Yet Another AFW: Meal Two

First, here are pictures of last night's dessert. I decided to forego the champagne sauce and make my own whipped cream, which was easier than I imagined. To serve, I put a little of the chilled rosé champagne in the bowl, added the chocolate pasta, piped some cream over that and topped with strawberries. The heat from the pasta made the cream melt and the champagne fizzle. It was so delicious! (Sorry about the quality of the photo. We were in a hurry to eat!) Today, LittleBiscuit and I went for lunch. I regret to say, we went to KFC. Yes, I know. We had fun, though. We always have to wait for our order at KFC. We both like popcorn chicken and it's never ready at this location. We did some number games, which we often do when we have to wait someplace. She'll say, "I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 100" and I have to guess the number. I changed it around a little today because lately she's been talking about even and odd numbers. So, I tried, "I'm thinking of a number between 33 and 66 and it's odd." We also counted by two's and five's. Math can be so fun if you don't make it school-ish. We were just passing time. Later, we went to C & A to look for gray sweatpants and a gray hoodie for her Halloween costume. After much cursing from me about how I could find nothing without a decal or graphics splayed across the front, we settled on black sweats and a black turtleneck. She tried them on and did her best Dusclops impression in the dressing-room mirror. We hung out in the small play area for a bit before heading back outside. Stopping by the flower stall near our flat, we purchased some small gourds and pumpkins for Halloween decoration and three bright yellow chrysanthemums. After we arrived home, I did some housework while she worked on her Snap Circuits. We then took out some paper crafts. I bought them in Paris and we're just now getting around to putting them together. Yes, I'm shamed. You can see a ferris wheel she made with K'Nex behind our mini-Paris: A close-up of les chiens: For more pictures, you can visit LittleBiscuit's blog. For dinner, I made something that wasn't particularly Asian, although I did use soy sauce and adzuki beans. I made Red Dragon Pie, using the recipe found in that link. I added garlic. I usually add leeks but the ones in the grocery store didn't look tasty. Straight from the oven: In the bowl: After dinner, LittleBiscuit wanted to play with Snap Circuits more. We did four experiments and would have made more but Mr. Biscuit reminded me that we needed to read another chapter of Time Cat and start our evening movie before we got too sleepy. For tonight, we chose Man Facing Southeast (Hombre mirando al sudeste), which was ripped off by the author of K-PAX whom Hollywood made famous by turning his book into a movie. Man Facing Southeast was amazing. So many subtle truths that your mind spins. You can only smile and nod then curse yourself for not writing it all down on paper. However, for some reason, no one can leave Mr. Biscuit and I alone so we can watch a movie uninterrupted. First, the child. She came in and loudly fiddled around in her toys trying to find "something important." It isn't like she doesn't have an entire room of important somethings which could keep her entertained until our movie finished. Then, the cat. She is so neurotic that she wouldn't come onto the couch, even after coaxing and sweet-talking. She barfed on the carpet. After she regurgitated her dinner, she ran down the hall, meowing loudly for us to follow. When we didn't, she went up to the loft and crapped on the futon. Won't the guests love to hear that when we put them there to sleep!

