archives
75004 Paris
Tel: 01 40 27 87 72
The vintage items here are pretty expensive, with a pair of sunnies going at 75 euros.
Ouch… think i’d get a bigger shopping orgasm from finding an authentic but cheap pair in a flea market somewhere!
Puffer fish scho kiut!
I can imagine that my future house will be filled with all these crazy paraphernalia.
This doggie made me think of Steph and Aps.
Cos Steph likes making animals, and Aps likes cross-stitching.
Was trying to take a sneaky shot of this man above who looked like a quirky character but he just WOULDN’T TURN AROUND.
Too bad.
Annick Goutal perfume.
Clem played with the dropper while the lady wasn’t looking and spilled some.
-_-
Such a child.
Flowers in plastic bags pretending to be vases.
A light constructed of bells!
I would like these whacky chairs please.
Okay gotta go watch some French DVD with Clem and Flore.
I must admit i’m relieved Christmas is over and i’m not expected to stuff my body anymore!
But it was gorgeous with snow from the 23rd onwards,
fireplaces,
lots of champagne,
and Clem’s family made me feel SO welcome <3
It couldn’t have been any better.
I hope all of you had as wonderful a Christmas as well,
with lots of love and hugs and pressies that made you smile and cry.
We stayed at Disney’s Hollywood Hotel and it must be the happiest hotel in the world.
Mickey’s voice announces what floor you’re on in the lift,
and tinkly Disney symphony music plays everywhere.
Even the carpets in the corridor leading to our hotel room were colourful and trippy!
There’s Mickey and Minnie everywhere.
Even in the shower
Classic Disney cartoons play on a specific channel in the hotel. I LOVE IT!
I have a pile of Disney DVDs at home,
and Clem has become accustomed to his 27-year-old girlfriend popping one in whenever she wants to feel 5-years-old.
Which can be pretty often.
Before heading to Disneyland, we needed energy = food!
So we went to Crystal Lotus – an upscale contemporary Chinese restaurant in Disneyland Hotel.
Since i was going to Disneyland, i packed the most aptly colourful clothes i could
The great thing about being a big kid is having beer at Disneyland
All the food served came in the cutest cartoon shapes,
i felt almost evil for devouring them!
Steamed piggy mask buns
Even the carrot ends up being a hidden Mickey!
Little pig bbq pork bun + little green men pork and vegetable bun
Mickey’s seafood glutinous pancake
Double-boiled chicken and conpoy soup in petite coconut
Can you see there’s a Mickey in there too?!
There are 4 areas in Disneyland HK, the first one we found ourselves in upon entering was…
Main Street, U.S.A.
Walt Disney fondly remembers Main Street from his childhood,
hence implementing it into Disneyland.
Since Christmas is coming, they’ve put up one of the BIGGEST CHRISTMAS TREES i’ve ever seen on Main Street!
Lookee me… i’m smaller than the present.
Lots of shops selling Disney paraphernalia like the one above. Wilson not included.
We sat on the Disneyland Railroad,
which is a replica of an authentic 19th century locomotive.
It passes through all the different areas of the park so it’s like a sneak preview before actually running around the whole place.
Disneyland creates additional exhibitions according to time of the year and celebration.
I heard that they had a haunted house set up for Halloween (which we missed since it’s over )
But since Christmas is coming,
they installed an entire tiny town with snow on the rooftops.
It’s SO AWESOME THAT IT LOOKS SO FAKE.
I think i look like i’m taking a picture with a flat backdrop!
I couldn’t help taking another picture using a different filter on my camera,
click the picture below for a larger view.
Trust me, it’s really prettyyyyy
[click image for awesome larger view!]
On Main Street is where we bumped into most of the characters,
we saw Mickey and Minnie, but the line was so long i decided to skip it.
Got a picture with Chip & Dale!
Chip-chip-chip-chip ‘N Dale!
From Main Street, we went to…
Tomorrowland
Orbitron – children’s ride aboard flying saucers
Starliner Diner
Featuring science fiction fantasies,
space adventures,
and a fantasy future world where everything is shiny metal;
one of the biggest rides we anticipated in Tomorrowland was Space Mountain.
Thanks to some privileges as a blogger,
we were able to use the fast pass
Space Mountain is an indoor roller coaster that careens you through the darkness,
save for lights depicting the universe (i loved that bit!)
Well there are no pictures of the ride, for obvious reasons that i would have lost my camera!
Another ride we ran to try was the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.
It’s an interactive ride where we each got an infrared laser gun to join Buzz Lightyear in battling the evil Emperor Zurg.
I didn’t think i was going to play with the laser gun,
but when Clem and i realised there were scores on the dashboard,
our competitive streak kicked in and we were ON IT. He won.
The displays throughout the ride are large,
i think one of the little green men were only slightly smaller than me 0_0
While walking to Adventureland,
Clem stopped to get drinks
and i watched two little girls playing with bubbles.
