Strawberries a plenty

I bought two strawberry plants last year from the organic farm and one of them have reproduced giving lots of daughter plants. It was growing a few long runners last september and I put the new baby plants in smaller pots just around it. I left them out and they survived winter. I spotted white flowers and am waiting now for strawberries.

The other plant was planted in my vegetable plot and it is doing well too. It has grown much bigger and there are flowers too.

Hoping these plants will give many strawberries in the next few months. 

Book: La vérité sur l'affaire Harry Quebert

My bookworm friend recommended me this book and I had it as my christmas gift from my sister-in-law. I read the original version in French and while writing this post, I realised that there is a version in English. The title is The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair.

This novel though is more than 800 pages, is easy to read. The many twisting plots make reading unstoppable. Each time, when I started to read the book in bed, I knew that I would sleep only in the early hours of the night. 

I really enjoyed reading the book. Once the book is finished, I find it remarkable of the author to come up with such ideas. I won't write about the story here. Go read it. It is highly entertaining.

Home made laundry detergent

I made my first bottle of laundry detergent. It was really easy and I had already washed 4 loads of clothes with this detergent. The clothes were cleaned and I am satisfied with my product.

It is really easy to make the detergent. 

Heat up 1L of water.

Mix in 50 gram of grated savon de Marseille (at least 70% pure without glycerin).

Add in 3 spoons of sodium bicarbonate and 30 drops of essential oil.

I chose tea tree oil as it smells good and is antiseptic and antibacterial.

Mix the mixture well and when it has cool down, pour the detergent into a bottle.

The mixture hardens slightly once it has cooled down and I have to give the bottle a good shake to pour out the detergent at each use. Other than that, I have no complains about this chemical free and cheap detergent.

I no longer have to buy detergent. Anyone up for the game to try it?

Book: Bakhita by Véronique Olmi

Last year I mentioned that I gave this book as a gift to my retired doctor. I also mentioned that I wanted to read it. A few months back, I borrowed this book from the village library and read the 400++ pages in a fortnight.

This book by Véronique Olmi is based on the life story of Bakhita who was kidnapped at the age of 7 and became a slave. In a twist of events, she ended up in Italy and became a religious sister when she gained freedom.

The book was in 3 parts (if I remembered correctly). The first part on her stolen childhood was very painful to read. The enormous sufferings she went through was unimaginable. No normal person, least a child can survive this. Her thoughts and longing of home was heart breaking to read. 

When she arrived in Italy, things seems to work out better for her. However she was a foreigner in a white people's land. I could empathize with her thoughts. Not being able to express herself in Italian, not being used to the culture, not having family and worst, not remembering her own name; the name given by her parents. 

I do not think this book is available in English. But if you are interested in Bakhita, you can read about her on Wikipedia. It does give a good description of her life. This book touched me a lot. If you read French, take the challenge to read this book. It is not easy to read, I cried. But it is so worth it in the end.

Train strike calendar

This is massive. This is messy. This is the calendar of the train strike from April to June. Two days strike followed by three days work. And the cycle continues like this. 

It looks like my work calendar when I was working at the Seagate factory during one school vacation. The shift of 12 hours was three days work, two days rest, followed by two days work and then three days rest.

Not only SNCF is protesting, unions from other big companies are joining. Seb had to fly for his work on tuesday the 3rd and was informed through a SMS 24 hours before that AirFrance cancelled the flight. The message was sent on Easter Monday at 6am and Seb woke up quickly to book his ticket with EasyJet. 

Since I work from home and only go office once a week, this period should not been too difficult for me. However, it would be such a pain for workers taking public transport to work. I hope the unions and the government manage to settle their differences real soon.

DIY Box pouches

My new sewing craze at the moment is box pouch. I bought some fabrics and zips from Singapore. The zips are cheaper in Singapore. 

I had made 5 so far and am still not satisfy with the results though to others, the pouches look lovely and presentable.

I saw this scooter fabric in Singapore and it was love at first sight. I have made 2 pouches with it.

For this pouch, I used left over fabric from the tote bag I made a few years back. It is meant for a Japanese friend. I gave it to her today and she was surprised that I sew.

I will continue to make pouches at the meantime as I would like to improve on it. Hope to make the perfect one soon.

Food in Kuala Lumpur

In Kuala Lumpur, we visited Lot 10 Hutong Food court for lunch on our first day. It is situated in Bukit Bintang along the streets of shopping malls.

Apparently,  all the best street food stalls are clustered in this food court. One can't miss it with all the sign boards just outside the food court. We had a good lunch and it was hard to choose what to eat.

For dinner one evening, we walked over to Jalan Alor where there was a street long of open air restaurants.  Most of the eateries offered the same dishes. There were also stalls selling fruits and durians.

We settled at one table and ordered satays and noodles and tofu stew and rice etc... From our table, we could see all the actions in the kitchen.

After dinner, my mum bought some local fruits. A1 loves dragonfruit so we bought two. The fruit seller made us try the small apples. They were very crunchy and sweet. Mum bought some too.

Another evening, my mum and I went to Jalan Alor after dinner and had durians. 