Yet Another AFW: Meal One

Yes. I'm boring. I'm still stuck in my Asian cookbook. But the food is so good when prepared with the right ingredients and so fun that I just can't let go yet. I'm very much enjoying cooking right now. For dinner, I didn't want to make anything too fancy so when I found a recipe for nasi goreng, I knew it would be perfect for a simple Sunday dinner. This dish is simple yet flavorful. I steamed about 1 and a fourth cup long-grain rice while chopping up the rest of the ingredients: one red chili, three green onions, one medium onion (supposed to use brown but I used white because it was available), and two cloves of garlic. I set up the tofu, wrapped in paper towels, underneath a heavy saucer so it would drain. First, I sauteed the onion, garlic and red chili in one tablespoon of peanut oil til the onion was soft. Then I added in diced tofu. (I reserved some for LittleBiscuit since I knew she wouldn't want it mixed with onion) I sauteed this in the wok with the onion mixture until the tofu looked slightly browned. Next, I added the rice, which I had cooled a bit by putting in the fridge, one third cup of soy sauce and the green onions. I mixed this well and made sure it was heated throughout. Then I separated our servings into bowls, picking out the red chili for Mr. Biscuit. I fried an egg for each of us and put it on top of the rice dish. LittleBiscuit had plain rice with tofu, topped with a yolkless fried egg. What can I say. The kid knows what she likes. Earlier today, we had gone to the store to get the onions and some other vegetables. They were out of broccoli, which is a pity because I think a side of steamed broccoli would have been a perfect compliment to this meal. Our Sunday has been lazy and easy. We all slept late and wandered out into the living room to work on a jigsaw puzzle and listen to music. We had a simple lunch of pastrami sandwiches, using smoked Chinese tea mustard this time. Mmmmm! Around 2pm, we decided to head out to the grocery store and have a walk. It was much warmer today than it's been lately. It was nice to be in the sunshine. First, we dropped by Palac Knih to look for Tai Pan since I just finished Shogun. I don't usually like fiction but I'm interested in Asia right now and a little historic fiction never hurt anyone. Alas, the store didn't carry it. On to Albert's! LittleBiscuit pushed the cart in the store and chose some new things to try: cucumbers and rice cakes. Some things she has eaten before but wanted to try again, now that she's older. She also chose a frozen cheese and prosciutto pizza for her Tuesday lunch with her sitter. On the way home, we got ice cream cones to munch on for the rest of our walk. What a glorious day! Tomorrow starts a busy week for us! Monday, we must get the items needed to make LittleBiscuit's Halloween costume. Mr. Biscuit will have lunch with SisterBiscuit and then head over to his massage appointment. LittleBiscuit and I will likely have lunch at home then head out to look for the costume stuff. I plan to put it together before dinner. Tuesday, the sitter comes, Mr. Biscuit and I will shop for groceries needed for the week, the butcher delivers the meat for the week and after dinner, I'm going out with three friends to a CineParty, which simply means a movie premiere and launch party. Wednesday is cooking and craft day. I have two labor-intensive recipes to complete. Plus, we will try to add in another Japanese lesson in the morning. LittleBiscuit is feeling like she wants to learn faster. My women's group is supposed to meet in the evening for dinner and drinks but some are sick and others are out of town so I think it might be cancelled. Thursday, we have a maid coming over and will go swimming while she's here. Friday, the day is free but in the evening, Mr. Biscuit and I have our date. Saturday, we will all go to the Halloween celebration at Bohemia Bagel, where we will carve pumpkins, hang with friends, watch the obligatory Charlie Brown special and visit a small haunted house in the play yard of the bagel shop. So far, nothing is planned for Sunday. Whew! Tonight, I'll try to come back and post a picture of dessert, which will be chocolate pasta served with champagne cream sauce and fresh raspberries. I bought the pasta in Paris and have been waiting for a chance to make something with it. I hope it turns out!

Catnip

Yesterday was Katya's 11th birthday. LittleBiscuit gave her a heaping bowl of food while Mr. Biscuit and I gave her extra lovies, as much as she could handle anyway. I kept calling her up onto the bed last night while I was reading, making sure she knew I wanted her near me. She snuggled in close and I sang: Happy Birthday to you Kit-kitty-kit Boo Happy Birthday Dear Katya Happy Birthday to you! Please enjoy some of her finer, and no so fine, moments. Yoga kitty: Her "oh puhleez" face: "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. de Mille:" Kitty push-ups: "Love me?:" In our old flat, she had her bed half-way behind the curtain, beside the heater. She loved to stick her head out or have me stick my head behind the curtain. Weirdo cat. Alpha Kitty:

Another Asian Food Week: Meal Two

We had a great day yesterday! Mr. Biscuit had a business meeting at lunchtime so LittleBiscuit and I decided to treat ourselves to a nice lunch. We headed over to Kogo in Slovansky dum. LittleBiscuit loves the fish there. It was fun walking into this place with her. Everyone there was in suits and fancy outfits and she strolled in with her Skitty hat and Miffy sunglasses. It was fabulous. It was a bit crowded but we found a nice table in the atrium so we could look out at the courtyard. Lovely. We ordered our food: grilled dorada for her and freshly-made papardelle with lamb sauce for me. We each brought out our DS and logged into PictoChat. She and I have created a fun game using PictoChat. It's called "Pet Shop." The basic idea is that you create two or three pets for the other person to choose. They pay for the pet and you then draw supplies they can purchase. So we generally play Pet Shop while we wait for our food to arrive in restaurants. We also drew mazes for each other to solve and practiced our Japanese, using the kana keyboard on the DS. Here is The Princess enjoying her Perrier and choosing her pet: Food has arrived! For some reason, that meant it was time to wear earmuffs: After lunch, we headed over to Bohemia Bagel to sign up for their annual Halloween Celebration. We passed by the Estates Theatre and saw this waiting to be taken inside from the props van: LittleBiscuit loved the hand crank. She'd seen it in a book a few days ago. What a wonderful coincidence that we saw this automobile today! After signing up for the Halloween party, we popped into Big Ben Bookshop to say Hello to Yasmeen. LittleBisuit likes it when Yasmeen has her shar pei, Daphne, with her. But alas, Daphne wasn't there yesterday. Also Yasmeen and her associate were very busy unpacking a new shipment of books. So LittleBiscuit and I decided to cut our visit short and do more walking. Here is The Princess on the side steps of Tyn: Heading into Old Town Square: Tyn cathedral: Jan Hus statue: In 1721, the Jesuits, who were fascinated by astronomy, determined the Prague meridian, which they used to calculate high noon each day and from which all points in Prague were measured: More pics of Old Town Square (Staré Město): Horsies! LittleBiscuit loves this statue. She says it looks like a Black Rider. Want to know something terrible? People often throw trash into it! Grrrr! And, as you can see from the photo, people also let their dogs piss on the side. LittleBiscuit's favorite store in Prague, Sparky's House of Toys: Hope you've enjoyed our Day in the Life pics! I was a bit depressed, even after all that time in the nice sunshine, so I hung out online when we got home. LittleBiscuit threw off her shoes and flopped onto the couch! For dinner, I made beef chow mein and it was yummy: Last night, the dad of LittleBiscuits' friend came over to hang out a bit. We had a blast talking about books, racism, parenting and food. Mr. Biscuit had gone to a great little Italian ice cream place after his business lunch and picked up some delicious ice cream. We ate that with some chocolate cookies. Mmmm! Of course, I drank more wine than I wanted but I'm feeling okay today. No hangover! Today has been slow and easy. I'm blogging, cleaning and trying to finish the book I'm reading. Also, we bought a puzzle at Disneyland Paris last year and never started it. LittleBiscuit says it would be perfect for Halloween since it's a puzzle with all the Disney villains. Here's lunch. Nothing fancy but very tasty! Stuffed eggs (with leftovers for the sitter tomorrow): Pastrami and/or ham sandwiches on baguette: We used pastrami and ham fresh from the butcher. I put out the tasty mustards I bought in Paris at Fauchon. We particularyly liked the mustard with thyme. Mmmm! Also, cheddar and appenzellar cheeses (LittleBiscuit hogged all the lingot): Of course, when I sat down, I realized I had planned on slicing up an avocado as well. Oops!

