Beautiful

A sweet thin lips
Blue eyes
Fair skin colour
Blonde long hair
smooth long legs

Not everyone is Paris Hilton!
But I do hope to explain the meaning of 'beautiful' to my daughter someday. But before knowing the beauty from the (stupid) teenage magazine on how to dress like a rock star, I hope i can introduce the image of nature beauty such as a waterfall cascading over mossy rocks in the forest or a stunning orange setting over the lake. I choose to equate beauty to something that moves my heart and cause me to smile. Beauty doesn't fit into logical equatation. It is poetic, natural, visual and emotional. I find the most attractive physical beauty on the person is the freckles on the skin, the wrinkles on the face, the clear eyes, the tears and smiles.

These days if we turn on TV and chose a channel, we'll see the same image of beautiful women. The beauty pageant, "beautiful" women in their ideal body promoting the products in the ads, mini series, video clips etc. As an Asian woman, I know exactly what the women do with their body to get lighter skin and hair, taller, big butts and boobs. I used to ask by a staff in the spa to lighten my skin colour with their products or even to straighten my lovely locks.

We are not created the same. Beauty is humility, happiness, creativity, tolerance, and all virtues which should be our adorning.I am not banning Barbie dolls, Disney musicals, Prince and princesse stories at home. But I will never let the kids alone playing and figuring it without some guidances. I hope I am not a control freak mom. Also, I am not buying those stuffs too (soon)! We should be able to see the uniqueness because it is beautiful!

At the moment I am happy to see her sleeping, holding Lapinou (Teddy Bear)...

La Crepe

La Chandeleur, Crêpe day, which happens today on 2nd February. I like crêpes so much and that's why I wrote about them now.If you happen to visit France, you will see many crepe stands and creperies all over. That is the indication of popularity of this delicate pancakes which they make it sense to dedicate a whole day to celebrate it. It is called "La Chandeleur" the holiday that celebrate the return of spring. It is also known as Crepe Day.

The thin pancake is made of flour, eggs, milk, sugar (options), and butter. The difference between pancakes and crepe are the thickness, the size and the way we serve it. Personally, I am not a fan of pancakes (especially US MacDonalds breakfast) because that maple syrup to go with them is killing the taste and you get full easily. Meanwhile, crepe is much more versatile and can be eaten rolled with just butter and sugar, ham and egg, cheese and vegetables. One of my favourite dishes is crepe suzette, which are filled with orange sauce and flammed.

On my the recent trip to La Croisic (Bretagne Sud), north-west of France we saw many creperies around. This is where crepe originated, savoury versions called "gallette" are popular.

Today I made a couple of crepe with eggs and ham for lunch. It took a couple of minutes for Noelia to acquire the taste but she finished her portion. I do not give salt and sugar for her food, but I encourage the variety of foods such as vegetables and herbs. Because I believe eating is not only to make us full and satisfied, but to enjoy the diversity of taste and knowledge.

A day in Paris with the stroller and a baby

It's been almost 2 months that we are here in Paris. I have not been around so much like I used to. It could be because I have Noelia that I choose wherever it is convenient for her to go. Most of the time I get a little bit nervous going around in Paris with Metro. There are too many stairs up and downs which could be difficult to go with the baby stroller. I choose to stay in the house or visiting markets or shops atound the neighbourhood. We do not stay in Paris, a little suburban called Meudon which is south west of Paris.

Yesterday, my in-law would like to go to Printemps Magazine to look for canape. I decided to go to Paris with Noelia together with them. They drove us until Saint Lazare Metro and Noelia was asleep. I was thinking at the moment, it was pretty alright and ma poulette was looking okay. So, I had to decide whether I want to go to Bonpoint children boutique in rue de l'universite (Metro Invalides) or Le Poussette Cafe at rue Pierre Semard (Metro Poissonniere). These days, my priority is to ensure Noelia is content at least for the whole day. And it is getting near lunch time for Noelia and I really need to rush before she started to scream in the metro. When the baby screams could be cute and her mama is used to it but not the ears of other adults.

