Morning Ritual III

Here I'm, 4 years later, writing about morning ritual III, after morning ritual II.

Several months ago, we moved to a new office with open space environment. That was when I decided to establish my own rule for the morning greeting : air kiss with women, hand shake with men. So every morning, once arrive in the office, I go to greet everyone, have a small talk before starring at my computer and keep pressing the keynotes (my mother's expression, that's how she sees people working in front of a computer lol).

Well, at the beginning some men were a bit confused, as they actually do the contrary : shaking hands with every man and air kissing every woman. But little by little, they get used to it.

I'm glad I made this decision. I read a woman's blog (a Chinese married to a French), after several years of air kissing her guests, she decided to just stop. She didn't appreciate the ritual, now she is just telling everyone that she doesn't "faire la bise". Some people were shock, but gradually they accepted it. I found this to be too extreme, but I admired her gut to tell people what she actually thinks.

This only applies to office environment though. I can accept air kissing people outside of work in informal occasions. Maybe one day I will accept to air kiss my male coworkers. It actually happened. One day, I don't know what got into me, I just went to air kiss a team mate, naturally. I think that was because I start to treat him like a friend, a good sign I guess.

Baguette = Pain

I was cleaning the kitchen counter top and it just dawned on me that in French, bread = Pain. It suits my feeling for the French bread : a pain in cleaning.

Hubby is a big fun of baguette (a long load of French bread), that you can buy easily in the bakery (except in Aug when some of them are having their annual leaves). He can swallow one in within half an hour, spread it with some butter, cheese, ham... I like it too, but not at his level. He has passed down the tradition to Aelig, these days she is not satisfied with plain butter, she wanted cheese too.

Back to my rant.

This evil scrumptious bread has crispy crust. It lasts for two days then it becomes stone hard.

Since we have baguette at home regularly, its crusts are on the counter-top, on the floor, on the dining table, 24/7. Ok I exaggerated, I should deduct the two minutes after cleaning, but it would just come back as soon as someone goes to the kitchen and take a bite of baguette.

Since it doesn't last long, we have to store it in the freezer. So, in the process of getting it out, you have bread crust in the freezer, on the floor, and worst, inside the toaster and on the counter-top that hosts the toaster (well, you need to thaw it before eating right?). And to not waste the ones that turned into stone before we could save them, I need to put them aside so we could feed them to ducks in the park nearby.

Since changing someone's habit is more difficult than climbing the stairs to the sky (a Chinese expression),I have been looking for a solution, and been observing how other families do it.

Ginger is spicier when it is old (another Chinese expression), after many years of experience, my FIL came out with a conclusion :  you need to cut and eat the baguette on the dining table, then take the table cloth to the garden and throw those crusts, the birds will clean them up later. True, his sparkling clean counter-top lasts longer than mine, but that's because they don't eat baguette as often as my family. And he cleans his counter-top 3 times per day.

Now, we don't have a garden as we live in an apartment. It is unethical to throw breadcrumb just outside the window I guess? Someone bought us this planche à pain (the one in photo), yes it does store the breadcrumb, but you still have some on the counter-top so now I have to clean the counter-top PLUS the planche à pain.

It seems that it is hard to find a solution, or one that suits me. I prefer American sandwich bread (pain mie) but hubby would probably throw me out of the window if I suggest this to him. So I have two options:
1. Clean as frequently as possible the counter-top just like my FIL
2. Close an eye on the breadcrumb and move on with my life.

LOL.

Oh boy oh boy

During the long weekend, we had gatherings with friends, so the little girl got to play with kids around her age.

We were having picnic around the Erdre river. Now the adults can chit-chat non-stop since the kids can play by themselves. She didn't even complain when I took a baby in my arm. When she was younger, she cried and nagged when she saw me holding someone else rather than her.

Going to the beach and play with kids is of course different than being the only kid and playing alone.

She learned how to accept refusal. She placed the towels nicely and invited her pals, but they ignored her as they preferred to sit somewhere else. She didn't take it badly, she was just disappointed.

It was fun watching them playing. They would just stare at each other and laugh. They were wrestling, jumping, running around, then laugh. So easy to be happy.

She had a lot of fun, so did we.

Who don't go for vacation?

I watched on TV that around 40% of French do not go for vacation this year. Tied budget is the main cause for this phenomena. A sociologist calls it as injustice between the poor and the rich.

This is a topic that pops up on TV every summer. How many percent of the population didn't go for vacation, how much on average they spend on their holidays, where are the hottest destinations... Well, a topic that I don't see in Malaysia.

The first time I heard about this I thought this was not a big deal. Stay at home during school holidays, I did it my whole life. The more I'm in France, the more I see it : vacation is in French's blood. It is a right, not a privilege. Not going for vacation is a big deal, as everyone around you is going. To the beach, to the mountain, to the South (South of France, Italy, Spain, anywhere with a better guarantee of sunshine), to a foreign country.