Opa! (Take Two)

I've been trying to post a picture of LittleBiscuit and for some reason it just won't load. I don't understand it. Anyway, here she is, being all moody and emo, even for a nearly-eight-year-old. (No matter what I do, I still get "red eye" in my photos! I suck as a photographer)

Another Asian Food Week: Meal One

Our sitter came today. We were chatting with her before leaving and I was regaling everyone with a story about someone who was a bit rude to me. LittleBiscuit piped in, "What happened to (insert air quotes) The Manners?" What can I say? She's a cool kid. The Man and I dropped off the DVD rentals, popped into his former office for him to sign some papers, then trammed it over to a little Middle Eastern grocery. It smelled so wonderful inside. He and I "oohed" and "ahhed" over the spices, beans, and seeds. They even had halloumi! However, we couldn't get perishables because we were going to be out and about for a few more hours. We'll go back, though. Definitely worth another visit. We walked through that part of town for a while, looking for some place new to have lunch. Stopping into Chan's hair salon, I made an appointment for Friday to have my hair blown out. Gotta look purty for mah date! We ended up eating at Ultramarin. I have given this place three chances and they blew it again. I like the food. The food isn't the problem. The service is terrible! The first time I discovered this, I was with my women's group, having dinner and drinks. The waitress kept telling us she was too busy for us to even pay our bill. What?!?! Plus, we all paid separately so she ended up with more tip than she deserved, in my opinion. Second time, the waitress/bar charged my friend twice for each glass of wine she had. Now, today, it took them about 45 minutes to bring our food. Crazy. There are so many places in this city to eat. I'm not going to Ultramarin ever again! I don't care how good their tequila sunrises are! After lunch, we bought toiletries at the drugstore then wandered around some more until my appointment at Estee Lauder for a manicure and pedicure. I haven't had either of those in a long time. I think it's been almost two years. It was luxurious! I feel like a new woman! Now, on to dinner. I made chicken wings again, as per LittleBiscuit's request. These are so easy, it's laughable. Just wash and dry chicken wings. Place in pan of boiling water which doesn't quite cover the wings. Add in chopped green onions and a few chunks of ginger. Then add in a Tbsp. dark soy sauce, 2 Tbsp. light soy sauce, one star anise and one tsp. sugar. Simmer with lid on til chicken is done, about 30 minutes. I turn the wings every now and then to make sure they are well-flavored. With this, I served jasmine rice and a green curry with two kinds of cabbage. It was spicy but delicious! I have about twenty more minutes to surf and blog before game time. We are going to play a few rounds of Fluxx then read another chapter of Time Cat. Ciao!

Opa!

