u m a m i

Getting through January

Christmas is over. January is a bit of a difficult month. It's mid-winter and this year we've had a lot of cold weather. Snow is welcome but in Paris we haven't gotten much of it and the type we get doesn't usually stick, it either melts straightaway or turns into ice. The city looks grey and smells faintly of smoke and twigs, it's hardly worth the effort to go out, considering all the layers that we still have to pile on. So we're staying indoors, to read, to sew, to play games on the parquet floor, and to eating very simply.

Most mornings I wish only to eat a bowl of creamy oatmeal porridge. I still cook, mostly from scratch, but it's very simple stuff. Our weekly dinner menus might read like this: Pork rib with dried scallop congee/juk on Monday, steamed chicken and vegetables on Tuesday, grilled scallops or salmon with pasta on Wednesdays and braised minced pork with potatoes and carrots over rice on Thursdays. Some days it's just steamed rice, salad and cold cuts, minimal work but still gratifying. Just familiar favourites to get us through the month until we board the plane for a month-long stay in KL and Singapore.

Off-focus photo above is of oven-braised pork belly from Les Papilles, where I joined a group of local foodbloggers for dinner a few weeks before Christmas. Their charcuterie was rather good, it was my favourite course. Otherwise the roasted pink garlic that garnished the pork belly was the high point for me, but everyone got just one clove. Pink garlic is quite expensive, I buy one head each week and it costs nearly 2 euros each time, but it roasts to a beautiful mellow sweetness. Smeared with butter on toast, it's pure deliciousness, come to think of it I might buy more next time. 

What I would also be eating more of would be galette des rois. This year the patisserie houses have gotten more creative, and playing with non-traditional ingredients like hazelnuts, apples and even rose petals. More details when I'm done with our researches.

My new micro-blog YummiUmami

Typepad introduced a new micro-blog feature yesterday. It is like twitter with more than 140 characters plus pictures plus RSS subscription. Readers can follow me, make comments, re-blog something that they liked and even indicate their favourites. Please go and have a look, I think I'll use it to post all the other stuff that don't make it to the main food blog, you know, exciting stuff like mini-reviews and oh, what I ate for lunch today.

http://umami.typepad.com/yummiumami/

Not in the mood for food

Last weekend I went to Tang Frères and bought a lot of desserts and sweet snacks- glutinous rice cakes, coconut and red bean puddings, peanut and sesame brittles. They were delicious and on hindsight, a little too rich. Coupled with yesterday's lunch of not one, but two souffles, the collective toll on the system became too heavy. I am now paying for these excesses with a bad case of indigestion.

Food is the last thing I want to see, touch, smell or eat. I want only to lie down and sleep, maybe for the next few days or the week. There will be no food blogging for the moment. I am putting up instead a non-food picture- it is a log-cabin quilt, or maybe two, in the making. It will be sweet, the final result, yet will pose no strain on the digestive system.

Goodbye Summer

We have been back for a month. It had been real busy what with V going to school and getting on without live-in help. I would be lying if I said it was easy, the apartment's big and the kid and dogs take up a lot of time and attention especially their feeding and grooming. Finally, with some organisation and discipline, and plenty of farming out of jobs to robots and professionals, I am down to about 2-3 hours of daily domestic drudge which means I can now hope to reclaim some of my normal routine of web-loafing, crafts, French and exercise but blogging will still continue to be erratic for a few more weeks.

The weather turned very cold last night. I pulled out a heavy shawl from the cupboard, put on socks, filled up the water bottle and plugged in the heaters. Other people's buildings have central heating, ours has not kicked in yet and probably won't until husband and the other tenants start complaining to the building manager.

I feel like cooking cold-weather foods these days, such as the pork stew in the above image. It was from a dinner we attended at husband's colleague's home a few months ago. His Japanese mother in law cooked a beautiful meal of grilled aubergines with miso paste, steamed prawns with seaweed salad, pickled cucumbers and that delicious stew of pork, root vegetables and hard boiled eggs in a soy broth. What will we find in the market tomorrow? Can't wait!

July, the month before August

            

Yesterday was the hottest day we've had the whole year. 31C in the shade. I  decided to have sushi for lunch and when I tried to pay the bill I realised I had left my wallet in my other bag at home. Husband drove out to bail me, a 15 minute trip in normal circumstances but yesterday it took him 45 minutes because of the terrible traffic jams all over the city. In the evening, he was stuck again because they closed off most of the roads around Champs Elysee and his 10 minute car journey turned into a 2 hour nightmare. Moral of the story: leave the car at home.