So now we are talking about injustice to people not able to join the wagon.
"Too bad for them", that was what I thought the first year I heard about this.
"If they want to go for vacation, they need to work for it." My thought on second year.
"That's ridiculous, how many countries in the world can have 60% of the population going on vacation?" My take the year after.
"That's too much, there are asking for donations so that kids can go for vacation!" I cried out to hubby.

And then I have Aelig.
My perspective has since changed.
I would like to see every little angel in this world going for vacation with their love one.
I'm willing to donate my "cheques vacances" to anyone who need it.
I'm grateful that my family gets to go every year.

Aelig on vacation in Perhentian Island.

Her vacation continues in France...

Bonnes vacances everyone!

Where is great-grandma?

Sometimes there are things I don't know how to explain to Aelig.

We were in Malaysia, and my mother informed me one day that she was going to be busy as it was my grandmother's death anniversary (做忌). As a Chinese custom, my mother has to hold a memorial service for the ancestors from my father's side. 

The day came, she woke up super early to prepare foods for praying. My grandmother was represented in a wood frame (神祖牌位) with her name written on. I told Aelig that we were going to pray for my grandmother, who is her great-grandma. She asked me where is great-grandma? I showed her the wood frame, she was very confused. 

I helped my father laying out a praying table and presented foods my mother just cooked. My father then lid some incense and passed them to me. I was a bit confused as he didn't give any to Aelig. Was it because she is not considered a descendant from his family? Anyway, I explained to Aelig that I was inviting my grand-parents for lunch. Apparently during the death anniversary the death spouse is invited too. Aelig looked around, it seemed that she was trying to spot my grandparents, but in vain.

 After a while, my father threw two half-moon shape woods (擲筊) to communicate with my grandparents. If one wood is facing up and one facing down, it means that they are well eaten. It was the case at first try, the ceremony is considered conclude and the family can start eating. 

"Where is great-grandma?" After I told her that great-grandma has eaten and has gone, she posted the question with her curious eyes. I don't know how to explain that it was in a form of spirit and normally we won't be able to see them. Anyway, after some discussions with my family, we all think that this is just a tradition that we continue. It is served as a day we remember a family member. After all, our tradition believes in incarnation, my grandparents should have already reborn since long time ago, there is no way they could turn up for lunch lol.

One of the praying foods : fried glass noodles.

The main dish was popiah, a popular dish among the Hokkien. It was mainly made of jicama, a kind of vegetables that I have never seen in any Asian stores in France.

Side ingredients that go with the popiah.

The concept is similar to Fajitas (Mexican dish), but it has less meat and less oily.

I hope grandma enjoyed the lunch. I did!
 

A little girl in Malaysia 2 : Her favorite foods and drinks

She is not a big eater. She eats what we offer. We cook what we feel like and do not specifically prepared something that would only please her. She knows the rule : eat or go hungry.

Malaysian foods are generally more oily and heaty. To not change much her eating habits I got her some yogurts but to my surprise, she refused to take them. Were Malaysian yogurts tasted different compared to the one in France? Anyway, I'm glad that she didn't get sick in Malaysia. Last trip she got a fever the day before leaving to France, this trip she had moderate diarrhea for a week but nothing to be worried about. She takes it from hubby I guess, he has digestive problem usually near the end of each trip.

She loves red bean soup. She discovered my no-sugar red bean version in France, but swallowed three bowls of my mother's red bean + green bean + barley version in no time.

Milo ice is the drink she orders whenever we go to a mamak store. She likes 100 plus and Vitagen too.

She accepts different kind of Roti Canai, and loves this Roti Milo + Banana. Hubby said this is very closed to the Crêpe in Brittany region.

A part-timer. Volunteering to clear tables in Mamak store.

Loved mango and watermelon juices in Perhentian.

Eating Chicken wings in one hawker center, Singapore. She took in a good amount of chicken rice too.

She adores bah kut teh since last trip. Kids in my family usually savor a plate of rice with the bah kut teh sauce.

She also likes different kind of fishes.

She couldn't take spicy food but hubby craves for it. In this case, she got the non-spicy chicken and hubby got the rest.

We had brought her to sushi restaurant many times in France. She only eats rice with miso soup. But this trip she actually ate plenty of sashimi.

Proud to say that she is slowly enjoying durian. As for hubby, we can now count on him to open durians for us.

Still, she is more used to western food. She finished her bread spread with butter without problem. She did try the kaya tough.

We can find easily the French salted butter in the supermarket. Maybe I should buy one for her next trip. The first day we got home, hubby bought 3 French baguettes. When she saw them, she yelled with excitement!

You can tell that hubby had been eating a lot of Indian foods. She just got some chicken and cucumber.

Overall she ate less in Malaysia. She would eat when there were rice : rice + any kind of soup + pork / chicken (the one we used to boil soup). But sometimes she did surprise me, she actually ate some char kueh tiao, she usually doesn't like noodles.

So long, farewell

Time flied, it was time to say goodbye again. Aelig was excited, she told everyone that she was going home.

