Eating across Paris

Paris is one of those places where you want to be able to say "I had the best meal of my life" but sometimes with all the tourist traps it's hard to really find a truly great meal. It's harder still to find a truly great meal that's not going to break the bank.

Before we left for Paris my good friend and fabulous Parisian, Noras, sat down with me one afternoon and shared her hidden gems of the city with me. I made several google maps that can be easily printed out for your next trek to the land of caloric bliss.

New Years in London

_MG_6493, a photo by coach_stacey on Flickr.

After a week in Paris we took the Eurostar (the chunnel) to London where we had one last night with Joel's parents. After that we had a great visit with all my second cousins (my mother's first cousins and their kids). The weather allowed us to walk the heath and take in some views of the city we'd never seen before.  Cheers to all of you who came out to see us! We wish we were in the UK more often to visit. 


We spent New Years with our long time friends Ben and Jess in the Camden Town area where we visited markets and laid out a spread of food and had an evening of great conversation and fun with their circle of expat friends. We trekked up to a park just before midnight to see the fireworks downtown. You can't get more jovial than the Brits when it comes to any holiday or Sporting event (or really any occasion with alcohol involved). 

The trip to the UK was far too short to really fit in more than that. I know we'll be back before long. London is one of those places in the world where we feel very at home and this being my fourth trip through I was very aware that I need to spend more time here.

The Eiffel Tower

 

On our first trip to Paris on our honeymoon over four years ago we eyed the long line ups for the Eiffel tower. It was tempting to queue with the masses but instead we satisfied ourselves with strolling around the base like most visitors do.

Joel's parents bought special tickets to have a small group tour on this trip which allowed us to jump the queues and enjoy the tower with almost no waiting at all. We went this morning and were rewarded with a clear beautiful day for the experience. I thought I'd chicken out at the second level but I made it all the way to the top. The views were incredible and above all the feeling of being in this iconic place is hard to describe. So many history lectures came to life in my imagination. I really had no idea I would be this swept away by a monument but there you go. That's the beauty of travel.

Tomorrow is our last full day before we leave for London. It's one we have chosen to fill with domestic tasks... Stocking up on toiletries and buying hardware. You'd think we lived on an island or something.

Christmas in Paris: the 24th

We expected the 24th to be a day of shops closed for the season and shelves bare of breads and pastries. We started the day with a walk down to a bakery we found that has the most marvellous crossants. They were very busy and there were certainly many special orders lined up but we were surprised at the surplus of bread they had for the day. As we walked the city the rest of the afternoon we saw an over abundance of food at bakeries everywhere and hardly anyone out shopping. Shops were staying open late but it was clear that there was going to be a lot of food to waste this year. We mused that the financial climate in France right now may have taken a toll on consumer spending. Floral shops were packed to the gills with arrangements that looked as if they had over-ordered many times what they needed and the christmas tree vendor still had almost full stock of trees left by 3pm on Christmas eve...

We spent the early evening taking a river boat down the Seine on a special champagne tasting cruise. It was truly the most gloriously touristy thing, we began under the Eifel tower and cruised past Notre Dame and the Louvre while our guide walked around with bottles of bubbly answering our questions about champagne production.

After the boat tour we cabbed back to our apartment and began heating all the part of our Christmas dinner. It was a great feast and a very memorable Christmas.

Christmas in Paris: the preparations

We spent our second day, Dec 23rd, out walking the streets of the city trying to gather all the ingredients for our Christmas dinner on the 24th. Not all things made it to the 24th... here are some of the places we went and things we consumed.

First there were Macarons from the Laudree patisserie. We had all the most unusual flavours we could find. I really liked the gingerbread flavour.

Quatrehomme is a magnificent cheese shop. We filled a bag with an impressive spread of cheese for our feast. Not sure what its official name is but we especially enjoyed a truffle cheese which the shop makes just for the season.

Rue Cler, the famous gastro corridor was our stop for lunch but it was also where we found street vendors selling roast potatoes, roast chickens and all the sides. We picked up a quiche here for me and I fought off the cold with a hot chocolate thick enough to pass for fondue.

We couldn't have a proper Parisian Christmas feast without a visit to Lenotre... Our purchases here included a pyramid made of dinner rolls in every variety they make and a Buchedenoel which you can see in all its glory below.

Landing in Paris

Paris, a set on Flickr.

We landed in Paris yesterday at 6am and are now staying at an apartment Joel's parents are renting. This places is like a movie set, frecos painted in the hallways, Victorian furniture, chandeilers over the beds, windows opening out onto views of historic buildings.

We spent our first day out walking and shooting a few pictures on the iphone. I have started an album on flickr which we'll keep adding to as the week progresses.

A year in the rearview mirror

It's December in Singapore. Something I know only because my iphone tells me so. It's 33 degrees Celsius outside and all the greenery is extra bright due to the intermittent rains of the monsoon season. I thought it might be a good time to reflect on the past year and maybe bring family and friends up to date on the highlights (and low points) of the year.

The other side of Super Elite

As a Canadian having an Aeroplan card is very much a staple in one's wallet. We have one National airline left which has filed for bankruptcy protection enough times to put an American bank to shame. Air Canada is a little like United (except that it is a very small fleet) known for bitter flight staff and an underwhelming version of business class on domestic flights. As years have worn on, the levels of rewards from their frequent flyers program have been shaved away so it's harder and harder to actually redeem anything. That said there are categories, "Prestige", "Elite" and then there's "Super Elite." To get these you need to fly a lot all in one year. Over the past few years of frequent travel we've mused about what happens to people when they reach Super Elite since you pretty much need about 6 round the world trips. Our curiosity was finally satisfied when a package came in the mail yesterday welcoming Joel to "Super Elite." Aren't you dying to know what this welcome package looks like?

Care to join us?

A lot of our friends especially in the US have contacted us lately to ask us about a job opportunity in Singapore they are considering. They want to know what the job market is like and what they should ask for in a salary and if we like it here. I don't know about every job area, for instance I don't know anyone in oil and gas or mining here. What I do know is a bit about the finance, media and entertainment and software end of things. So this is my attempt to share some observations about the job market I've made over the past year while networking and chatting with expats in these fields.

Bintan Islands Indonesia

Bintan Islands Indonesia, a set on Flickr.

We just got home from spending a weekend on Bintan for the Tour de Bintan stage race and the "go get some sun" part of the Doctor's orders for me. As my fellow Singapore residents already know, this island is not a cultural hot spot, nor is it the most amazing place to hit up a resort but it is a 45 minute ferry ride from Singapore and an opportunity to escape the city noise for a weekend.

We actually happened upon a great spot this trip. We stayed at Bintan Lagoon Resort which is a 700 acre golf resort set back from the water so the beach is quite peaceful with just one beach side restaurant visible from the shore. Given that it's a huge piece of land there's no light pollution at night and we loved just being able to walk around and see stars. It's very quiet and there are no other resorts on this stretch of coast. The cost of this place cuts down on the large families and groups of partiers so most other guests are couples who would prefer to play cards and read in a lounger than scream and listen to loud pop music. Overall the service was quite decent, our room was pretty nice and as clean as things get in this part of the world. Food at the buffet was better than other resort buffets we've seen, a-la-carte was better and the beach bar/restaurant was on par with a Singaporean tapas bar. Not excellent but we weren't suffering a bit.