June came and went in a flash. We had looked forward to welcoming friends and family and before we knew it, they had arrived, conquered and waved us au revoir. Weylin and her boy-boy made us sumptuous breakfasts while we slept, and one night there was even a laksa gravy bathed fish! Mummy and Aunt L enjoyed the shopping- this year discounts run deeper and earlier, many stores slash at least 50% off and 70% is not unusual- as well as the pastries, chocolates and Iberico pata negra.
      
            

The eating, well, it has been really too hot to eat much. We get by on granitas and frozen grapes and other fruits including canned longans by Aroy-D (their longans and stuffed rambutans leave the competition in the dust). The cherries have not been fantastic, the weather had been too rainy this year. Flat peaches and strawberries are slightly better. Asparagus was good, one day I even found wild asparagus selling at 3 bunches for 1 euro! Zucchini flowers appeared, and we grabbed a trayful, they started curling within a few hours but were still very tasty fried up with or without stuffings of goat cheeses. We are easing into tomatoes and more salad leaves: cold tomato soup with mint cream and a hint of sweet peppers served at kitschy Findi's (24, Ave George V in the 8th, T: +33 1 47 20 14 78) was one of the best thing I ate recently.

Next week Barcelona. I need to starve a bit before going, our champion gourmand travelling companion has earmarked 4 major meals a day at all the greatest hits places in the city and beyond. Will I be able to wear any of my new dresses by the evening of THE dinner remains a big question.

Also, in August we are going to Singapore from 4-8, and then KL from 9-21. I am planning our itinerary in Singapore but KL is still a big blank. Fellow food bloggers in KL, please email me if you organise any makan sessions I would love to meet up with y'all.

We are a Typepad Featured Blog!

New York was just fabulous, I am so infected with NY everything I think I'll watch all the 6 seasons of SATC again. We ate A LOT, even taking into account a terrible sore throat which came over me three days ago and ruled out eating too much spicy or deep fried foods with crispy surfaces.

When I swallow, it feels like my tonsils have been slashed all the way to the inner ears so right now eating has been quite impossible. Dinner was a sweet omelette- all soft and runny inside just like all the diner omelettes I saw on Food Network this week- but tomorrow we are promised the 'best nasi lemak in Paris' which I definitely do not want to miss out on so we'll be guzzling lots of liquids tonight in a vain attempt to get better quickly. I also got me The Tudors (actually C brought this over from London), Gilmore Girls and Deadwood too in case we get SATC overload; contrary to what the travel gurus advise I gave in to fatigue and slept the afternoon away so will probably not sleep much tonight.

In other news, this 4 and a half year old blog was selected as this week's Featured Typepad blog. Thank you Typepad. I would also like to extend a warm and sincere welcome to new readers who found your way here via this publicity. Regular blogging will resume next week, promise!

Acide

               

Since I am in a bit of a sour mood I decided to pick up a box of frÜ Sicilian Lemon cheesecake dessert. It's good if a bit expensive, and their GÜ range of chocolate desserts is not too bad either.

Why am I in a sour mood though? One, all the China-bashing in the press has been dragging me down. The protests against the Beijing Olympics and its associated hypocrisy, overbearing presumptiousness, smugness and bare-faced opportunism have been so unrelenting it's effects have instead waken some latent Nationalist sentiments in myself. My father would be proud of me I think.

Two, the métro station closest to my school is closed until mid-June so I am not liking this inconvenience.

Three, I just spent a whole morning reading this rubbish book called Doggy Bag by a French writer Philippe Djian. He tries to write in a chick flick meets American prime-time series format and fails abjectly: the plot never moves along, earthquakes mix uneasily with alcoholism and preoccupation with sex, one third of the way through and I still couldn't tell the characters apart. I should have saved my 8 euros for an Asterix comic or settle for yet another translated P.G Wodehouse caper. 

Four, I was walking along the streets and at the corner of Ave George V and Ave Pierre Charron I spied from the corner of my eye a tall suited Caucasian man walking at cross angles and mentally calculated that at the speeds we were both walking along we would definitely bump into each other. In the past I would have stopped, or veered to the side but I was in a mutinous mood. Why should it be me who gives way? The French would never do such a thing, if they bump into you they pretend it didn't happen, if I bumped into them first I would be "tsked tsked" at. Husband says only the Chinese and Japanese do the zig zag walk, and bearing his words in mind I walked straight ahead and hoped for the best. The tall white man in the suit stopped, if he was a cartoon car he would have slammed onto the brakes and screeched to a halt. Whew, I quickly walked away, but not before hearing him say "Pardon" in an English accent. I felt a little bad, but also pleased. Which also explains why when I was perusing the dessert shelf in Carrefour I shunned all the French brands and went English instead!