We bought fruits again at Chinatown. We all love mango and these mangoes were very good.

Like Singapore, it is so easy to get fresh fruits.

A1 first school trip for a week

A1 went on a volcano study trip with his classmates. They spent five days in Auvergne and came back this evening. We were happy to see him. It was the first time he was away alone.

Though he missed us, he enjoyed himself. The group stayed in a big house and A1 slept with 4 other friends in a big bedroom. They hiked each day and visited Vulcania on Wednesday. They usually did picnic during lunch time and in the evening, had their dinners at a nearby restaurant. He told me breakfast was buffet style and one morning, he had 3 yogurts. He enjoyed mealtimes and ate everything.

He mentioned the hikes were tiring and it was cold in the morning. Indeed, it was the start of spring but the temperature was low for the season. They visitied Puy de Dôme, Puy de la vache and Lac Pavin among others.

A1 had 20€ as pocket money and he spent half on the Saint Nectaire cheese. He must have stopped by this village. He also bought 2 notebooks with pens for himself and his brother. With not much left, he gave 2€ to a friend who was short of cash. I was touched by his gesture.

The cheese was a good idea. Each time we go on holiday, I would buy food as gifts for family and friends. A1 takes after me. Tika loves Saint Nectaire but her daughter bought her a bracelet and a pen for herself. I told her I shall pass her a chunk of the cheese. :)

A1 and A2 were happy to see each other. They hugged once A1 alighted from the coach. 5 days not seeing my boy, I felt he had grown taller. His recital of his trip came with confident and self-assurance. He definitely has grown in these 5 days without us.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We spent 4 days in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia during our recent trip to Singapore.  We got around by taxi or with Grab. Grab is Uber's number one competitor in South-east Asia.  We stayed in the Bukit Bintang area and usually a 5 mins Grab ride cost us 5Ringgit (1€). Considering we were 3 adults with 2 children, it was cheaper to squeeze into a car than taking the bus or the MRT. We did take taxis a few times and it cost us thrice the price of a Grab ride.

For most Singaporeans, KL is a weekend getaway place for shopping, food and massages. Since my family and I travelled from far away, I decided to add in touristy stuff with a visit to the National Museum, the aquarium (cos it was cheaper than in Singapore and France) and going to the KL Tower to have a bird eye's view of this city.

The last time I visited KL was more than 15 years ago when I attended a friend's wedding. KL had changed a lot with so many sky scrapers. There was still construction going on just beside the Petronas Towers. Does this city need all these office space?

We shopped at the Central Market for souvenirs. I chose this market as it had air-condition. Seb waited for us at a cafe after half an hour and the boys stayed with him to write post cards. My mum and I continued to the second storey of the market.

There were shops selling local products be it food, craft or clothes. I bought a few batik sarongs as they were really beautiful. I intend to make them into bags or pouches. My mum bought mango chewy candies and durian chocolates. To each his/her interest.

After posting the postcards just outside the Central Market, we took a taxi to the Petronas Tower.

Petronas Towers are the tallest twin towers in the world. The boys were excited to see them. We had lunch at Suria KLCC, the shopping center at the foot of the towers.

After lunch on our way to the aquarium, we came upon a lion dance blessing a shop front. As it was still the first 10 days of Chinese New Year, I was glad that my boys could see this loud performance.

Lion and dragon dance is part of Chinese New Year. So is the big head doll (大头娃娃) though it is often left out.

Aquaria KLCC was just a short 5 mins walk from the towers. As we went on a week day, it was not crowdy.

The boys had a chance to touch small sharks.

This aquarium was as good as the ones in France and from my old memory, that of Singapore's.

We managed to watch sharks feeding. These sharks were fed twice a week and we saw different species of sharks. Other fishes like eels and rays and even a big turtle tried to snatch food.

On another day, we visited the National Museum. The museum is divided into four sections. Starting from the prehistoric age where traces of early men were found in caves, the bronze and iron ages, the colonisation period until the present day with the advance development in the country.

The museum was not big and could be done in an hour and a half. We headed to KL Tower in the afternoon to take in the view of KL. We could see the top of the Petronas Towers. This was where I got the big picture of how developed this city is.

One evening, we visited Chinatown. I thought spending a cool evening there would be nice. It was disappointing as Chinatown only sells fake luxury goods. Touters kept asking Seb if he wanted bags, watches, clothes etc. Seb told me never to bring him to another Chinatown. The one in Bangkok last year was too hot and dusty. This one was full of touters. Oops. The only good thing out of this trip was that the boys bought metal miniature airplanes and were happy. I bought 2 KL t-shirts for them and mum bought local fruits.

On our last day, we hung out at Suria KLCC as Seb wanted to shop for ear phones. Below photo is a Chinese new year theme set up in the shopping mall. It was very well done.

We enjoyed this short getaway. We stayed at a service appartment and the boys enjoyed the pool. The place was beside a train track and from our 10th floor, A2 would look down eagerly for passing trains.

Things in Malaysia is very affordable though I didn't do much shopping. How is it possible? , my friends would ask. The proof: We went by AirAsia with no check in luggages and came back with the same hand carry bags.