I thought I made a good choice being in Le Poussette Cafe. Noelia ran around and greeted the other babies in that spacious cafe. It is rare to see cafe or bistro which has some space dedicated to children to play. The front of the cafe is the boutique where they display children winter jackets, toys, accessories for the little room, etc. The cafe is further inside with the walls full of cute decoration but it really looks neat and sweet. There are baby changing room attached to toilet and next door is where we park the strollers.

I ordered a homemade baby food in the menu, I think it was vegetables de provencale. It costs 4.40 euro a meal! Yeah that much...And I thought I am going to skip lunch, just tea will do me good. It was a delicious meal for Noelia (darn, she's lucky!). She met a couple of other kids around her age, and she had a good time. There was a boy who is around the same age as Noelia who keeps running and touching the products they display. His mom screamed 'Non, ne touch pas!', 'Non, fais pas ca', 'Non, je suis tres fache'...I could see that her nerves were out. I don't usually do that, because I trust Noelia to explore as long as it is not life threatening activities. And I think I would make her nervous by saying 'No' all the time. She touched some products but not pulling them, she observes the babies and touch their faces or hands, she smiled and flipping the books full of pictures. I am lucky not running around too much after her.

I got really hungry and decided to buy some food somewhere else cheaper. I bought a decoration cat in colourful fabrics around 42 euro because I always wanted to do some deco stuffs made out of fabrics. That bloody expensive cat deco made in vietnam could be a sample of what I really want to do later in Singapore.

We're off to Saint-Placide. Pffhh, we were lucky because there is l'escalier roulant for stroller. If I stopped in Montparnasse, it would be a long walk with stairs up and down inside the tunnel. Noelia was still asleep in the stroller until we were inside of Fnac. I bought 2 children books, 'Une souris verte' and 'Tous les pipis', they are cool! Noelia started to get a little cranky and we stopped in La Brioche Doree. Voila, at 4 pm my lunch cost 7.50 euro with the boisson + dessert tout compris!

Back home in Meudon after we got in transilien sncf train from Gare Montparnasse. The day is almost gone, I quickly prepared Noelia to go to bed. I am pleased that I can go around Paris with the stroller that day. I probably would like to go again to visit museum with her someday.

My day out alone ...

Charming clear blue sky in Paris, originally uploaded by L'Aubergine Grillée.

Yes, I was in Paris today and took the metro everywhere. I went to register for the French course in La Sorbonne. I managed to find the way to the building that I used to visit everyday a few years back. I got off Metro Jardin du Luxembourg and went all the way up to rue de L'Estrapade. It was such a nice feeling I have! Especially when I was alone and had a good long walk.

Noelia was with her grandma for half-day. She is very kind to volunteer herself to do it among her busy schedule. We had tried to call La Halte Garderie in the neighbourhood to keep Noelia for a day or two in a week. But they are full until September 09!

In France, La Halte-Garderie is a children daycare for non-working mother. This is to give the moms a break for a couple of hours or a day without having the children around. This service is completely free of charge. La Creche is for the day care that is permanent for working parent to leave their children for a full day in a week.

Early before I left the house, I became a little bit nervous to leave ma poulet with her grandmere. I am worry that she will cry and break something in the house full of everything. I used to leave her at home with her nounou for half day, but now we are staying at my parent-in-law. Although they themselves have take care of other grandchildren, but I am still worry. So, I quickly ran back home after I finished my pita bread lunch in boulevard St. Michel.

How my life has changed since I have a little girl. Those clear blue sky to watch, sitting in the bench of the park or window shopping around town and even enjoying a cup of coffee are seldom in my agenda right now. I choose to quickly run back to kiss my little poulet. Sometimes I feel like I'd like to go back to my singlehood. But I said No, my life has been so colourful and rich right now by building a family.