The Olympics flame passed our street junction

 

Last night it snowed. It was the last thing I expected when I drew the curtains for bedtime. At first I thought it was so strange that the rain was pouring in a horizontal direction, then my eyes registered the flurries and dances of the flakes by the light of the streetlamp. It was mesmerising and beautiful. We wished hard that the snow would settle, from our window we could see husband's car getting a fine dusting, and hoped that the next day V would wake up to see snow. Alas, in the morning it had all melted and the weather was cold and chilly though not in an unwelcome way, looking at all the green trees and jaunty flower beds we are definitely putting winter behind us.

In the afternoon I was interrupted by the sound of helicopters circling overhead. It's not an unusual thing in this neighbourhood, the helicopters come out at the slightest reason- a marathon, Bastille Day celebrations, Veteran's Day, inauguration of the President, a state visit etc- and we are usually grateful if they do not also close the metro stations and/or block the roads. Still, the helicopter was so loud it was practically outside, when I popped out to check, it was actually above us. Looking into Place de Beyrough I saw that Avenue Marceau was completely blocked to vehicles other than police vans.  People from the opposite building came out to observe on their balconies, and traffic came to a standstill.

It was the passing of the Olympic flame, though I was clueless at that time and did not keep an eye out for a runner bearing a torch. Oops, I've just read that the torch was extinguished three times and they had to put it in a bus. Apparently 3000 policemen were deployed in this exercise alone, although  most of them who passed our junction were sitting safely in a van instead of facing off with the protesters. By the time the bus came round I saw and heard only one protester, and a handful of press photographers, contrary to what is reported elsewhere. Also, does this mean that if the Chinese don't do what the protesters want, the games would be boycotted and the thousands of sportsmen who trained so hard have to put their dreams on hold and miss out on the medals.

            

Still, one may ask, what has all these events, fascinating as they may be, have to do in a food blog? Nothing. But I do have a picture of a roasted leg of milk-fed piglet which I bought for a Saturday lunch from the market butcher . The meat was milky and tender, delicious, we finished the lot in one sitting and the dogs got to chew on the bones so they too were happy.

          

Too right says Mimi. Now if only someone could explain to her why the helicopter is still around even though it is nearly 10 p.m The protesters are not tired yet?

Also, I am updating my Twitter more frequently, see column on right hand side.

Malaysia Boleh!

It's Election Day in Malaysia and results show the opposition taking at least five states. It's absolutely fantastic and I didn't see it coming so I am really moved and happy.

I've never voted in my life before, due to various reasons I have always been out of the country during elections but my parents and most of my dad's family in particular have been long-time DAP supporters. I remember my fourth aunt telling us of how my late paternal grandmother would ride in BN buses to the election booths because everyone knows that BN has bigger budgets and therefore more comfortable buses and provide Milo and biscuits whereas DAP buses are never that comfortable. But when she comes out of the booth she will tell my aunt that she voted for the 'rocket' party.

My dad advised us not to be involved in politics, and even my friends would not openly say who they would vote for. This year though, people have been wearing red t-shirts in public to show their DAP allegiance; we have definitely come a long way. For many generations we have accepted the deplorable state of affairs with resignation and hunker down to look after our own. Perhaps after today, with the BN majority hanging in such precarious balance things will improve. I hope the new MPs would work hard for the rakyat and be able to make a difference. Malaysia Boleh!

Spring Festival

               

It is drizzly but not too cold today. The florist have pussy willows and curly bamboos. Living in a temperate country really makes the promise of spring relevant, little wonder then that in China they also call this celebration Spring Festival. We saw some cherry blossoms in Belleville last weekend but silly me did not think to buy until it was too late and the shops have shut for the night.

The house is reasonably clean. I've even swiffered the books and wall moldings, as anyone who's ever visited us will know, ALL our walls have moldings. GG has made the crackers for tomorrow's yee-sang, and I am still fretting about having enough gas canisters for the hotpot.

Also, we finally finished making a new set of placemats for the dinner table. Two cotton prints, with handfinished bindings, no batting or quilting involved. Like the spring/summer fashion collections, we have florals; in the autumn/winter months we can go crazy with green dots. I made a mistake in cutting the dotted fabric and had to improvise by re-adding a strip of the floral but it turned out well in the end we think.

         

May all of you have a New Lunar Year full of blessings and happiness. Collect lots of ang-pows, win lots at mahjong and eat lots of pineapple tarts and bak-kwa!

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Kong Hei Fatt Choy

Happy Lunar New Year