Monday. Garfield's most feared day of the week, according to our resident expert, Sophia. I woke up bleary-eyed today and with a terrible headache. I hate waking up like that. I should take a page from Garfield's book and just hide underneath the covers until this day is over. Errand day in Biscuitland. We went to Azza again. It's cheap, decent and close to where we want to go. I again had the daily offer from the lunch menu. Today's "varianta I." consisted of potato soup (yum!), chicken breast with mozarella and a slightly piquant tomato sauce with rosemary-flavored rice, followed by apple streudl for dessert. All for 100, kc. That's hard to beat in the centre! Sophia had grilled chicken breast with steak fries. MrBiscuit ate the stroganoff. We all enjoyed our meals immensely. Next up, just like last Monday, we headed to Planet DVD, the Vietnamese grocery, then finally Fruits de France. Rentals for today were: --Duma --Nanny McPhee (Why, oh why, are the marketing gurus touting this as the "new Mary Poppins?" We saw this in New Mexico, on our US trip, and loved it but it's not Mary Poppins!) --The Constant Gardener (LOTS of love for Rachel Weisz) --Memoirs of a Geisha (yes, I'm prepared for the fact that the movie will be greatly different from the book, which was OK. I am seeing this for the actors, the sets, the costumes and the music. I don't really care about the plot.) Unfortunately, the butcher couldn't deliver meats until tomorrow. Therefore, I couldn't make what I wanted for dinner. Mr.Biscuit volunteered to go get some Greek food for dinner. Love that man! We split some moussaka, Greek potatoes and tyropita. I also ate some sliced tomatoes but Mr. Biscuit's picture was prettier so I posted his: Sophia is very upset with youtube right now. First, 4Kids lost the merchandising rights to the Pokemon television series in the US. Due to that, a lot of the youtube mash-ups have been pulled for copyright infringement. (Kid's learning a lot about this stuff so it's been an educational experience but not one she is really enjoying) On top of this, youtube was sold to Google. And we all know what happens when BigBusiness gets involved. So many of her favorite youtube vids are gone. She is livid! To add insult to injury, the new company in charge of the Pokemon TV series has fired the original voice actors in order to hire cheaper actors. The characters Do Not sound the same. Yes, I know they are dubbed from the original Japanese anyway, but we've grown to love these characters and associate the voices with the Pokemon and trainers. We're just pissed about the whole thing. We're not alone! Below is a pic of brooding LittleBiscuit, taken a few days ago. I think, even in dark emo mood, she's gorgeous: (@)(%&##%(#&%)@(( picture won't load! Blogger can be infuriating at times! I'll come back later and post it.)

Asian Food Week, Take Two: Meal Three

Hate to be boring but I made chicken pakora again. I had two chicken breasts left and orginally was going to make a sort of coconut milk sauce and serve it all over egg-fried rice. However, I was yearning for pakora again. So tasty! So we had the pakora with leftover raita potatoes. For dessert, I made an Indian bread pudding:

I am still feeling under the weather. (What a strange expression!) I was going to do Halloween crafts with LittleBiscuit but I didn't feel well enough to drag all the supplies out, do crafts and put everything away again. I printed out some stuff from Enchanted Learning and we did those together. Well, actually, she did them all by herself without needing my help but I was on stand-by, just in case. This evening, Mr. Biscuit read the last chapter of the second Romeo Crumb book while I put lotion on LittleBiscuit and helped her into her jammies. I enjoyed the first one but this book was a bit...um, weird. And Mr. Biscuit said the grammar and spelling errors were once again rampant. Terrible editing job, that! Next book? Either Time Cat or the third Borrowers installment. I noticed something strange about Blogspot. When I create a post, it marks the time I begin the post, not when I actually publish it. Shrug. Movies watched recently, reviews to come later: ---Shogun (Okay, it's actually a mini-series...I'm also reading the novel) ---Thank You For Smoking (saw this in the cinema with Mr. Biscuit) ---Elvira Madigan ---Samurai Rebellion or Joi-uchi: Hairyo tsuma shimatsu ---3 Extremes II or Saam gaang ---A Better Tomorrow or Ying hung boon sik (the one that started it all!) ---The Family Stone (rented...apparently the screenwriters assumed "free-spirited" translated as "mannerless")