Adventureland
We took the Jungle River Cruise ride,
with different surprises around every bend –
elephants, crocs, hippos (ok fine. one of the hippos were really big and it scared me)
geysers, waterfalls and an explosion even.
Tarzan’s Treehouse
I loved the narrator on the boat,
she had a sense of humour saying things at the end of the ride like, “Wasn’t that an exciting ride!? That’s why i ride it 50 times a day, every day!”
We bumped into Timon at Adventureland!
I love Timon!
Clem didn’t like him as much.
He claims Timon pushed him away after the picture to take one alone with me.
So he thinks Timon was hitting on me hahaha.
Fantasyland
Sleeping Beauty Castle
Fantasyland – the happiest land of all!
THIS IS MY FAVOURITE RIDE IN THE WHOLE OF DISNEYLAND
We sat in little Hunny Pots,
and went through the life and adventures of Winnie the Pooh!
I love Winnie the Pooh and know all the stories by heart,
so it was amazing to see them all played out in 3D with their voices and accompanying sounds!
And below is my favourite part of my favourite ride –
the Heffalumps and Woozles!
If you’ve never watched it,
YOU MUST WATCH THE VIDEO HERE >
Just like the video, this part of the ride was all whacky and crazy and lucy in the sky with diamonds!
Happy endings, of course
I loved the ride so much i made Clem sit it with me a few times.
And you know how they take pictures of you during the ride so you may buy it after?
On our 3rd time, i had an expression of complete enchantment…
while Clem was caught yawning!
“Look at your face! How can you yawn on the WINNIE THE POOH RIDE?!” “We sat it so many times!!!”
We also went for the Golden Mickeys show,
which we had to time properly on when to arrive but i’m glad we did!
Set like a glamourous Hollywood awards show,
we got to see all the different Disney characters sing and dance
in a Broadway-style theatre.
Main cast!
Woody & Jessie from Toy Story!
Lilo & Stitch (but i don’t have a pic of them)
The Little Mermaid
We waited around on Main Street for the fireworks show after that
and both agreed it was pretty spectacular.
Not only was it fireworks,
but music,
and light images on the castle walls,
and fire shooting up,
and laser lights…
It wasn’t just fireworks man,
it was an entire SHOW.
If you’re thinking of where to go for Christmas holidays this year, Disneyland would be perfect cos all their special deco and additional shows will be on!
I’m so psyched that i’ve been asking Clem whether we can make time for EuroDisney in Paris next week.
I’ve been to Disneyworld LA, Disney HK, now just EuroDisney to tick off my Disney list!!!
+ + +
For more info on Disneyland HK, click *here* For info on ticketing, click *here*
Having been born in Paris but grown up in Bordeaux, Clem was sure to return to the latter city to see his friends and spend some time in his old house.
Famed for its production in wine,
we took a walk around Bordeaux city for me to get a lookfeel of the place.
Poor Mickey trying to earn some money for Christmas by selling animal balloons.
Took a long walk by the river.
The only way Clem got me to walk the whole stretch was by promising me a nice Irish pub (meaning Guinness!) at the end of it.
So now you know.
Want Joyce to walk somewhere, bribe her with Guinness at the end of it.
Like a donkey and a carrot.
People here perfect the art of hugging themselves to keep warm while cycling.
Clem was really excited to show me his home town,
so it was quite cute.
He even took me to see his business college which i ooh-ed and aah-ed at
Grafitti on the sides of a skate park across his business school.
The shopping street in Bordeaux looks even more beautiful at night.
Went home to a family dinner
(we’ve been having lots of family meals but i love it cos we’re inside, it’s warm, his family is crazy therefore very entertaining, and i prefer home-cooked to restaurant any day!)
My first time trying raw foie gras. It’s sublime… (though i’m still very torn on the moral aspects of eating it >.<)
Didier + Dom
Serge cutting the salmon we were having for our main course.
God i love eating here.
There was an occasion i was eating a particular cheese which marveled my taste buds,
turned to Flore, Clem’s sister, and said, “Why would Clem moved away from France?!” while gesticulating at the fromage wildly.
I just cannot fathom it,
why would anyone leave this food?!?!
In fact, why should *i* leave this food…
Merignac is just next to Bordeaux,
and is about 700km from Paris in the South-West of France.
This is where Clem’s mom + stepdad stays,
and where he grew up
They’ve got a sprawling house that’s really cosy.
i’m wearing > glitter top + tube top as skirt; bangkok
long cardi; h&m
tights; forgot where in uk
socks (which have glitter on the lower parts you can’t see!); gap
boots; bimba & lola
There are scores of gorgeous high-res photographs Serge has taken on his travels which hang on all the walls of the house.
I was looking at this one of a moody Asian girl in a train,
and thought it ironic how you never know if someone’s going to take a picture of you which then ends up as a large portrait in their house on the other end of the world.
Look! It’s a Christmas ornament Clem made from a bottle when he was a kid that his mum still puts out under the tree!
Hardy har har!
SCHO KIUTTTT
Clem insisted i take a walk through the forest which was his regular pathway to school.
)