The trip.
The trip back to France was uneventful. Me and Aelig slept through most of the trip. The seating was crucial, hubby sat between us so Aelig can't play her "interrupting mummy every two seconds" trick. We had to wait 3 hours for the train, I hope they offer a better connection next time. When we got to Nantes station, I hesitated if we should take the taxi. Then we felt it was not worth paying 50€ for something we could do with 2€. It just needed several minutes of carrying (mostly hubby), and thankfully this trip Aelig proposed to carry her own luggage. How I wish taxis are as affordable as in Singapore.

Jetlag
Now we need to cope with jetlag. It goes better this time. I wake up early but I manage to work efficiently throughout the day. Unlike last year I had to lay down taking rest while working. Aelig on the other hand copes better compare to us. She sleeps and wakes up at the usual time. As for hubby, the morning running nose comes back. It is curious that it stopped in Malaysia but comes back as soon as he is in France.

What we brought back
I had told my family that I do not wish to overload our luggages like trips before. We used to carry back cans of 100 plus, packs of instant noodles... those are behind me now. If I miss Malaysian foods, I should eat them in Malaysia. The essential thing for the trip is to bring back many photos / memories with families. And, very important, visit to bookstore so we got books and CDs for Aelig and me. As for hubby, he decided to bring back packs of Teh Tarik and boxes of Ramadhan cookies for his family. He was the one carrying the luggages so he assured the responsibility.

Now
We are slowly adjusting to our life, and putting behind daily routine in Malaysia : breakfast, lunch, shopping, dinner, mamak store. We have to take cold shower in the morning as the water heater is broken down. Aelig asks sometimes when we are going back to Malaysia, and she is already negotiating with her stuffed animals on who she will be bringing next trip. She is also enjoying books and CDs we got from the trip. But she did ask me : Why do I have to go to the sitter? Why can't you stay with me everyday? Such is life my little girl.

Escapade to Singapore : Impression

My impression for Singapore : Safe, clean, efficient.

Signboards were mostly shown in English and Mandarin, and sometimes + Malays and Tamil.

Efficient subway system. They even had staffs standing beside the subway map and showed us the fastest way to get from one place to another.

It seems that everyone is playing with their phones in Subway.

Taxis were relatively cheap, we paid $6 from our Hotel to Universal Studios. From the taxi driver we realized that we drove through a toll without having to pass through a toll station. There were machines hanging on top of a place, every car in Singapore has to equipped with a machine with AutoCard, and the machine charges the AutoCard each time a car passes. What a wonderful system? Imagine don't have to queue or be slowed down through a toll? I wonder why can't Malaysia do the same, at least to slow down traffic jams.

We are neighbors, but Singapore is way more advance and efficient in many ways.

Gastronomy at Fusion Sushi Buffet

Talking about food during our stay in Austin, hubby and me agreed that Musashino Sushi Dokoro is one of the best Sushi restaurants we had ever been to. Never did we expect to taste the same quality of Sushi again, this time in Malaysia.

My sister treated us to Fusion Sushi Buffet in Petaling Jaya. With her Groupon voucher, she paid RM38 per person. We could choose from the buffet bar plus 14 items on the menu. We made a common mistake like a lot of patrons, we attacked the buffet first but the real scrumptious sushis were among the 14 items. Photo shows the buffet items we chose. Even Aelig was attracted by the sashimi.

The Chef from this restaurant used to work in New York so he introduced us to New York style sushi. It comes with yummy sauce.

The fresh salmon slides coated with some herbs. The plate was placed on top of a bunch of ice cubes.

Sashimi cocktail

Tuna wrap, one of my favorites.

 Loved the sauce.

 Mango favor sushi, yummy.

 Delicious combination of herbs and sauces.

The restaurant owner challenges his patrons to try and finish all his 14 items. So far nobody has done it as everyone was already stuffed with the buffet items before even trying out the items on the menu.

I'm not sure if it offers authentic Japanese sushi but it has surely won my heart. Without Groupon offer it will cost RM88++. I had bad impression of Groupon but finally I got a nice experience with their offer.

Food hunt at Ramadhan Bazar

It is fasting month again for the Muslims in Malaysia. We won't let go of this opportunity to savor more Malay foods, so we went to "Buka Puasa" food hunting in Shah Alam.

Fried stuffs, high in calories, but good in tastes.

Putu Bambu, a Malay cake consists of rice flour cooked with palm sugar, pandan leave and desiccated coconut, steamed in bamboo pipes.

Raw beef and chicken satay.

Satay in process.

Ready to serve.

Fried chicken.

Malay style's Roti Canai.

Fried squids.

Various cooked dishes ready to serve after a long day of fasting.

Roasted lamb.

Fried cempedak.

Cookies and pastries for the festival. I contemplated to buy some back to France, we shall see.

Multiple types of drinks.

The Ramadhan Bazar is full of patrons buying food home waiting the end of the fasting for the day.

Roti John Ayam (bread stuffed with chicken).

At the end of our food hunt, we got a Roti John, some Satays, one Kebab, some fried stuffs and Nasi Lemak Kukus.

Hubby's comment: Let's go again!