Ooh La La, III

Paris trip. Still Day Two I became unexpectedly emotional in this museum, looking at the paintings. My favorite artists and I saw their work through eyes swimming with tears. I had to go to the toilet and talk myself down. Part of this was probably because I hadn't eaten much that day and was likely exhausted from all the walking. But part of it was because art is important to me and to see what these people created...it was overwhelming. I felt like dropping to my knees, a la Wayne and Garth, and sobbing, "I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy!" My photos of the paintings didn't come out well, I'm sad to say. All my Van Gogh's are blurry. I'm upset that I couldn't get more photos to post. There were so many beautiful pieces. I especially liked the work of Georges Lacombe, Paul Serusier, and Odilon Redon, all which I'd never seen before. Only a few photos looked alright. Here they are: And I didn't know that Gauguin did woodwork. Did you? The actual building is amazing, as well. It's a reconstructed train station. This pic is from one of the bridges connecting the two parts of the museum. I'm peeking through a metal latticework hole. Sneaky! I went down on the main floor to look at the large sculpture pieces. If you notice in some of the pictures, there are spaces to sit and look or rest. These spaces blend so perfectly into the design of the building and the art which it houses. Masterful! I have completely forgotten who made some of the following sculpture. I'm lucky I purchased a guide book from the gift shop or I'd be lost! Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux: Also Carpeaux: Carpeaux again: Bronze and onyx busts by Charles Cordier: Hippolyte Moulin and Alexandre Fauguiere, respectively: A closer look at the two pieces, framing the famous clock: Carpeaux's Ugolino in bronze: Just a barrier wall but it's a great example of how well this museum flows. Everything seemed to be where it belonged. I liked how orderly it felt. A closer view of the great clock. See those metal lattice-type panels? That is what I peeked out from to get that first shot. Up off the main floor, looking from one bridge to another. Um, I didn't like how the bridge vibrated when you walked upon it. That freaked me a bit. Some close-ups of the building's details: I don't know who did this piece but I love it! I like how it spills out of its space. Hehehe. An up-skirt shot of Emmanuel Fremiet's St. Michael, in beaten copper. You can see it in its proper light behind the large piece in the picture above. Thomas Couture's The Romans of the Decadence, with the Ugolino in front: A closer look at decadence: I cannot remember whose this is. Either it's Auguste Rodin or Aristide Maillol. I'm guessing Rodin. A nice moment: sitting outside the Rodin room (no photos allowed in there), with my back against the coolness of the bench, drinking my water...it was heaven. Maillol (I think!): Also Maillol (I also think!): After leaving the Rodin room, I decided to check out the gift shop because the museum was closing soon. I got some really cool paper crafts for LittleBiscuit, a guide book, a date book for next year with Van Gogh's room on the cover (Kea and my favorite Van Gogh painting), and three small prints to frame for our apartment. I went back to that spot I'd noted earlier by the Seine and took a walk down by the water. I saw about six tents, with personal items outside them and ropes strung between trees. I'm guessing the homeless stay there. Maybe that's why I saw loads of piss puddles. They have to go somewhere! I walked back up to the street and walked across Pont des Arts. Looking in the direction of Notre-Dame: Don't know what this building is but I was interested in the spires: Back at the Louvre, entering the Cour Carree: Jardin de L'Infante: Close-up of the bas-relief above the entrance: The next photos are from inside the Cour Carree, starting from my left and moving all the way around to my right. I was surprised how quiet and uncrowded this courtyard was. Seems everyone was in the other courtyard, Cour Napoleon, where the entrance lies. Close-up of the Pavilion de L'Horlage (Sully Pavilion). I've never seen double caryatids like this before. Interesting. Going into the Cour Napoleon, Napoleon's monogram: Love this shot of the pyramid: Looking back from whence I came: These guys made me nervous. I hate the sight of guns. I don't know much about guns but they look to be assault rifles! Pavilion Richelieu. See the little umbrellas? There's a little cafe up there: Close-up: I headed back towards my hotel because I was getting really dizzy from hunger. Some bladers setting up in Place a Malraux: Beautiful fountain seen on the walk back towards Avenue de L'Opera: I didn't want to spend a lot of money on dinner so I started walking down side streets to find a grocery store. I also needed some shampoo because I didn't bring mine. I had assumed the hotel would provide some. It didn't. I popped into a pharmacy and asked the clerk. She directed me to Monoprix right on Avenue de L'Opera. Weird store. But I found shampoo, a big bottle of water, a chicken sandwich, small tub of pasta salad, bag of sliced carrots, bag of sliced apples and a box of cookies. Dinner! Well, except for the shampoo, of course. I ate in my hotel room, watching bits of CNN. My feet were aching! After dinner, I sprayed them with ice cold water in the shower stall and put them up on the bed while I went over my spending for the day. I logged all my purchases, wrote in my journal and turned out the light. I thought I'd fall asleep quickly but the bed was incredibly uncomfortable. Also, just as the night before, someone down the street started playing the trumpet at about 1:30am. Lovely. But hey, I was in Paris! C'est la vie!