KL feels safe and people are friendly. I would like to visit this country again in our next visit to Singapore. Maybe Penang or Ipoh.

Post vacation

Our vacation in Singapore is over and everyone is back to school and work.
Various thoughts on my mind each time I come back from Singapore.
I was looking forward to go office yesterday to catch up with my colleagues especially one I am close to. She informed me that she had broken her ring finger while walking her dog on the slippery walkway. Sick leave imposed and I won't see her until my next passage to office.
A2 came back from school yesterday and told me his friend who lost her father to cancer is losing her mother too to the same illness. I know this family and A2's friend has come and play with him before.
My close friend C who is going through a rough patch in her couple life, sent me a message yesterday telling me she and her partner are separated. They have two kids togather.
I am affected by these news as these are my new close friends in France.
Broken finger, broken lives, broken hearts.

Snow

On tuesday evening, it snowed heavily and Paris and its surrounding area were paralysed. Roads were blocked as snow piled up. Cars were stuck and snow trucks could not pass to clear the snow. An estimated 1800 drivers spent their night in their cars on the road. A neighbour who worked 15km took 4 hours to reach home. I could imagine her stress as I had a minor experience too.

A1 was sick on tuesday and I brought him to the doctor. On the way to the pharmacy, cars were driving at 30km/h and we saw some cars skidding on the slippery icy road. A bus stopped and could not move and I was just a few cars behind. We waited for 10mins before some kind souls helped direct traffic as it was a single lane road. During that time, I thought I had to park my car by the side and walked 3km home with my sick boy.

After getting the medication, under the heavy snow, I drove slowly back home. From the town to my village, there was a long line of cars. We were driving at 10mk/h by then. 

On Wednesday, A1 stayed at home while I brought A2 to school. A1's teacher was there but not A2's. His teacher could not make it to school. So I brought A2 back home and the boys played in the snow.

In the afternoon, I borrowed a snow shovel from a neighbour and cleared my driveway. I was told that temperature would stay at zero for the next few days and if the driveway was not cleared of snow, I would not be able to drive out the car.  I don't intend to use the car this week as all activities are cancelled.

This morning, A1 went to school as usual while A2 still did not have class. He stayed with 6 other kids doing coloring activities and playing games. Parents who could not go to work kept their kids at home. I had to pour hot water over our front gate as it was frozen and would not open. As the canteen was closed because the caterer could not deliver lunch, the boys came home for lunch. Secondary school kids did not have school as there was no bus service.

The sun came out and the garden shed looked like a mountain chalet.  

We are not going to ski this year yet the boys had a chance to put on their ski suits and shoes. They had fun sledging down the slope in the park.

Seb was lucky to escape this as he is in Italy since Tuesday. He will return tomorrow night and I hope he can come home easily as snow is expected.

When I sent photos to my friends in Singapore with the caption "Paris and its suburbs are paralysed", one replied "it's more like paradise." Yes, paradise for the kids. For us adults, this is not much fun because this weather is rare and we are not equipped.

Just Kunafa

Seb went to Dubai last week for a last minute meeting. He took the flight on Thursday, had his meeting on Friday, met an ex-colleague for dinner and took the 3am flight arriving at CDG airport on Saturday morning.

 I told him to try and get me a box of baklawa. I love these middle east desserts. He was thoughtful enough to get t-shirts for the boys and even a fridge magnet for his mother-in-law despite the busy schedule.

When I received this beautiful box of sweet delights, I thought of sharing with friends. There were too many and the kids did not like them. However once I started eating them, I could not stop. I am going to finish this box by myself. Won't do good to my waistline but I just couldn't resist them!

If you go Dubai, go visit this shop and try these. They are really really good.

New year's creations

Happy new year everyone. I haven't been posting as December was a busy month preparing for christmas plus year end activities for the boys. Seb being often on work trips did not help. 

I was feeling under the weather due to the grey and rainy December skies.

I am taking vitamins and hopefully 2018 will begin on a cheerful note; though it rained the whole day today. Yesterday we welcomed the new year celebrating a friend's 40th birthday. So today, we stayed at home to get over the hangover and rest.

Me being me, I took out the sewing machine while the boys took a nap. In no time at all, I made a zipped pouch. The tutorial can be found here. Zips do not scare me anymore. :)

I also made some make up remover washable cotton pads. I got the idea from the DIY workshop organised by the village library in Dec. I don't put on make up often and I use disposable cotton to remove the make up. With these washable pads, there will be no waste of cotton pads.

For year 2018, I aspire to be a responsible consumer in generating less waste. What is your resolution for 2018?

Christmas windows

We went windows viewing at Printemps and Galleries Lafayette after chinese lesson. The boys told me they enjoyed viewing the windows though I felt that they had outgrown this tradition. They used to look at each window for a long time, catching all the details.

Seb felt that the window displays were full of consumer goods and had lost the magical Christmas feeling like it used to be. There was even a display of EasyJet with its plane and bears dressed as crew members. 

We went into Galleries Lafayette to admire the center decoration. I find it really pretty with all the candies bright balloons.

I told the boys this was the last year but they were keen to come back next year. We shall see.