I always thinking that if I am single, I would probably be the fashion conscious woman who wears Prada shoes, Louis Vuitton bag (like rich Indonesian ladies), twice a week to hair salon, drinking a cup of coffee and smoke Marlboro Light. My nights would be full of pretentious friends in the clubs or bars who wants to get recognized around the community. I am not sure if I could be happy, but I will be shortsighted to just live for a day.

I am still enjoying those clear blue sky now ...

The Winter in France

The green and the blue sky, originally uploaded by L'Aubergine Grillée.

We have decided to come to France for a long holiday from Winter to Spring. I am not sure why I choose to come and stay for long in these snowy and cold season in Europe. Of all the beautiful seasons of Spring, Summer and Autumn in France, I chosed to freezed my butts off over here.

This is the slowest period I feel of all the other seasons. I needed a break from overhectic season in Singapore. It is the city which never sleeps, even coming in to holiday season in this economy crisis they are still busy shopping for everybody. The heat of the sun of the day has forced me to keep on running to meet a deadline.

Don't get me wrong, we love the sun. It's a source of the energy but we needed some moment to reflect. I see winter as the season to slow down and reflect what I've been doing, I'd like to restore my energy for the coming few months.

I like the tingle sensation of coldness into my skin when the cold breezes blows me. I like observing how the day light passes quickly and the dark night is appearing faster. It is telling me the time to get ready for Noelia to prepare her dinner and bedtime story. The cold weekend just right for baking and sleeping on the couch listening Noelia singing strange song. The afternoon for hot ginger tea and a piece of chocolate. It's quiet evening to read and teaching Noelia another song...

Every morning I have 4 pieces of tartine marmalade after my morning duties with Noelia. In this slow winter, the morning activities could be a real hectic if I do not organise it really well. Since a couple of days ago, she starts the day a couple of hours later than she was in Singapore. I have to wake her up at 8 am by opening up the big shutter which darkened the room all day. Every evening we close the shutter of the big sliding windows to prevent the cold outside creeping inside the room even with the window closed.

We are so lucky, Noelia's body has a good system to defend the cold. Thanks God, she hasn't feel sick although the viruses from children have been all around her. Maybe I give her enough vitamin C from Kiwi and Orange Juice every morning and Iron on her green legumes. After breakfast, we are out for a walk about 1 hour in the cold winter. Yes, it's a little bit troublesome to put on layers of winter clothes and take them off again when we got home. But life goes on even in this period.

Snow, Snow in Paris

First night in Paris, originally uploaded by L'Aubergine Grillée.

It's been such a long time for me to write again. We arrived in Paris on the 12 Dec and moved to South West of France, Lot-et-Garonne area for a few weeks. There wasn't any good internet connection in the countryside. Furthermore, it was christmas holiday. It's totally different from Singapore, we found empty streets, boulangeries, markets and cafes.

We're back in Paris and just re-connect my computer to available networks for internet. Yayy!

I'll write more now...

City of Light, we are comingg!!

Two days more to go and will be on the plane to Paris! I am not sure if I am really prepared for this journey with Noelia. But I hope it is going to be alright with Ludo around to help. I notice that Noe is quite sociable with people around her. She greets our friends and trying to talk to them in bizarre language. Sometimes she hides her head on to my skirt in between if she's not confident. As long as they are not talking loudly and overexcited to see Noe, she's a fine little lady.

I just can't imagine how cold Paris will be when we arrive. It is breezy and sunny with a couple of rains over here in Singapore. We walk outside in the park and the beach alot. Furthermore, we are planning to stay a little longer in France, so I've got to really prepared for 2 seasons clothing. So far, we've been lucky that our friends and family have sent the hand me down warm clothing for little Noe. There's a lady who lives in South of France who I met in Flickr has sent bedding for crib and some clothes for Noe. She's going to be a fashion model with all the clothes she has during the winter.

We will have fun in Paris with a baby now. She may not understand everything but she will sense the difference of climate and environment. And we pray that she won't get sick.