Ooh La La, Part Deux

Paris trip. Day Two I woke up and wrote in my journal for a bit, lounged around, then showered. I bought a bottle of water at a little drug store down the street and took off in the direction of two department stores on Haussmann boulevard, Primtemps and Galeries Lafayette. I wanted to get my shopping out of the way because I didn't know if anything would be open on Sunday. I've been disappointed before, in London, trying to shop on a Sunday morning only to find that nothing opened until later or didn't open at all. First, I went into Galeries Lafayette. I was overwhelmed by the choices! There is nothing like this in Prague! You don't find such a large collection of high end goods in one place. Much of it was too expensive for me but it was fun looking at all the handbags, shoes, wallets that I drool over in Vogue, Elle and other magazines. I actually considered getting one of the lower end Chloe bags but couldn't rationalize spending that kind of money on one purse. Besides, I like purses so much that even though I would tell myself, "I'll only buy this one bag and won't need another for years," it wouldn't be true. I buy cheap bags and mid-range bags because I like to switch them around a lot. I popped upstairs but felt strangely out of place in the fashion departments, even though I was dressed well and could afford at least *some* of the couture. Well, if I were only going to buy one piece, I could afford it. I've been wanting a "signature piece" by Michael Kors, Calvin Klein or Marni but still couldn't even bring myself to try anything on. Weird. Isn't it? And I didn't even go into the cosmetics and skin care departments. I have no self control when it comes to skin care products! I'd likely spend all my shopping budget, and then some, just on lotions and such! I went all the way up to the children's toy department to search out something small for Sophia. I had one small carry-on suitcase that I knew I could lock and check if I had to. But everything I bought had to fit in that or my collapsible tote or my purse. I managed to find some accesories for Penelope in the BuildaBear section. (Sophia adopted Penelope in Disneyland earlier this year.) I also found some teensy tiny Strawberry Shortcake playsets which I knew would fit in the suitcase if I opened the packages and put the toys in a plastic bag. Topping off the ShoppingForSophieSpree, was this little guy. At this point, I was feeling like I was about to faint from hunger. I had skipped breakfast and the store was hot and stuffy. I headed outside and down a side street to a cafe for some food. I had a slice of pizza topped with mozarella and basil with a side salad. It wasn't good but it filled my stomach. I love French cafes. All the chairs point outwards, towards the street, for optimal people-watching and drifting off into your own thoughts. It's heavenly! Shored up a bit, I made my way to Printemps. Same high quality goods. I walked through the designer stuff and still couldn't bring myself to at least try something on. I'm a nerd. I did find some shoes that I loved and, from the amount of women clamoring to get a pair in their size, they are going to be The Shoe for Parisian women this fall. The price was 56 Euro so I felt that was acceptable. However, the sole didn't look like it would last a month on the cobblestoned streets of Prague. Sigh. (For anyone wondering what the shoe was, I am so sorry to admit I can't remember the label. They were Italian ballet flats, simple and elegant, comfortable and flexible. In other words, adorably perfect! Except for the streets of Prague...) I walked into Zara, H&M and Benetton even though they have shops here because each country has slightly different things and in different sizes to accomodate local tastes and body types. (I'm really liking the clothes at Benetton lately...must be getting old!) Guess where I ended up buying clothes? The freakin Gap! I got three shirts, a tank top with a lacy embellishment and a glorious cashmere sweater. I like the shirts at The Gap cuz they are a bit longer and are made so well, even when the material is thinner. I wear them underneath sweaters or over tank tops or to sleep in. I allowed myself to buy the cashmere sweater because I knew I would wear it every day when the weather was cooler. (Such mind fucking!) And I have. It's part of my uniform right now: jeans, slighty dressy but comfortable shoes, Gap T with tank underneath, sweater then belted raincoat. I like this uniform because it's appropriate for most anything. If I wear a nice bracelet or necklace, even better. So yes, laugh at me. I went to Paris and ended up shopping at The Gap. (Note: I also went upstairs and bought a sweater, socks, 3 shirts and 2 thermal shirts for LittleBiscuit.) I took all the bags back to the hotel and decided to walk over to Musee D'Orsay on this day and save the Louvre for the last day. I wanted to get some pictures of the outside of the Louvre so I went through the entrance on Rue de Rivoli and walked through the courtyard. It was so bright I couldn't even tell half the time what my pictures looked like. Therefore, some of these aren't as centered as I would have liked. I was also in somewhat of a hurry because it was already nearly 3pm and I knew the museum closed at 6. I walked through the arcade and looked to my left: Looking back to where I came in: To my right, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (erected by Napoleon in 1808 and modelled after the Arc de Triomphe, so my guide book reads), which is the entrance to the Galerie du Carrousel, leading to the Tuileries gardens. Again, please forgive how wonky these are! A closer look: This car ruined a potentially wonderful shot of the controversial entrance to the Louvre (designed by my favorite architect, I.M.Pei): Just to give you an idea of size: A little further along, looking left still: A close up, because I like facades: Bye, bye, Louvre! See you tomorrow! Crossing the Seine on Pont du Carrousel, looking towards La Rive Gauche (the Left Bank): Looking to my right: Despite the oh so fragrant pool of urine on the stairs, I take a mental note to walk down here after I visit the museum: Looking back to that area and the bridge I just crossed: The trees lining the Jardin du Carrousel: I made it! And the line didn't seem long at all. Woohoo! I'm going to stop here and finish later. I'm scared of losing all this work, for one thing!

Asian Food Week, Take Two: Meal Two

Our sitter came today. Ray and I went to Kogo in Slovansky dum. I'm feeling like I'm coming down with another cold, or maybe I just didn't get rid of the one I had before. I think I felt well for half a day! I had a big bowl of soup with veal and veggies. I also ordered a Greek salad but couldn't finish it. I'm feeling yucky. Ray had grilled dorada, boiled potatoes and steamed broccoli. I like Kogo because you can get great wines by the glass and it's close to where we usually need to run errands. It can seem pretty pretentious, however, especially in the evening. You walk in and everyone looks you up and down to see what you're wearing and who you are with. Lots of famous folk eat there. A few years ago, I saw our former president's wife, Dagmar Veškrnová dining there at the table which is always Reserved. After getting back home and saying "Goodbye" to the sitter, LittleBiscuit and I started decorating for Halloween. We made most of this stuff last year. I also forgot to take a picture of our front door, which we decorated with paper leaves in fall colors and more paper bats. Yeah, LittleBisuit likes bats. A lot. For dinner, I made chicken pakora and raita potatoes with mint garnish. Delish! All together now: It was actually much easier to make pakora than I imagined. I liked dipping my hands in the batter and coating the chicken pieces. Like playing in the mud...sort of.

Asian Food Week, Take Two: Meal One

Yes, I'm making Asian foods again this week. I think I'm obsessed right now. Today, all three of the Biscuits met SisterBiscuit for lunch at Azza. The website looks very fancy but really, it's a nice simple restaurant. I ate the lunch special, grilled pork tenderloin medallions with spinach mashed potatoes. It also came with a cheese soup with one large cheese ravioli and a dessert of walnut/honey cake called "pernik." All that came to 100kc, which is about 4 dollars and twenty cents, depending on the current exchange rate. (If you want to see all that written in Czech, go to the website and click "poledni menu/lunch menu" and see the listing for today. I ordered "Varianta I.")I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures. SisterBiscuit had to part ways after the meal and we had errands to do. We walked up to Planet DVD to rent some movies: Another Meltdown (Bi xie lan tian), The Family Stone, and Bionicle: Mask of Light for LittleBiscuit. We went down another block to Fruits de France but stopped first at the little potraviny across the street. It's run by a Vietnamese family and offers good produce and other products that help with my Asian food obsession. After the veggies, fruits, and cheeses were purchased, we all decided to walk home rather than take the metro. We stopped by another international food store which sells nuts, seeds and other yummy things. We bought sesame seeds, light soy sauce, caramel fudge squares and some various dried fruits for this week's dessert. The walk home was nice. We ambled down towards our street and LittleBiscuit picked clover and berries in the park to toss in the fountain. We gave her some hellers to make her wishes. I wonder what she wished for? So. On to dinner. I was going to make crispy pork wontons. First, the recipe seemed a bit off because I had way more filling than the recipe called for. The size it (the recipe) suggested for the filling was too big for the wonton wrappers as well. I decided to halve the filling and then test six the way the recipe indicated. They didn't look appetizing At All. I decided to just make wonton soup with the rest. The filling was drier and spicier but I hoped it would work out OK (and it did!). For the entree, I made dan dan mian or spicy Szechuan noodles with sesame sauce. I can't find a recipe that is exactly like the one I used but you can look here to find many variations. After everything was cooked, I poured the sauce in the bowl, then added the noodles (I used udon because I had it on hand), the beef and finally crushed roasted peanuts. It was delicious! It's one of our favorites so far. It was way too spicy for Soph so she had lingot and baguette, with the offer of plain noodles if she wanted. She declined. As soon as I get my ass up out of this seat, we'll all play Monopoly Junior!

Ooh La La

Ok, so the title doesn't follow my theme...but it's relevant to the contents of this post. So there. Lately, I've been listening to lots of Goldfrapp. I love music like this. I keep wondering what kind of music I'd be making if I had followed that dream of becoming a professional singer...Oh my god, too many "what ifs" can really mess with your head. Anyway, two of my favorite songs/videos are Ooh La La and Human. (Warning: that last one *could* be considered offensive to some) Speaking of Ooh La La, here are some pics from my Paris trip. Day One. I got into my hotel around 4pm. I put my bags in my room and went out immediately, armed with a bottle of water, a map, and a growling belly. I didn't eat a thing on the plane. I don't like the food on AirFrance. Place de la Madeleine: A closer look at the pediment (one of the few things I actually learned in college, thank you Art History 101). I love how the leaves from the tree I was standing underneath coincidentally touch the top of the triangle. Neat how that happened. This next pic isn't that great. I was still messing around with the camera, trying to see what worked best. The famous Maille! I ate some dinner on a little street near Maille. Then I popped into Fauchon for some goodies. I didn't take many photos after that. I just walked around in the direction of my hotel, meandering and getting a feel for the city, until my bags got too heavy. More pics later. I'll leave you with a link to a racy (for some) music video. No, it's not French. It's Italian. But it's very very sexy. Meet Paola and Chiara, singing Kamasutra. Ooh la la!

Biscuitmom

Some pics of me from tonight: Mr. Biscuit says this is his favorite but I'm not too fond of the "nostril" shots: I know this seems vain but I'm trying to find a decent pic of myself. I just don't take good photos. Which one looks best? My forehead looks HUGE in all of these! Mr. Biscuit attempting to channel random film noir actor: He was fascinated by the tits on my drink stirrer:

Scones and giggles

Little Biscuit had a friend over today. She'd been planning what to do for weeks. She had it all worked out. First, we'd make scones together. While they baked and I cleaned up, she and her friend would play. Then, they'd come to my "restaurant" and order snacks. Little Biscuit and I worked on menus and even a credit card she could use to pay me for my services. After the scones were put into the oven, I left out some dough for them to mess around with. This dough, as you can see in the photo below, was practically obliterated. They ordered apple slices, strawberries, tuna, lingot (a goat cheese), baguette, and jam for the scones. I brought out all the fancy jams I purchased at Fauchon in Paris. I'm just that kind of mom. Hehehe. The patrons enjoying their meal in the Kid Cat Cafe: Little Biscuit's friend (you can see the menu on the table): Little Biscuit posing: They had a blast. Lots of giggles today. I had fun playing the waitress/cafe owner. Mr. Biscuit and I went out of the room to laugh when we saw how Little Biscuit signed her credit card receipt: Sakura. She uses that as her name lately when she pretends. Note: when I say "laugh," I don't mean "poked fun at." I mean "laugh" as in "enjoyed her and reveled in the love, baby."

Asian Food Week: Meal Four

Little Biscuit is going nuts over Vitas and this song. Mr. Biscuit found it on some random web surf a few days ago and we've all been listening to Vitas ever since! Tonight's meal was a big hit! I tried my hand at vegetarian spring rolls (sou choi cheun gyun). Along with those, I made bamboo shoots with beancurd, or tofu (seun jim dau fu). The beginning: The end:

Asian Food Week: Meal Three

Little Biscuit is sick today. I've played Animal Crossing, watched Toy Story, colored, read, snuggled...Poor kid. She has a fever and runny nose, which drives her absolutely bonkers. Ok, on to dinner. I made satay chicken and jasmine rice. I sliced up some cucumbers then heated up our leftovers from yesterday, including the naan. Little Biscuit loved the "chicken sticks."

Asian Food Week: Meal Two

Today, we had our sitter come. Ray and I headed out to run errands and have a quick lunch. We needed to pop into Japa to pick up some dashi and gyoza wrappers. We also wanted to try a new restaurant, Haveli. Mmmmm, Indian food! We didn't have the appetite nor the time for a big blow-out meal so we ordered appetizers and soup. Ray had shammi kebab and I ordered chicken pakora. We both had dal aur palak shorba. Of course, we munched on the obligatory naan as well. But the best thing about my lunch was the thandai, which I'd never had before. Next time, I'll order it heated. Good gravy, it was delicious! I'm glad we had a little bit of walking to do in order to reach Japa because we were quite full from that small meal. We asked the waiter to wrap up half of each of our appetizers because we couldn't even finish them! Sadly, both of us had forgotten that Japa is closed on Tuesdays. Still, we're glad we had to go there and back to the station in order to walk off some of the meal. For Day Two of my cooking obsession, I made Chengdu noodles in sesame sauce (sing dou ma laat min). I tried finding a link for this recipe but can't find anything that is exactly like what I made. Basically, it's just sesame sauce over cooked noodles with beansprouts and sliced spring onion. The sesame sauce is comprised of sesame paste, sesame oil, chili oil, sugar, dark soy sauce and black Chinese vinegar. I had to leave out the vinegar because I just couldn't find any in Prague. To accompany this, I prepared soy chicken wings (si yau gai yik). Simple, really. Boil water with the wings, chopped spring onion and sliced ginger. Add in light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, one star anise and some sugar. Let this simmer for thirty minutes. Voila! Sophia went nuts over the chicken! I promised to make them again next week. She also wanted to keep two of the bones. Kids! (By the way, I have No Idea why the chicken wing in the top of the photo looks like it isn't cooked all the way through. It was! I swear!)

Asian Food Week: Meal One

While I prepared a lunch of sliced ham and Annie's Shells and Cheese, Soph went back to her room to play for a bit. This rarely happens. She ordinarily stays in the living room, to be near us. I went back to tell her lunch was ready and she showed me what she had been working on: I was surprised that she didn't even use the guide book to make this frog. Cool! ------------------------------------------- "Machine bats" ------------------------------------------- Two-headed snake ------------------------------------------- I bought a great little cookbook at Marks & Spencer a month ago. I ran around town looking for all the proper ingredients. It's nuts trying to find things in Prague! However, this shop rocks! I found lots of Japanese food supplies. For tonight's dinner, however, I made Chinese: wonton soup (wun tun tong) and beef chop suey (jaap seui ngau yuk). I had a lot of fun making the won tons. It took longer than I anticipated but it was well worth the wait. I also got better at making them as I went along. Halfway there! ------------------------------------------- In the pot! The stock is a bit darker than I would have liked. Next time, I'll use a lighter chicken stock. ------------------------------------------- Garnishes for the soup: ------------------------------------------- Yummy entree, which I served over jasmine rice ------------------------------------------- We have tons of leftovers. I plan to make Asian meals until Friday and then eat up the leftovers and start all over next Monday with a new menu!